Outstanding Senior: Bruce Hope, Spinnaker’s resident veteran

Taylor Smiley, Reporter

Graduating Fall 2019

Major: Multimedia Journalism

Fun fact: Bruce served in the U.S Army for 9 years.

“When you really love something, you’re driven to do it, and so you make a drastic leap and you go in that direction, and that’s kinda what happened for me,” Journalism Senior Bruce Hope said.

Labeling himself as a “self-proclaimed tech junkie,” Hope opened up about his motivation to bring Information Technology into a career in the coveted world of Sports Media

From traveling the world to serve his country, to writing and producing his own sports podcasts with celebrity guests, Bruce Hope truly exemplifies what it means to do it all.

“I’ve always been a sports junkie, from the time I was a kid. Probably from junior high on,” Hope said. Hope said his passion for sports began with his love for the game of football and basketball, and reflecting on those heated barbershop discussions that he and his friends would share in high school.

Hope’s affirmation in his ability to not only talk sports, but analyze the game on a professional level, came shortly thereafter.

“Then there [were] other times where I [would] be watching a show, and I [would] say something and literally five seconds later, that personality on the TV [would] say the exact thing I said. So I’m like, I can do this,” Hope explained.

Hope intends to move into radio and possibly share his take through broadcast later on. He began a sports blog back in 2011, and moved into the podcasting realm with his own show, “The Format.”

His episodes run at an average of half an hour to a full hour, covering the latest trends and trades across multiple industries dominating the media right now. “The Format” is available on nine platforms. His biggest celebrity guest as of right now has been podcast aficionado G. Moody, a former co-host of the infamous Michael Rapaport in the “I Am Rapaport: Stereo Podcast.” Moody now hosts his own podcast, titled “This That and The Third with G Moody.”

In order to broaden his resume, he quickly realized he needed to get his hands dirty in as many extracurriculars as possible to land an internship and move toward a job post-grad. Shortly thereafter, he ended up at Spinnaker.

It didn’t take long for Hope to learn the ropes around the office. He began as a guest on a sports radio talk show on Spinnaker radio, before quickly moving on to volunteer as a sports writer, ultimately being hired as a sports reporter.

He picked up a weekly radio show dubbed “The Dribble Handoff with Chase and Bruce,” and was able to turn that into a secondary podcast on its own. He fell into a sports anchor position on the Nest News, all while taking five classes. His ability to juggle several roles at Spinnaker has landed him two internships, where he’s gotten the chance to work in radio again and is currently interning as a sports writer with The Florida Times-Union.

While he wears many hats, his biggest role is being a father to his daughter and son.

“Family comes first, you have to take care of your family,” Hope told Spinnaker. “Whatever else is going on, that has to happen. It’s not even a consideration, you just have to do that.”

Walking around campus as an older student, Hope highlighted that sharing the classroom with students sometimes 20 years younger than him can be enlightening. His ability to remain open-minded has allowed him to be receptive to learning from students of all ages.

While it is uncertain who will take the NBA Finals this upcoming season, or dominate this year’s Super Bowl, one thing is for certain: Bruce Hope will continue taking names and creating one for himself in the world of sports.

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