Hometown: Butler, Pennsylvania  

Education:  B.S. Communication , Clarion University 1988, Associate Degree, Butler County Community College , 1985, Slippery Rock High School 1983. 

Career Path: Interned at KDKA TV2 in Pittsburgh. Started in radio at WISR 680AM in 1988 through 1991. Became weekend sports anchor at WFMJ in December of 1991 and have enjoyed every minute of the 24 years I've been with the company.  

Interest and Hobbies: Sports fanatic; hockey, football and auto racing are my favorites but I also enjoy baseball, basketball and golf. Hobbies include collecting baseball, football and hockey cards, hunting and fishing along with spending as much time with my family and playing cards.  Also like to watch movies and listen to music.  

Why did you choose to get into broadcast journalism? Realized my declining skills in sports but enjoyed being around the games and thought that would be the best way to stay around sports.  

What's your favorite sport? Hockey, its the first professional game my dad took me to see and have been hooked ever since. Played some as a youth and have always been impressed how hard players have to work to be successful. The game is so much more than fighting.  

What's your favorite part of your job? My favorite part of my job is meeting people at different sporting venues and talking sports with them. I'm just a sports fan that gets to tell people what happened in games. Covering high school and professional teams are a blast, and going to a couple of NASCAR races each year it the coolest thing anyone could be doing. Every day my job is different and exciting. I don't know to many people that go to work smiling and come home with that same smile still plastered on their face.

Personal: My wife, Beth, and I will celebrate 21 years of marriage on June 20th. We met while I was in college and after a few years of flirting I finally asked her out and knew from the first kiss she was the one for me. We like to pick on each other but always seem to laugh. We enjoy movies, music, baseball and just spending time with each other. On my days off I always cook for Beth.

We have three children. Lyric, 18, is a freshman in college. She has been participating in Broadway musicals since she was 4-years-old. I have to admit every time she's on stage this proud dad has tears of joy. Brendan, 15, is a sports fanatic like me. He's been playing hockey since he was 3-years-old.  Trevor, 9, is also hooked on sports and plays hockey, but can sing like his mother and sister. Someday he will be an engineer, he's always building things and is a diehard Transformer fan.  There's never a dull minute in our house, Beth and Lyric are always involved in musicals, the boys traveling and high school hockey keeps us moving. Brendan also plays high school volleyball and Trevor plays baseball in the summer.

Me and the boys enjoy going to local race tracks; Lernville, Mercer Raceway Park and the Sharon Speedway in the summer and occasionally take in a NASCAR Sprint Cup race.

We usually take a summer vacation at Myrtle Beach with my sister and her family. Plus we're all roller coaster fans. Favorite parks are Cedar Point, Disney World, Kennywood, King Dominioin and King Island, plus water parks.

Two of my favorite days of the year are Thanksgiving and New Year's Eve. We have both sides of our family over to house for a big family bash. Who said 30 or more members of your family can't be one place at the same time. Those moments are priceless.

We have two dogs, Bali and Lucy and Trevor has hermit crabs named Virginia and Steve.

Like I said never a dull moment in the Ackelson house.

You can watch Mike weekends at six and eleven on 21 Sports.

 

E-mail Mike at [email protected].