Area Native Lands Broadcasting Job With WWE
Area Native Lands Broadcasting Job With WWE
Jack Korpela has been a fan of World Wrestling Entertainment since the age of four.
He loved to watch Hulk Hogan flex his muscles and defend his championship match after match.
Now, at the age of 24, the Gateway High School graduate and sports broadcaster will get to live a dream.
He has been hired as an on-air talent by the WWE.
"This is a dream come true for me," said Korpela, who began his broadcasting journey at the University of Florida.
"It's going to take a while to sink in."
Last fall, after graduating from college, Korpela sent out resume tapes everywhere, including the WWE.
He didn't hear back from the WWE for a couple months, but got the call he was looking for and auditioned May 5.
"(The audition) was one of the hardest things I've ever had to do," he said.
"They put me on the spot."
Following the typical question and answer interview, Korpela was asked to put together a mock television package.
He also had the chance to broadcast a couple taped matches.
Just when Korpela thought he was off the hook, he was asked to sell a bottle of water to test his marketing ability.
"They were determined to make me freeze," he said.
After another few months of waiting after the audition, Korpela got the call he was hoping for.
"I was on the way to an interview for a sales job when I got the call," he said.
Korpela started his new job on Monday.
He said there will be a lot of training and rehearsing between now and when he finally gets on the air in two or three months.
"What the WWE has grown into is amazing," Korpela said.
"Even people that don't watch pro wrestling have to respect what (WWE owner) Vince McMahon and his family have done. He rescued a company that was almost out of business."
Korpela can't wait to finally meet McMahon and work with the wrestlers and other on-air talent.
He did have an opportunity to meet a former WWE superstar while eating breakfast at the hotel on the morning of his interview.
"I was sitting there and the Million Dollar Man Ted DiBiase walked in. He was doing some promotional work. I shook his hand and talked to him for a while. It was great."
Korpela is excited to follow in the footsteps of fellow wrestling stars from Pitts- burgh like Bruno Sammar- tino and Kurt Angle.
The 2001 Gateway graduate competed in the Gator wrestling program for six years under Tom LaBuff and Dick Bane, qualifying for the WPIAL tournament his senior year.
"When I graduated high school, I applied all of the lessons I learned in wrestling about the value of hard work and persistence and put all of that energy into my dream of becoming a broadcaster."
Korpela received his degree in journalism and telecommunications from Florida in 2005.
Over the past few years, he combined his love of sports and his broadcasting aspirations into a job as an auto racing reporter for ESPN2 and The Outdoor Channel.
"Announcing drag races was an incredibly beneficial experience for me. Not only did it help me get through college financially, it helped me mold by craft and style."
He has been seen locally talking sports on television stations such as WTAE and WBGN, and on radio at WAMO-AM radio.
Source: Time Express News
For more on Korpela, you can visit his official website at www.jackkorpela.com.
