Terry “T-man” Sisisky resently announced his retirement from VCU commentating but has plans to stay in the game.

As the VCU boys’ basketball team suffered a narrow defeat to UAB in the first round of the N.I.T tournament on March 19, it marked more than the end of a season.
It marked the end of an era.
Terry Sisisky – affectionately known as “The T-Man” to Rams fans – recently announced his retirement after a 28-year career as the voice of VCU boys’ basketball.
“Frankly, I’m just tired. I didn’t want to be there just to be the voice,” says Sisisky. “I love doing the play-by-play, but the traveling makes it less enjoyable. If I could just do home games that would be great, but that’s not fair to do to the next person. I am really going to miss it, but I’m happy with my decision.”
First noticed by former VCU Athletic Director Lewis Mills while calling basketball game for Hopewell High School, Sisisky made his VCU debut on November 28, 1980, calling VCU’s 44-40 win over Lafayette. Throughout his tenure, Sisisky called a Cal Ripken-worthy 567 consecutive games, before missing his first one in 1999 to attend his nephew’s bar mitzvah. Since then, he only missed two others, calling a total of 840 games for VCU.
“One of the best parts of calling games was the college atmosphere at the Siegel Center; every home game felt like New Year’s Eve, especially when we had a sellout crowd,” says Sisisky. “That is a big part of why I enjoyed it so much. Even when I was tired, it was easy to get back up in a hurry.”
While Rams fans can no longer look forward to the energetic play-calling of the T-Man, Sisisky is far from completely retired. He plans to continue calling games for his alma mater, Petersburg High School, a job he has enjoyed for the past 34 years. He will also once again be broadcasting all 17 games of the 51st annual BIB tournament, a little league exposition set to start on July 31 that he has covered for the past 14 years.
“I love baseball and I love seeing the reaction of these kids when they walk into Shepherd Stadium,” says Sisisky.
However, his biggest endeavor so far is the launch of his website, www.terrysisisky.com. Created in early June, the site was officially launched on July 8.
“I’ve been thinking about doing this website for about five years, but knew that I would have to give up VCU or Petersburg to do it,” says Sisisky. “This will help keep me busy and fill the void of VCU. Right now, it’s a one-man operation.”
Looking to cover games from the Tri-Cities area, as well as from Chesterfield and Richmond, Sisisky will not only be calling games but also plans on including special features, such as player interviews, on his website.
“It’s not on the radio, so people can’t listen to the games in their cars, but people from out of the area will be able to listen to games on the website,” says Sisisky. “I will also be able to archive the games, which is very attractive to me. Parents that are at the games will be able to go home and listen to them again the next day.”
Sisisky also hopes to use his site to promote those sports and athletes that regularly receive far less attention.
“A lot of radio stations just do high school football,” says Sisisky. “I will be covering both girls and boys games. Girls don’t usually get a lot of publicity in the radio format.”
Though developing the website has had its difficulties, Sisisky relishes his new opportunity.
“I’ve been giving out business cards everywhere and to everyone to promote my site. It has been a lot more work than I thought; I never sleep anymore,” jokes Sisisky. “The attractive thing though is that I still work in the area; I’m never more than 35 to 40 minutes from home. I’m just trying to keep it local.”

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