On Senior Day, Callan croons international tunes

Ron Callan sings the Australian national anthem before the Oregon State women’s victory over San Diego Saturday at Gill Coliseum (courtesy Dominic Cusimano)

Updated 2/23/2025 2:00 PM

CORVALLIS — As radio play-by-play announcer for Oregon State women’s basketball, Ron Callan is recognized for his voice.

But while on the job, the Napa, Calif., native has been masterful while showing off his singing chops, too.

Over the past decade, Callan has belted out the national anthems of eight Beaver players prior to OSU home games — and none of them have been the Star Spangled Banner.

The latest example came before Oregon State’s 64-51 victory over San Diego Saturday at Gill Coliseum. Standing at midcourt with a crowd of 4,745 looking on, Callan sang the Australian national anthem in honor of OSU senior Kelsey Rees, a native of Adelaide, South Australia.

“I had some butterflies,” Callan said afterward. “It had been two years since I had done one. But everybody seemed to like it. Kelsey thought I nailed it.”

So did her mother.

“He did a great job with it,” said Nicole Guy-Rees, who was on hand for the game with husband Paul Rees. “I am amazed that he learned it. What we could hear, the words were correct, and it’s not the easiest anthem to sing.”

Callan’s Australian accent “needs a bit of work,” she said with a smile. “But for the most part, it was pretty good. We were really proud of him.”

For the first time, Callan sang to the accompaniment of the OSU pep band.

“(Director) Olin Hannum took the time to arrange the song for the band,” Callan said. “That was really cool.”

In previous years, Callan has sung the Canadian, German, Polish, Paraguayan and Serbian anthems in honor of OSU seniors. The idea — and it is Callan’s — is to pay tribute to Oregon State’s international players on Senior Day, the final regular-season home game of their college career.

Callan, 72, has done OSU women’s play-by-play for 17 years. He has also been sideline reporter for Beaver football for that duration and has been a professional broadcaster for a half-century. Though he claims, “I’m not some Pavarotti,” Callan also has a nice singing voice and plenty of experience with music, beginning with a stint in the Napa High school choir.

Callan was a member of the Linfield a cappella choir and president his senior year. He sang and performed in four musicals while at Linfield. While working at a Boise TV station, he got a part in a musical; in Seattle, he was in a charity band as one of the singers doing cover tunes. A prime hobby is singing karaoke.

Callan’s first foray into singing “other” national anthems came in 2016. The idea came to him after watching OSU center Ruth Hamblin during the playing of the U.S. anthem.

“She would stand up so tall and straight and respectful,” Callan said. “I got to thinking that during her four years at Oregon State, she heard (the Star Spangled Banner) more than 100 times. I have always loved the Canadian anthem. When I was in Seattle, I would sing it when I went to Canucks games in Vancouver. It’s a cool anthem. I thought to myself, ‘I’d love to sing that anthem in honor of Ruth.’ ”

After clearing it with Coach Scott Rueck, Callan prepared a surprise for Hamblin. He didn’t have to learn the words to “O Canada” because he already knew them by heart.

It went well. Hamblin was moved to tears. And that was that, Callan thought.

“It was going to be a one-time thing,” he said.

But Oregon State had another Canadian, junior Kolbie Orum. Afterward, she approached Callan.

“You are going to sing that for me next year, right Ron?” she asked.

So Callan did the Canadian anthem again in 2017.

The next year, senior center Marie Gülich — who had witnessed both singings of “O Canada” — approached Callan with, “Do you have the German anthem prepared for me?”

Callan said OK. “But I wanted to sing it in German,” he said. “Singing it in English would be wimpy.”

Callan had made the acquaintance of Marie’s father, Johannes Gulich. “We sang a duet together,” Callan said.

A tradition was born. In 2019, it was Poland’s national anthem for center Joanna Grymek.

“That was the first time I was going solo in a different language,” Callan said. “Joanna knew I was going to sing it. We were in an airport and I started pronouncing words and asked her, ‘How does this sound?’ ”

“You need to do a little more of the ‘zish’ sound,” she told him.

The Covid pandemic paused things in 2020 and ’21, but in ’22 Callan did double duty for Jovana Subasic (Serbia) and Andrea Aquino (Paraguay). In 2023, it was Serbian again for Jelena Mitrovic.

“I always memorize the words,” Callan says. “It’s an hour-and-15-minute drive from my place in Tigard to Gill. On that drive, I will go through the song 50 times. Push repeat over and over. By rote, you get to know it.

“It is a bigger challenge in a different language. When you are doing other languages, you have to learn the song phonetically. You have the English (translation) so you know what it means.”

Callan sang the Canadian and Polish anthems a cappella. He had instrumental music playing behind him for the German, Serbian and Paraguayan songs.

“It has been a positive thing,” Callan said. “I don’t think anybody else (in the U.S.) does it. Parents appreciate it as much as the student-athletes.”

So does the coach.

“It is first-class, but that is who Ron is,” Rueck said. “He is so selfless and outward-focused. He has gone above and beyond for our program as long as I have been here. This is one of those special things that is a gift to these kids. It makes them feel so special. I am so thankful for his willingness to do it, his thoughtfulness to think of the idea initially, and his talent to be able to pull it off so well year after year no matter the country or the anthem.

“And he has a good singing voice. Who knew?”

Callan is curious about one thing.

“They have never asked me to sing the U.S. anthem,” he said. “But maybe my thing should be just doing international anthems. So many people want to sing (the Star Spangled Banner).”

Callan already has another assignment. At a reception following the San Diego game, he was approached by OSU junior Catarina Ferreira.

“I am so excited about you singing the Brazilian anthem next year,” she said.

► ◄

Readers: what are your thoughts? I would love to hear them in the comments below. On the comments entry screen, only your name is required, your email address and website are optional, and may be left blank.

Follow me on X (formerly Twitter).

Like me on Facebook.

Find me on Instagram.

Be sure to sign up for my emails.