Tigers Hold Kids Opening Day Sunday with 14-Year-Old Announcer, Gabe Nazelli

DETROIT - April 11, 2017 - PRLog -- Gabe Nazelli is a standout basketball and baseball player at Country Day school. He seems to always be in the right spot at the right time when it comes to the Tigers broadcast booth.

In 2013, Gabe and his good friend and wingman, Nick Wachol, were invited to step in the radio booth along Jim Price and Dan Dickerson.  Each fourth grader read the line-ups for the host Detroit Tigers and the visiting Los Angeles Angels.

The Tigers Kids Opening Day took place Sunday, April 8 as the Tigers wrapped up their Opening Weekend series against the Boston Red Sox. All kids 14-and-younger received an "Every Kid, Every Sunday" Building Block Calendar, compliments of Little Caesars. Twenty-three Kids Opening Day contest winners who were selected from an essay contest participated in a variety of roles including honorary starting lineup announcer, honorary radio broadcast announcer and honorary groundskeeper.

Gabe's grandmother, Mrs. Judith Arabia, of Grosse Pointe Farms, submitted the winning essay. That resulted in a telephone call to Gabe's parents, Christopher and Andrea Nazelli in Farmington Hills. His father is a Ph.D candidate at Wayne State University, where he currently holds a professorship in the mathematics department. Gabe's mother teaches Spanish at the Country Day middle school.

According to Gabe, he divides credit for his good fortune to his grandparents. For many basketball seasons, his grandfather, Dennis Nazelli, coached him with the duel purpose of becoming an accomplished athlete and a good citizen.

"My Da took the first American Youth Basketball team to the Soviet Union in 1985," Gabe reported.  "He is also responsible for the removal of all the 'Hangman Nooses' in Livonia."

His parents describe Gabe as a typical teenager: unlikely able to wake up on his own, extended hours on his Apple; new Nike shoes every two months.  Yet, families who know this shy, red head, balance the parent's ledger with, "He speaks like an adult; he's polite; always has something for the conversation," offered the parent of one of Gabe's friend, Dr. Sabrina Smith-Campbell.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3049235/Michigan-...