Al Pickett has been covering sports in the Big Country for 30 years. He spent 15 years as sports editor of the Abilene Reporter-News, and since 2002 he has been a freelance writer and sports broadcaster. He broadcasts Abilene High football and Cooper basketball and baseball, is the play-by-play voice for Hardin-Simmons football and is host of Let’s Talk Sports, a daily sports talk show on KWKC 1340 AM. Besides owning his own oil and gas reporting service, Pickett writes for three national and regional oil and gas publications, and he is regular contributor to Dave Campbell’s Texas Football and Red Raider Sports magazines. He is also the author of four books about sports in Abilene and Texas. Pickett was the founder of the Big Country Athletic Hall of Fame and has served as its chairman since the Hall of Fame’s inception in 2002.