Longtime broadcaster Mark Jaynes excels at sharing the airwaves with colleagues, and he did that in spades Sunday.

On this occasion, Jaynes wanted the largest banquet gathering of the Indiana Sportswriters and Sportscasters Association to know that he couldn’t have earned induction in the group’s Hall of Fame without the help of so many along the way, including members of his family.

Thus, with a host of fellow broadcasters, high school coaches and friends in the room for his induction, Jaynes listed a virtual Who’s Who of his life.

“Came in around 50,” he later said of the list of people he credited and thanked in a 20-minute acceptance speech at the Valle Vista Golf Club in Greenwood, Indiana. “Humbling day, for sure.”

Jaynes said he achieved a lifelong goal in 1996 when he joined the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Radio Network. Jaynes later became the sixth person to become the “Voice of the 500” in 2016 in addition to being the chief announcer for the INDYCAR Radio Network, which broadcasts all NTT INDYCAR SERIES and INDY NXT by Firestone races.

Jaynes grew up in Monrovia, Indiana, the adopted hometown of the Bettenhausen family. He began calling mock Indianapolis 500s into a cassette recorder. His voice was so booming even at a young age that a school official referred to him as “Howard” – as in Howard Cosell.

In 1987, Jaynes began working in Terre Haute, Indiana, the home of the Hulman-George family. His first job was at WTHI, where he met longtime IMS Radio Network announcer Mike King. Together, they called races at the Terre Haute Action Track and worked high school and college games. Jaynes spent 20 years as a pit reporter and turn announcer on the “500” and NTT INDYCAR SERIES races before moving into the anchor chair.

Jaynes credited King, Bob Jenkins, Gary Lee and John Royer for their early guidance in his motorsports broadcasting career. Jaynes also broadcasts a number of Indiana high school events for the IHSAA Champions Network and ISC Sports Network.

Jaynes teaches communications at Monrovia High School. He also has been a longtime football coach in the school system.

“This is unreal, obviously,” Jaynes said of his Hall of Fame induction attended by IMS President J. Douglas Boles, INDYCAR President Jay Frye and fellow radio broadcasters Davey Hamilton, Jake Query, Dave Furst and Michael Young. “A lot of emotion from me, believe me.”

Jaynes went on to say that being “an educator, the ‘Voice of the 500’ and a Hall of Famer is all second to being a dad and a (grandfather).”

Jaynes showed his biggest appreciation for his wife, Desiree.

“We just had the 38th anniversary of our blind date,” he said. “I hope it works out.”

It has and more. Jaynes is now a Hall of Famer.