A nine-year journey will conclude for St. Cloud State University student Carl Goenner when he receives his diploma in May.
The mass communications major has spent years broadcasting sports at SCSU’s on-campus radio station KVSC, and he was also the president of SCSU’s student section for three years.
That type of college experience seemed improbable after Goenner was diagnosed with several brain tumors requiring surgery at only eight years old.
It wasn’t until he was 10 years old that seizure symptoms began to worsen, with issues like teeth chattering, stomach pain and passing out affecting his progress in school.
He eventually went to the hospital for a 10-day stay where doctors hooked up his brain to a grid to find the root of the persistent problems before completing further surgeries.
“I spent my 11th birthday in the hospital and had the rest of my infected brain and tumors removed the day after,” Goenner said. “I have been seizure free ever since.”
After a few weeks of home recovery, he returned to Clearview Elementary School in Clear Lake. It was challenging to try to return to normalcy as a fifth grader, something that persisted as he entered middle school.
“I never felt like I fit in anymore, it was a challenge socially,” Goenner said. “Once I started playing more sports in eighth grade, I started to build more relationships. It was about finding connections with other people, and people were more understanding.”
Finding his Passion
Sports have continued to serve as a passion and direction for Goenner since graduating from St. Cloud Tech High School in 2017. He was inspired to pursue a sports management degree at St. Cloud State after his local experience coaching middle school basketball.
He started with a full course load but found it difficult to keep up, failing multiple classes before going on academic probation. Goenner took classes for a year at St. Cloud Technical & Community College before returning to SCSU in 2021 as a mass communications major.
“When I returned, I got fully involved at KVSC,” he said. “I did two years as a volunteer sports broadcaster, two years as the assistant sports director and now I’m in my second year as sports director.”
Broadcasting high school sporting events helped him gain more experience, which he has used in his role as play-by-play announcer for SCSU Volleyball the past three years and SCSU Men’s Hockey for two seasons.
Goenner credits working on his family’s potato farm in Clear Lake for instilling in him the work ethic needed to improve as a broadcaster.
“I was not afraid of doing hard work; I was calling five or six games a week,” he said. “I really enjoy working with our staff … KVSC is an amazing place to work.”
The effects of his childhood brain surgeries are wide ranging: short and long-term memory difficulties, slow comprehension and challenges grasping concepts.
He has countered these challenges academically by taking fewer classes per semester to keep up with coursework, but memorization is a huge part of preparing for any sports broadcast.
A sport like hockey has at least 24 players on each team you need to keep straight and be able to recall during fast-paced action.
“I make quizzes where I spend three to four hours on each team memorizing,” Goenner said. “It’s a longer preparation process for me.”
That level of professionalism is something that KVSC station manager Dan Seeger sees as a huge asset for Goenner’s future success.
“Carl brings a tremendous work ethic to his game prep for KVSC broadcasts … he wants to bring his absolute best to the airwaves for the teams and for the listeners,” Seeger said. “We’ll miss Carl after he graduates, but I’m very excited to see what he’ll do next. He’s taken full advantage of the hands-on opportunities at KVSC, and I know he’s going to be able to take on whatever professional opportunity comes his way.”
While Goenner has broadcasted hundreds of games at SCSU, the volleyball team’s run to the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Division II Tournament in 2022 still stands out as the most memorable.
“We went with the team to Wayne, Nebraska, and it was one of the most exciting tournaments I’ve ever been a part of,” Goenner said. “I realized this is what I want to do; it just clicked for me. It was just like being out there, and it was so fulfilling to me.”
Dog Pound and Graduation
Being around Division I hockey has also brought Goenner back to his SCSU roots.
His mom Emily Goenner-Munson is an associate professor of business communications at SCSU, and Goenner’s grandfather Dr. Ron Carlson was a faculty member in the SCSU Accounting Department for over 25 years.
Goenner’s grandfather was a men’s hockey fan and season ticket holder, which originally sparked his grandson’s interest in the sport.
There are still photos of Goenner and his brothers gathered together wearing SCSU paper goalie masks, a fitting origin for the former president of SCSU’s student section known a” “The Dog Pound”.
Goenner led the group for three years, serving as the superfan who could be clearly identified with his bright red light-up helmet. He served on The Dog Pound leadership board for seven years.
“To feel like you’re helping the team and you make an impact on how they perform is such a good feeling,” Goenner said. “I don’t think people realize how much a student section can affect the team; it was a blast and I loved every minute of it.”
With his experience as an avid sports fan and broadcaster, it’s little surprise that play-by-play announcing is what Goenner sees in his future.
He’s already begun looking at jobs nationwide for hockey or basketball play-by-play positions at the collegiate or amateur level. His dream job remains broadcasting for professional teams in the NHL or NBA.
His ability to participate meaningfully at KVSC has served as an impactful learning experience, where Goenner had the chance to grow even in the difficult moments.
“Any failure I see as a learning experience and something I can better myself in,” he said. “I never see a downside in learning.”
Graduating in Spring 2026 with a mass communications degree will be a nine-year journey finally reaching its conclusion.
“It will be a relief, but I will be very grateful for everything I’ve done here,” he said. “I will be the first of my four brothers to graduate college; everybody has their own path, so it will be interesting to see how I find my own after college.”
