Joe DeLeone’s life revolves around sports. He was recruited to play for URI football as a long snapper from his hometown of Millburn, NJ, but he knew there was potential for more than just football in his decision to attend school here. “Even though I was recruited for football,” he says, “I also knew that URI was the best opportunity for me academically.” Drawing on his high school dream of becoming a sports media personality, he opted to study journalism, one of six undergraduate majors offered by URI’s renowned Harrington School of Communication and Media. 

Taking full advantage of the media capabilities at his disposal, DeLeone chose to focus his studies on sports broadcast journalism. He now has a few podcasts — three, to be exact — that have solidified his place as a burgeoning young voice in sports media. “I have one [podcast] with my current teammates that we’ve been running for six months,” DeLeone explains. “I host and produce that one, and we cover national college football. There’s another one that’s run through ESPY Nation and Big Blue View that covers news about the New York Giants, and the last one is run through Bleav.” And all that journalistic hard work has paid off, as DeLeone’s podcast covering the Giants is a paid position with Bleav hopefully set to follow suit.

For the time being, however, DeLeone looks forward to graduating in May 2020 with a B.A. in Journalism and minors in Communication Studies and Sports Media. “My main goal after graduation is to become a producer in audio or work for a major network covering sports or live sporting events,” he says. He points to the preparation he’s received in the Harrington School of Communication and Media as being crucial to his success: “A lot of my classes had a technical background,” he says, “and I learned a lot about that side in my journalism courses. It’s important to learn about storytelling, too. And [Professor] Ian Reyes gave great audio knowledge. I took both of his classes, and my knowledge really soared.” DeLeone has a bright future ahead of him in the world of sports broadcast journalism, and to those seeking to follow in his footsteps, he has this to say: “Try to find different ways to improve your work and find relevant experience. You might not find internship opportunities right away because the process is so competitive, but you can still find things to do on the side, like getting extra practice with clubs. It’s like throwing a football, you might get frustrated early on, but eventually everything will click and work out.”

~Written by Chase Hoffman, Writing & Rhetoric & Anthropology Double Major, URI Class of 2021