CAS CONNECT 2017

36 D ani Welniak has encountered too many coincidences to believe in them. From winding up at Oklahoma State University because of her mother’s boyfriend to meeting her future husband in western Kansas to landing her dream job as a sideline reporter for the Kansas City Chiefs, Welniak believes her journey has been blessed with more than mere serendipity. “In the end, it’s a combination of a lot of prayer and giving 150 percent in every aspect of what I am doing,” Welniak explains. If that statement sounds like it could have come from a professional athlete, well, Welniak did play women’s professional football in Dallas for four years. She took the same field as the NFL’s Dallas Cowboys, feeding her competitive spirit. As she played, she took notice of the reporters around. “I fell in love with the idea of being a sports journalist because those who covered my games seemed so happy to be doing their jobs,” Welniak says. At the same time, Welniak’s mother began dating a former OSU football player (Walt Garrison, who also had played for the Dallas Cowboys and who would become Welniak’s stepdad). And the School of Media and Strategic Communications at OSU hatched plans for a program in sports media. Welniak says she “absolutely fell in love” with the campus. She soaked up classroom knowledge from professors such as John McGuire and Dave Hunziker while becom- ing active in student media. Her time at The O’Colly helped forge her writing skills, while her involvement in such organizations as the Sports Media Club and Association for Women in Sports Media led to opportunities in broadcasting. Football may have been her first love but at OSU she also tackled basketball, wres- tling, OSU’s Olympic sports, and even mixed martial arts events. She worked Friday night high school football games and eventually free- lanced for Fox Sports and ESPN television broadcasts. All of that experience beefed up her résumé, and the connections she made at OSU reso- nated even more deeply with Welniak. “You are close friends at OSU, but you almost become closer when you graduate,” she says. “We experienced so much together, and now we’re experiencing it at another level.” Part of the experience included paying her dues. Very few people leap from college to gigs in markets the size of Kansas City (the 33 rd largest in the nation — vs. Oklahoma City’s No. 43 ranking and Tulsa’s No. 60). To reach that level, Welniak had to get into Dodge first. Out of the 16 stations she sent a tape, the one in Dodge City, Kan., was the only one to offer her a job. There, she gained critical professional experience — and met the man who would later become her husband. Together they moved to Wichita, Kan., when Welniak was offered an opportunity there. She continued to hone her skills but after a few years in Wichita, the station faced budget cuts. KCTV in Kansas City “came out of nowhere” and approached her just as her Wichita contract was expiring. That would have been enough. Fast-forward to the fall of 2016, though, when Len Dawson, a Hall of Fame former quarterback for the Kansas City Chiefs, decided to cut back on travel in his role as color analyst for the Chiefs’ radio broad- casts. That opened up a spot for a sideline reporter, and Welniak was only too happy to step in. No Coincidences Blessings abound in OSU alumnae’s life By Brian Petrotta Footbal l was Welniak’s f irst love, and in 2016 she landed a dream job as sidel ine reporter for the Kansas Ci ty Chiefs. PHOTO BY JOHN RIEGER