MILWAUKEE — Lisa Byington, television play-by-play voice for the Milwaukee Bucks and the first female full-time television play-by-play announcer for a major men’s professional sports team, will deliver the 2025 Axthelm Memorial Lecture, hosted by the Diederich College of Communication at Marquette University, on Tuesday, April 15, at 4 p.m. in Sensenbrenner Hall, 1103 W. Wisconsin Ave.
Registration is open to the public and available online. Media interested in covering the lecture should contact Kevin Conway at kevin.m.conway@marquette.edu.
A trailblazer in the industry, Byington was hired by the Bucks in September 2021 after serving in both play-by-play and reporter roles for basketball, football and soccer telecasts on FOX Sports, FS1, Big Ten Network, CBS, Turner Sports, Pac-12 Network, ESPN and the SEC Network over the past decade. In March 2021, Byington was the first female play-by-play voice to work the NCAA men’s basketball tournament as she called first round games for CBS and Turner Sports. She then called first and second round games in the NCAA men’s basketball tournament from 2022-24. She also served as the play-by-play announcer for the WNBA’s Chicago Sky from 2021-24, worked the 2021 Olympic Games in Tokyo for NBC Sports as a men’s and women’s soccer play-by-play announcer, and did play-by-play for the Women’s World Cup on FOX in 2019.
Byington worked as a sideline reporter for the NCAA men’s basketball tournament on CBS and Turner Sports from 2017-19 and, in 2017, became the first female play-by-play voice for a college football game on the Big Ten Network. Shortly after, she was part of an MLS game broadcast that was believed to be the first all-female broadcast of any of the five major men’s professional leagues.
A basketball and soccer player at Northwestern University, Byington began her broadcasting career with two local television stations in Michigan before moving to FOX Sports and the Big Ten Network. The Big Ten Network created the Lisa Byington Award in 2022, which is presented annually to the most outstanding female broadcaster in the Big Ten Network StudentU program.
The Pete and Bonnie Axthelm Memorial Program was established in 1994 to acknowledge and recognize the life of Pete Axthelm and his sister Bonnie. Every year this program awards an outstanding journalism student with an expressed interest in sports journalism and hosts a lecture by a professional in the field.
About Marquette University
Marquette University is a Catholic, Jesuit university located near the heart of downtown Milwaukee that offers a comprehensive range of majors in 11 nationally and internationally recognized colleges and schools. Through the formation of hearts and minds, Marquette prepares our 11,100 undergraduate, graduate, doctoral and professional students to lead, excel and serve as agents of positive change. And, we deliver results. Ranked in the top 20% of national universities, Marquette is recognized for its undergraduate teaching, innovation and career preparation as the sixth-best university in the country for job placement. Our focus on student success and immersive, personalized learning experiences encourages students to think critically and engage with the world around them. When students graduate with a Marquette degree, they are truly prepared and called to Be The Difference.
