Chris
Denari
Announcer
Chris Denari has been a member of the IMS Radio Network since 1999. He spent two years as a pit reporter in 1999 and 2000, and since 2001, he has sat in the Turn 4 announcer position.
Denari has been involved in broadcasting sports in Indianapolis for 40 years. In 2022, he was named the Indiana Sportscaster of the Year by the National Sports Media Association. He was named the Indiana Sportswriters and Sportscasters Association 2003 Broadcaster of the Year and in April 2016, he was inducted into the Indiana Sportswriters and Sportscasters Association Hall of Fame.
Denari just completed his 18th season as the Indiana Pacers’ (NBA) television play-by-play announcer on Bally Sports Indiana. He also served as the radio/television play-by-play announcer for the WNBA’s Indiana Fever for 18 seasons from 2000-2017.
Prior to joining the Pacers, he was the Sports Director at WXIN-TV Fox 59 in Indianapolis. With his move to Pacers’ TV, he ended his 17-year association as the radio play-by-play voice of Butler University basketball. He called five of Butler’s NCAA Tournament appearances, including the Bulldogs’ first trip to the Sweet Sixteen in 2003.
Denari has also handled play-by-play duties on assignment for the Big Ten Network. Previously, he was a member of the Indianapolis Colts Radio Network, worked for Pacers’ TV as a locker-room reporter and was the television play-by-play voice for the Indiana High School Athletic Association’s state championship events.
A 1979 graduate of Westfield (Ind.) High School, he played basketball for his father, Bob. He graduated from Wabash College in 1983 and was a member of the Little Giants’ 1982 NCAA Division III national championship basketball team. In 2014, Denari was inducted with his teammates into the Wabash College Athletic Hall of Fame.
Denari is a board member for the Joel Cornette Foundation and has served on the Board of Directors for Special Olympics Indiana, Methodist Sports Medicine Foundation and Carmel Dads Club. He is a spokesman and volunteer for the Hamilton County Humane Society and is active as a speaker and emcee for various organizations and events in Central Indiana. In 2009, he was named to the inaugural class of the Westfield High School Distinguished Alumni Hall of Fame. In 2016, he was the recipient of the Clarence A. Jackson Career Service Award from the National Association of Wabash Men, an award given annually to an alumnus who has distinguished himself by outstanding service to his chosen vocation.
Denari and his wife, Terry, live in Carmel, Ind., and are the proud parents of sons, Evan (married to Meredith and grandson, Walker), Wilson (married to Emma and grandson, Archer) and Max.