Meet the Team Behind Sportz-USA Podcast

Sportz-USA Podcast is powered by a passionate crew of broadcasters, writers, and sports professionals who live and breathe the games you love. Our mission? To bring you the latest news, real talk, and exclusive interviews with the athletes and insiders shaping the sports world.

John Askins

John Askins has compiled a lengthy list of accomplishments during his 50 years in sports media. Beginning at Texas Tech’s KTXT student-run radio – which now bears his name as donor of its present studios – he has worked both inside and outside of university athletic departments, initially as Director of Communications and Asst. Athletic Director.

Collegiate stops  have included New Mexico Highlands, West Texas State, New Mexico State,  the Southwest and Big 12 Conferences.

Corporate stints included CEO of Sports Media Group and with two of the nation’s largest sports marketing companies: Host/IMG in Dallas and TouchdownPro Sports in San Francisco.
   
He then moved into the regional sports network arena, coordinating programming at Home Sports Entertainment and Prime Network.

Askins has also served as Executive Director of the Greater Houston Sports Association, where he guided both the Smith Award (college baseball) and the Rotary Lombardi Award (college football).

A lifelong supporter of college baseball, he created the College Baseball Foundation, serving as its first CEO and Founder of the College Baseball Hall of Fame.

In 2016, he came out of retirement to build 5K-watt KTIM-89.1 FM in La Grange, Texas, serving as Executive Director of Texas Independent Media. Before re-retiring in 2025, “K-TIMe”had won 4 consecutive station of the year awards.

Tom Russo

Tom is a jack of all trades kind of guy!  An entrepreneur at heart, Tom has been a business owner, banker, motivational speaker, podcaster, author, radio host, teacher, football official and coach.  Author of “Business is Like Baseball,” he shares a passion for sports and sports history.  

His own podcast “In a Blink of an Eye” can be watched on YouTube and his book “Business is Like Baseball” is out of print and hard to find!

Lee Baker

Coming Soon!

Bo Carter

Coming Soon!

Jon Keirns

Coming Soon!

Kevin Long

Kevin Long grew up on Long Island, New York, where he played football, basketball, and baseball at Seton Hall High School, and was one of the Three Wise Men in the school Christmas play. He went on to get a bachelor’s degree at West Texas State University and master’s degree at Texas Tech. Long has worked as a sportscaster in Amarillo, Montgomery, Lubbock, and Dallas. He has worked as a sportswriter at The Daily Oklahoman, Newsday, Texas Sports magazine, and the Philadelphia Enquirer.