by Norm Weber in Our Hometown News
'I'll do anything,' is the motto Strongsville native and Baldwin-Wallace student/athlete currently lives by now during his ascension in the sports media world.
Terlop is one of those guys who just won't take no for an answer when it comes to his future. He made up his mind a long time ago he wants to spend the rest of his life connected with sports in some way and get paid for it.
A pitcher on Bob Fisher's Yellow Jacket baseball team, Terlop is a communications major when he is not on the athletic field. Even when he is studying, at least in practicum, he is near the athletic field sometimes for a long time.
One of those times was Oct. 17 when Terlop actively participated in an unprecedented triple-duty assignment at Tressel Field in The George Finnie Stadium. That day Sports Time Ohio broadcast the first-ever triple header in the annals of Ohio Athletic Conference history.
The first game pitted Baldwin-Wallace's football team against Muskingum, followed by the women's soccer match against Muskingum and then the men's soccer match against Muskingum.
It was a three-for-three day for B-W, as all three teams won. Calling the first game was Terlop, doing the graphics for the second event was Terlop and catching all the action for film at 11 was Terlop.
Terlop did the color commentary on the football game, the graphics (all the written material appearing on the TV screen) for women's soccer and then handled one of the cameras for men's soccer.
"It was amazing all the things I had an opportunity to do," Terlop said. "Anyone who wants to get into broadcasting should know that there are so many ends to it. These all add experience for me. The more anyone knows about the business, the easier it will be to get a job once school is done."
He was able to reflect on the whole thing as well.
"Being able to see almost every aspect of it has helped me appreciate it more," Terlop said.
Most viewers see the announcers when watching a game, but not much of all the behind-the-scenes work that goes into producing a show for a live athletic event.
"We have the set up and tear down and so many pieces that have to be working in order for the broadcast to come out fantastically," he said. "You have to look at the smaller parts of it to understand the whole big picture."
Terlop said that just about everyone who grows up in Strongsville plays soccer at some point. He played until he was 13, giving him enough knowledge of the sport to add value to the broadcasts.
"Although the girls team in Strongsville is not publicized as much, they made it to the state finals three years in a row and the boys a couple years ago had Mike Green, ,who was the Ohio Player of the Year," Terlop said. STO giving exposure to the sport all over is a good thing. Soccer players are some of the best athletes I know. People outside Strongsville might not know it, but once in anyone will understand that soccer is a big deal in Strongsville. Adidas puts on a national tournament there every year."
Of course when Terlop was younger, he dreamed of becoming a major leaguer one day, but by age 10 or 12 reality began to set in that it is a one in a million chance, and he started figuring out ways he could stay in sports well into his adult years and the broadcasting light went off.
"When I was 12 I knew that I was not going to go pro in baseball because not many kids make it," Terlop said. "Sitting around and watching a game and talking about it is a lot of fun."
He also realizes that a lot of commentators and play-by-play men in the sports broadcast business are ex pro jocks, making it harder for just a regular guy to make it to the top.
"I have second major, marketing, because broadcasting is hard to get into," Terlop said. "I would like to get into broadcasting, but if it does not work out I might try to get into marketing with one of the professional sports teams. I want to enjoy my job down the line."
Terlop had Tommy John surgery between his junior and senior years at Strongsville High School.
His first year back in baseball was his freshman year at B-W, which was last year. He started pitching in January, made the Florida trip with the team, pitched on the JV team most of the year and then wound up dressing for five varsity games, making an appearance for 2/3 of an inning.
Fisher has a young pitching staff and Terlop is planning to fit in the varsity plans in the spring. He doesn't care whether it will be as a starter, middle reliever, long reliever or short reliever.
"I'm a team player; I'll go in anywhere," Terlop said. "I am going to do the best to my ability. We are all focused on winning and OAC championship." B-W last won an OAC baseball championship in 1985.
"Coming to B-W to study broadcasting is a great opportunity, and getting to play baseball with it is just a bonus," Terlop said. "Going to Strongsville helped me get the privilege to play college baseball."
Nine of the 11 seniors from Terlop's graduating class at Strongsville are now playing college baseball. Considering that less than five percent of all high school student/athletes go on to play college sports at any level.
"I wanted to play collegiately and was lucky enough to play at Strongsville to get put out there and get looks," he said. "Most of the teams at Strongsville have winning records so most of us leave there with a winning attitude. We were .500 here last year and the Strongsville guys are not used to that. We are hoping to change that."
Strongsville won the state championship his sophomore season, made the Final Four his junior year and were ranked No. 1 his senior year until getting upset in the playoffs.
Terlop has a sister (Katie) and a brother (Kyle), juniors at Strongsville High School. One of the twins, Kyle , is swimmer, while the other, Katie,. is and a diver and softball player.
