Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Gary Dolphin


 * The following discussion is an archived debate of the proposed deletion of the article below. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as the article's talk page or in a deletion review).  No further edits should be made to this page.

The result was   keep. Stifle (talk) 18:29, 26 February 2011 (UTC)

Gary Dolphin

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From speedy. Certainly not a speedy, but on the bubble for notability.

On the one hand, he's the voice of some major sports in the state of Iowa, where - since it doesn't have any major-league professional sports teams - the Hawkeyes are big news, and he has been for 13 years. He's presumably well-known to sports fans in Iowa, a polity with a population comparable to Lithuania.

On the other hand, he's just an announcer (and sports radio show host) in a relatively small market (for America). He doesn't seem to have gotten any major writeups in the Des Moines papers, that I find, and so doesn't meet the WP:GNG criteria of "significant coverage".

Does he meet WP:ENTERTAINER #2 ("Has a large fan base or a significant 'cult' following")? I don't know - it's seems reasonable to think that he might (depending on how one defines "large" and "fan"), but I don't have sources showing that he does. Herostratus (talk) 04:23, 10 February 2011 (UTC)

 Please add new comments below this notice. Thanks, Ron Ritzman (talk) 00:03, 17 February 2011 (UTC)
 * Neutral as nominator. Herostratus (talk) 04:23, 10 February 2011 (UTC)
 * Delete - he's just another minor broadcaster on a minor station. There are tens of thousands like him. If he's locally important there'd be sufficient coverage to satisfy WP:GNG, but there isn't and absolutely zero evidence of a cult following! andy (talk) 10:27, 10 February 2011 (UTC)
 * Keep He is a broadcaster for The Hawkeye Radio Network which spans nearly 40 stations in Iowa and beyond. His broadcast partners Ed Podolak and Bobby Hansen already have articles. His predecessor, Jim Zabel has an article. Iowa does not have pro sports teams, so the Hawkeyes are the state's team. Dolphin, as well as the Hawkeyes, have a huge following in the state. Alex
 * Hansen and Podolak played pro sports at the highest level for many years, and their articles talk about this first. As to Zabel, per WP:OTHERSTUFFEXISTS its arguable the he shouldn't have an article either. Herostratus (talk) 16:56, 11 February 2011 (UTC)
 * Note: This debate has been included in the list of Radio-related deletion discussions.  -- • Gene93k (talk) 13:50, 11 February 2011 (UTC)
 * Note: This debate has been included in the list of People-related deletion discussions.  -- • Gene93k (talk) 13:50, 11 February 2011 (UTC)
 * Relisted to generate a more thorough discussion so a clearer consensus may be reached.


 * Strong Keep based on the verifiable fact that he was named "Iowa Sportscaster of the Year" by the National Sportscasters and Sportswriters Association in both 2000 and 2010. That's a major award from a notable national organization won not just once but twice. - Dravecky (talk) 19:03, 21 February 2011 (UTC)
 * On further review, he's also the subject of a significant amount of in-depth coverage by reliable third-party sources over a sustained period of time. I've barely scratched the surface and added a handful of these sources to the article and expanded it slightly. An editor with any interest in further expanding the article could easily find the resources to do so. - Dravecky (talk) 19:55, 21 February 2011 (UTC)
 * I'm not necessarily disputing you (and thank you very much for adding the refs), but those are notice in the Dubuque papers. I'd like to see some more in the Des Moines papers if not the Chicago papers before I concluded he was of more than local notability. However, Iowa sportcaster of the year is, in my view, worth noting. As I said earlier, Iowa has about as many people as Lithuania. If someone was twice Lithuanian sportscaster of the year, would he rate an article? I don't know, but its arguable that he would. Not changing from Neutral at this time, but now starting to lean toward Keep. Herostratus (talk) 20:59, 21 February 2011 (UTC)
 * That's an example of FUTON bias, not a lack of articles. The Dubuque newspaper is available in full on Google News while the Des Moines Register is tucked behind a paywall and only partially searchable. There are good articles there (example: ) but I lack the resources to search them in-depth.) The Chicago Sun-Times archive only goes back to 1997 but Dolphin's career at Northwestern was from 1990 to 1996. There is some coverage in the Chicago Tribune archives but (for example: ) the text is inaccessible for free. - Dravecky (talk) 23:42, 21 February 2011 (UTC)
 * Keep per Dravecky.4meter4 (talk) 08:09, 26 February 2011 (UTC)
 * Keep. Sources listed above appear to (very marginally) confer notability under WP:GNG. Alzarian16 (talk) 18:25, 26 February 2011 (UTC)
 * The above discussion is preserved as an archive of the debate. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as the article's talk page or in a deletion review). No further edits should be made to this page.