Michael Rubenstein

Greg Williamson

by Greg Williamson
March 26, 2008

Michael Rubenstein’s office in the Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame is cluttered with sports awards and pictures, and a little plastic sumo wrestler stands on his desk. Born in Booneville, Miss., he moved to Jackson for a state job in 1974 after graduating from Vanderbilt University. How he ended up in sports broadcasting and working for a sports museum is serendipity.

Rubenstein, 56, had no sports announcing background and was a mediocre athlete at the time. But he did have a part-time job on Friday night at WJSU radio. While he was drinking beer at the now-defunct George Street Grocery, some friends suggested he try for a broadcasting job at WLBT. Rubenstein had no audition tape.

“They fished the 10 o’clock sport script out of the trash can, sat me in front of a camera and had me read it,” he says.

WLBT didn’t like the audition, but Rubenstein didn’t know it. He later got a call from the station engineer, who had heard him on WJSU. He told Rubenstein to come by and talk to the station manager. “I go down there Monday and knock on the station manager’s door. He says, ‘What are you doing here?’” Rubenstein recalls. They didn’t know the guy they heard on WJSU radio Friday night was the same guy they had already rejected for the job.

“It’s blind luck,” he says.

Another bit of luck was that Rubenstein was available at the time the Sports Hall of Fame Museum needed help getting started. He jumped in, and the museum has been successful since it opened July 4, 1996. “We have received zero taxpayer support since that time,” he says. “We have raised 100 percent of our operating funds for almost 12 years now. We have a national reputation for being a quality facility.”

When asked why he thinks the museum has taken off as it has, Rubenstein cites his staff and the museum’s supporters.

“Sports produces good news stories in a state that is not always known for its good news,” he adds.

Lately Rubenstein has returned to sports announcing, or rather pronouncing. He is the “pronouncer” for the State Spelling Bee Finals held this year on March 25 in Jackson. “It’s the most pressure-packed thing I do all year,” he says. “Nobody wants to be the guy to ruin some 13-year-old’s dreams by mispronouncing a word. So I spend a good bit of time on it and take it very seriously.”

The city has been good to Rubenstein.

“I’m happy to live in Jackson,” he says. I’ve had very interesting jobs here and have met a lot of great people. I am proud of Mississippi ... and delighted that the museum has done so well.”

 
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