June 25, 2025
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Announcer Roy Cordes reflects on time at KCC following retirement

“The Voice of the Cavaliers” called his final game this spring

By Adam Tumino
Roy Cordes sits in the press box at the Kankakee Community College Cavaliers baseball field on Tuesday, June 23, 2025. Cordes, who began calling games in 2008 and recently retired, said he's called over 1,500 games in his time as "the voice of the Cavaliers."

Roy Cordes sits in the press box at the Kankakee Community College Cavaliers baseball field on Tuesday, June 23, 2025. Cordes, who began calling games in 2008 and recently retired, said he's called over 1,500 games in his time as "the voice of the Cavaliers." (Tiffany Blanchette)

The process by which Roy Cordes came to be known as the “Voice of the Cavaliers” at Kankakee Community College was a gradual one.

It started in 2008, when his youngest daughter Emily was playing volleyball at KCC under longtime coach Gary Sien.

“Before the 2008 season, he asked if anybody knew of anybody who could announce the starting lineups for volleyball, and announce the play-by-play if they wanted to,” Cordes said. “She raised her hand and said ‘my dad could do that.’ ”

Cordes, a Buckley native, was a teacher and principal for 33 years, with time in Springfield and Rochelle preceding a 17-year stretch at St. Paul’s Lutheran School in Bourbonnais before he retired at 55. He would announce at the games throughout his time working in education, so when Emily asked if he would be interested in doing the same at KCC, he seized the opportunity to showcase his voice.

“I’ve always had people talk about my voice,” Cordes said. “The Lord has blessed me with this deep bass voice in choir and stuff, and I always scare myself when I hear my voice recorded because it’s so deep.”

Soon after starting at volleyball, Cordes began taking on announcing duties for other sports, and before too long, he was the “Voice of the Cavaliers.”

Roy Cordes looks out at the Kankakee Community College Cavaliers baseball field from the press box on Tuesday, June 23, 2025. Cordes, who began calling games in 2008 and recently retired, said he's called over 1,500 games in his time as "the voice of the Cavaliers

Roy Cordes looks out at the Kankakee Community College Cavaliers baseball field from the press box on Tuesday, June 23, 2025. Cordes, who began calling games in 2008 and recently retired, said he's called over 1,500 games in his time as "the voice of the Cavaliers (Tiffany Blanchette)

Cordes, now 82, was on hand to call games for many great Cavalier teams over his 17 years with KCC, including the 2015 softball team and 2017 baseball team that both won national championships.

Between being a former college baseball player at Concordia University, then called Concordia Teachers College, and having his son Jonathan play at KCC long before he came on board to announce, the game of baseball has always been close to Cordes’ heart.

He was given a national championship ring from that 2017 team by former KCC baseball coach and athletic director Todd Post, and some of his fondest memories from his time at KCC were from going with the baseball team on their annual spring trips.

“Todd Post, who I’ve know for quite a while, came to me and said ‘I realize baseball is your first love ... you could even go on the spring trips with us,’” Cordes said. “So I did that, and at that time it was Florida and then it was Myrtle Beach. Then with the pandemic it was southern Illinois, and now it’s southern Illinois and Missouri. Out of the 17 years, I think I went on spring trips 13 or 14 times.”

Now with more free time, Cordes has his five kids and their families, including 14 grandchildren, to keep him and his wife Dee busy. He also has begun to spend time visiting people in hospitals and nursing homes.

Kankakee Community College honored longtime sports announcer Roy Cordes at a retirement reception on April 28, 2025. Cordes announced Cavaliers games for over 15 years, starting in 2008.

Kankakee Community College honored longtime sports announcer Roy Cordes at a retirement reception on April 28, 2025. Cordes announced Cavaliers games for over 15 years, starting in 2008. (Photo provided by Kankakee Community College)

Additionally, Cordes has a project he started years ago that he plans to continue now that he is no longer working at KCC.

“Ten years ago I started a book and wrote 25 chapters,” he said. “My goal is to write 41, because my sister died at 41, and I was going to dedicate it to her.”

Cordes, who is classified as a minister of religion, said it is a morning devotional book based on church signs, with him relating each sign to a story from his life and finding an accompanying Bible passage to finish each chapter.

“St. Pat’s for instance had a sign in the wintertime that said ‘Whoever is praying for snow, please stop,’” he said. “I wrote a chapter on that because I used to go out on the snow plow with my dad, who worked for the state, and pull the salt lever for him when his partner was too drunk to go out at two in the morning.”

Also going forward, while his time announcing at KCC is over, his announcing days in general are not.

“I’ve done the Holiday Tournament at Kankakee, the basketball tournament, for the last three years,” he said. “I’m planning to continue doing that, even though I’ve retired from here. ... I still do the Buckley Dutch Masters [E.I League baseball games] on Sundays, and Buckley is my home town. It’s great to go back to your home town after 60 years to do that.”