With March Madness kicking off, Furman University broadcaster Dan Scott can’t help but remember that magical moment two years ago when Furman pulled a major upset in the first round of the NCAA men’s tournament.
Scott, who has been director of broadcasting for Furman since 2012, was providing the radio play-by-play of Furman’s first NCAA tournament game in 43 years when the 13th seeded Paladins upset the fourth seeded Virginia Cavaliers 68–67 on a last second three-point shot.
Scott’s call of JP Pegues’ game-winning shot in 2023 was “a once in a lifetime moment” of a 40-year broadcasting career. In addition to football and basketball duties at Furman, Scott also is the play-by-play announcer for the Greenville Drive minor league baseball team. Prior to joining Furman, a former South Carolina Baptist Convention university in Greenville, South Carolina, he announced Clemson University baseball games.
While that call may have defined his career, it did not define who he is. “Broadcasting is what I do. It is not who I am,” said Scott, who is a layman and deacon at Utica Baptist Church in Seneca, South Carolina.
Transformational moment
His life drastically changed nearly 13 years ago when he finally accepted Jesus Christ as his Lord and Savior at the age of 45. “I ran from God for a long time,” admitted Scott, whose dad was a longtime pastor and evangelist in West Virginia before his death last year.
Scott believes strongly that his NCAA experience was “a God moment” to remind him that his life now is about God and not himself. Before his salvation experience, Scott said his ego was out of control. “For way too long, my identity was who I was on air.”
Following Furman’s upset win, Scott was interviewed seven times, including two national shows, about his call of the winning shot.
He then shared the “other side” of his God moment. “Forty-eight hours later, no one knew who I was because the tournament moved on and the next big moment happened,” he said.
“I just sat back and laughed because I am human and though I tried not to, I let myself get caught up in the moment. But God was there, saying that He is the one who sets up and tears down. …
“It was a great reminder that God will allow His children to have those moments, but He is the one who allows them and that my identity is not in anything I do here. It’s all in Him. I really try hard to make sure I give God all the glory for everything that happens.”
A changed life
June 10, 2012, is a date that will forever be etched in Scott’s memory. Though he grew up in a Christian home and was baptized at the age of 14, he knows now that it was not real. “I have been baptized twice but the first time I just got wet.”
Looking back, he doesn’t even remember praying the sinner’s prayer. At the age of 18 he left for college to major in broadcast journalism, but instead, “I majored in alcohol.”
Scott dropped out and returned to his hometown and got a job with the local radio station and began his broadcast career while continuing to run from God and living “a double life,” he said. “I had a Jesus-shaped hole in my heart, but I tried to fill it with other things,” he acknowledges in this testimony.
Instead of Jesus, he filled the hole with alcohol, pornography and sex (with women other than his wife), he admitted.
Finally, God began stripping away things that were meaningful to him, primarily his radio talk show and his career as a broadcaster at Clemson, he recalled. “He took away everything that I thought was important, up to the point that I was ready to lose my wife and kids.
“I got as low as I could possibly go and when I was at the bottom I looked up and there was Jesus standing with His arms open saying, ‘Son, come home.’ ”
Scott and his wife were having a frank discussion about his life on a Saturday night when she asked him, “What’s it going to be?”
“I told her I needed to talk to dad. So, we drove five hours to their house and got there about 3 a.m. on Sunday morning,” he said. He met with his dad at 7:30 later that morning and 30 minutes later, he gave his life to Jesus. He attended the church where his dad was preaching and made the decision public, he added.
A ministry is born
After his salvation, Scott began sharing his testimony at every opportunity. His past experiences with drinking and his addition to pornography gave him “credibility” when speaking to recovery groups, he said. “I just tell them I am here to tell you what God has done in my life.”
After accepting Christ, Scott said he immediately transitioned to “super Christian. I tried multiple things that I thought was God’s will and it turned out to be Dan’s will, asking God to bless if afterwards. They turned out to be unmitigated disasters.”
Pastor Ryan Goodroe of Utica Baptist has been Scott’s pastor since 2013. He noted Scott has been “incredibly faithful” while co-teaching a Sunday School class in addition to serving as a deacon.
Though he did not know Scott before he accepted Christ, Goodroe is well aware of his testimony. “Dan is an example of a life transformed. … He is an example of what it means to be a follower of Christ,” Goodroe said.
Finally, in October if 2019, Scott spoke to a men’s conference in Chester, South Carolina, and shared that God was doing something in his life but he didn’t know what it was. Scott asked the men to pray for him.
That “something” turned out to be a radio ministry combined with a nonprofit organization with the intent to delve into mentorship and ways to help children.”
He admitted that he continued “kicking the can down the road” until he heard a sermon from Goodroe, who had a bullet point in his sermon outline that said, “What are you waiting for?”
Scott recalled that it was like God smacked him upside the head and told him to “quit messing around.”
God then began knocking down every obstacle and in 2022 Grand SLAM (Serve, Love And Mentor) Ministries, a 501c3 charitable Christian ministry designed to help children in poverty and to mentor young men, was established, he said.
The entity’s mission statement reads, “Grand Slam Ministries exists to share the love of Jesus Christ in multiple ways via multiple platforms. We exist to mentor young men into becoming strong Christians, and then to help those men become biblical Christian husbands and fathers. We exist to make sure our children have enough food and other necessities to live normal, happy lives.”
Aided by a new radio show (The Dan Scott Show) airing in markets around the country, Grand SLAM Ministries will help bring awareness to these issues, create conversations about — and find solutions for — them, and help raise the funds necessary to carry the mission forward, Scott said.
The radio show debuted on Jan. 8, 2023, on two radio stations. “We are now on 40 over the air stations and eight internet-only sites, two of which are international,” Scott said.
The focus of the show is telling stories of “how God is doing amazing things in people’s lives,” he said. “God is still working in the lives of men and women. Those stories need to be told.”
Scott said the growth of the ministry has been slow from a financial standpoint, but the ministry has met every financial obligation so far, “I am praying for and with the expectation that God is going to open the door for financial support to allow me to ultimately do this (GSM) full time.”
Goodroe observed that it “has been exciting to see” what God has done with the ministry from Scott’s early dreams to getting it off the ground. “It seems as if the Lord is really blessing this ministry,” his pastor said.
For more information on Grand SLAM Ministries, visit grandslamministries.org or contact Scott at dan@grandslamministries.org.
