Steve Klauke was an artist.

When I was a kid, I used to listen to Houston Astros games on my little red transistor radio. The announcers were incredibly skilled a creating a "theater of the mind."

I could see the games being played in my head and ultimately was inspired to want to do that for other people.

I've been lucky enough to broadcast thousands of Dixie State and Region 9 football, basketball and baseball games over the past three decades in Southern Utah.

Klauke, who was killed in an auto-pedestrian accident Monday night, had a similar vision.

He grew up a Chicago White Sox fan and was lucky enough to be able to listen to their broadcasts as a kid.

He made the move to help people "see" the game through their radios at an early age.

Klauke moved to Salt Lake City in 1991 and by 1993 he was the "voice" of the Salt Lake Bees, the AAA affiliate of the Los Angeles Angels.

Over the next 29 years, he would call more than 4,000 Bees games and even started doing Weber State games the last several years. At the age of 68, he retired from the Bees just last year.

His talent was story-telling, his passion was sports and his reputation was spotless.

In fact, in this circle of sports media in the state of Utah, I never met a single person that didn't like Steve. No one had a single bad thing to say about the guy.

If you've been in Southern Utah your whole life, you maybe never had the pleasure of hearing Steve call a game, but I can tell you he really was an artist.

He was old-school, old-fashioned and as humble as they come.

I remember having a conversation with him about the "theater of the mind" a few years ago. He said he felt a tremendous responsibility to convey to the listener all the things they couldn't see, but that he could.

And he did it.

The world is a little bit darker place without your light, Steve.

Hey, maybe now you can have dinner with Vin Scully, Harry Caray and Keith Jackson.

Now that would be great "theater of the mind."

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