"Every single day that I go to work, I thank God that I have a job that I enjoy going to," Corke said.

"I have friends and family who dread work, and I don’t.

"As long as I have a love for sports, I’m in the right business."

Corke, 34, juggles his career as KUSA-TV Channel 9’s weekend sports anchor with his education. He earned his bachelor’s degree in broadcast news from the School in 1988, and in spite of his workload returned in 1994 to start work on his master’s degree. He expects to finish this summer.

"Because I work full time, I have done the one-class-per-semester and two-in-the-summer route," Corke said. "Another reason to do it now is before you have a big family. It gets so much tougher."

It’s already a challenge. Corke has had to change his lifestyle since returning to school, but he has come to enjoy the sacrifices.

"You have to prepare for life after TV," Corke said.

"Some people say, 'I’d like to teach someday,’" he said. "I am going to teach. I guarantee you that. It’s not a, 'Let’s see,’ or, 'Maybe it’ll happen.’

"I’m going to parlay my first love, which is television, with something I have always thought was fun, which is teaching."

Todd Barnes ('88), a close friend from high school and CU days, said the two didn’t see each other as much after Corke started graduate studies.

"I gave him a hard time about it, too," Barnes said. "He and I have always watched sports together, but for a couple of years he really had to buckle down and spend all that time dedicated to getting his school work done."

Co-worker Steve Johns, said Corke’s sincere desire to help others better themselves will make him a good teacher.

"Kevin’s got that. He’s always used that as a catalyst, because other people helped him. He never forgot them," Johns said.

Working in sports news exposed Corke to things he wasn’t familiar with as a child. Corke said his family grew up very poor and moved often. He lived in St. Louis, Chicago, Denver and several cities in California.

"I went to 12 different schools before I graduated from high school," he said. Season tickets to anything weren’t an option. Hockey was something with which he wasn’t familiar, but now he hopes that if he has kids, they’ll play hockey.

"People say, 'Aw, there aren’t no black people in hockey.’ That’s not true, and there will be more as they become more exposed to it."

It's not surprising that Corke often refers to having a family of his own. When speaking of his mother and four siblings, there is delight in his voice.

He said his sister Kim, an electrical engineer in Seattle, smacks him whenever he lets loose one of his sports analogies. Two siblings live in Colorado. His sister Janie is a writer in Denver, and his brother Michael is an academic adviser at Colorado State University. His brother James is an investment banker in Las Vegas.

Corke said having a family is a challenge for broadcast journalism professionals, and that one of the biggest downsides of his profession is that it’s not family friendly

"It’s a marathon," he said. "Families sometimes get caught up in the 26 miles. It’s easy for me to look at it with rose-colored glasses, because I don’t have a family, kids, dogs, soccer practices and recitals."

Corke has tremendous respect for the broadcast industry.

"All too often, we’re cynical about television, particularly those of us who are educated," he said.

Corke said he doesn’t find it difficult to keep his perspective. The key is to remember that the television audience is savvy.

"I just keep it real," Corke said.