Joe Trahan '86 named WFAA weeknight sports anchor

Eddie George '16
Late last month, Joe Trahan ’86 was named weeknight sports anchor at WFAA, the news station he has called home for the last 18 years of his career. Since joining the station, Trahan has covered many Super Bowls, World Series, NBA Finals, and even one Stanley Cup Final.
 
Mr. Trahan said that he attributes much of his success to Jesuit: “It was the confirmation of everything I learned at home. I was around like-minded people who cemented the beliefs I was taught by my parents, and it was a place that stressed the importance of how to relate to other people in my community.”
 
While Trahan was a student at Jesuit, he was awarded the first ever “Jesuit Secondary Education Award,” an award that was given to the student who best exemplified the motto of living as a ‘Man for Others.’ Winning this award for Trahan was “a realization that he had an obligation to those around him.” His plaque still hangs in Moran Hall today.
 
Trahan went on to say, “The well-wishes have been pouring in, but the most gratifying part for me is that almost every person I know or have worked with mentioned the kind of person I am. The work is the work—that’ll always be there. Of course, I am motivated to do a great job, but it’s the relationships and the people that make it all go.”
 
During his time at Jesuit in the 80s, Trahan was a part of the SJET program, short for Strake Jesuit Education Television. During his time in SJET, he remembers doing things like morning announcements and gameshows during special programs. He said he remembers “the feeling of breaking out of my shell and just having something to look back upon saying ‘I can do this’.” Coupling his SJET experience with those as the President of his youth group at St. Philip Neri parish, Trahan said he “gained a lot of foundational confidence.”
 
When asked to give a piece of advice to current SJET students, he said, “Push the envelope. Do more than what the teacher asks of you. Push boundaries and see what you’re capable of because the earlier you start thinking creatively, the better you will be.”
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