GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Steve Egan was courtside at the Alamodome when the Gators men’s basketball team won the program’s third national championship. He was there, too, when the Gators went back-to-back in the mid-2000s.

If there is a Gators football or men’s basketball game happening, Egan is plugged into the action. Egan works on radio broadcasts and collaborates with the Voice of the Gators, Sean Kelley, and Kelley’s on-air partners during Florida’s athletic season. He can sometimes be found in the press box at Condron Ballpark in the spring, but once the UF baseball team wraps up the season, Egan turns to another sport.

Egan exercises to stay in shape. He runs. He bikes. He swims. He often does all three on the same day.

The longtime Gator Sports Network on-site radio engineer for football, men’s basketball, and select baseball games, Egan is a man on the go. He was at the Music City Triathlon in Nashville last month. He has two events planned in July, and then in early August, Egan is headed to Milwaukee to compete in the USA Triathlon National Championships.

Egan transforms from observer to competitor when he shows up for a triathlon. He recently earned USA Triathlon All-American status in his age group for the second time.

Egan has been working with the Gators since 1990, but his triathlon story started 19 years ago when he began a life-altering journey that has taken him around the country and the globe.

“It was all a continuation of my weight-loss program,” Egan said. “I was once almost 450 pounds and got into an exercise program with a trainer. She just happened to be a triathlon coach and invited me to continue on my training with her and her triathlon team in Orlando. So that’s kind of how it began.”

 

After training with the team, Egan wanted to try his hand at triathlons.

“What happened was I went to a few races. I thought it was kind of fun, and finally, I entered one on my own,” he said.

Soon, his quest to continue exercising became his new passion. A veteran TV and radio sound specialist, Egan has developed a healthier lifestyle regardless of where he is or why he is there.

Egan’s triathlon years have evolved during a career that includes working as a senior audio director for WOFL/FOX 35-TV in Orlando, a four-year stint as the broadcast coordinator and pregame and postgame host on the Atlanta Braves Radio Network from 2007-10, and into his fourth decade of working with the Gators.

“It was just a way for me to continue to train and work out and keep the weight off because it motivates you to do so,” he said. “You have to if you’re going to do these races.”

Egan started slow but has picked up the pace over the years. Since 2006, Egan said he has averaged 15-20 races yearly. He said he recently competed in his 270th event. Like any sport, it requires training and doing it at this level requires a lot of dedication.

While the Gators keep Egan busy, he finds ways to train between triathlons.

“I do something every day: swim, bike or run each day, and then some weightlifting and stuff like that,” he said. “It helps you work out all year long when you plan out a schedule of events and have to be ready to do them at a moment’s notice. I also do marathons just to kind of stay in shape as well.”

Egan finds ways to stay remain active, whether on a weekend trip to a football game in Starkville or a midweek road trip for basketball.

Mick Hubert, a longtime colleague of Egan’s and former Voice of the Gators, always admired Egan’s commitment.

“We would go, like with football, out to dinner on Friday night. We would be on a road trip and out of town and have a staff dinner at a nice restaurant,” Hubert said. “Then we would get back to the hotel room, and Egan would say he’s going to change and go on a run. It would be like 11 p.m. on a Friday after dinner. And it wouldn’t just be a mile. He would run several miles until midnight. I was going to bed, and he was getting ready to go for a run.”

Egan is always searching for races to enter, whether in the heat of July or the cold of January.

“During the winter months, I’ll find marathons or half-marathons to keep me busy and occupied,” he said. “Most [triathlons] take place in the spring and summer, which is kind of a downtime for us. Once basketball season is over, I do some baseball, but it’s not too bad for the most part.”

While Egan plans many of his races outside of football season, he makes exceptions. He is a triathlete as well as a radio broadcaster.

“There are times when I have done a race on gameday morning, and I come right from the race to the football game in the same day,” he said. “There has been a couple of times where I start in St. Petersburg, do a race down there, and then get in the car and drive up here still dressed in my triathlon stuff and do the football game. I’ll just change clothes quickly and do the football game. It’s a full-day event.”

Hubert has seen Egan’s transformation several times.

“A 7 o’clock triathlon in the morning, and then I would see him around 2 p.m., and he would already have a medal,” said Hubert. “I don’t know how he does it, he can get by on about four hours of sleep. I just told him, ‘Man, you’re a machine,’ and he really is.”

If 2006 Egan bumped into 2024 Egan, he never could have guessed that he would become such an avid triathlete.

“Again, at one point, I was around 450 pounds, and my idea of a triathlon then was eating, sleeping and watching TV,” he said. “That was just the three things I did on a regular basis. So, this has just taken me to a different place.”

The races have taken Egan to different mental and physical places.

He has been able to compete globally, including in many states, Canada, and Europe.

Some of his favorite triathlons he has competed in include the Escape from Alcatraz race in San Francisco in July, a race in Switzerland from a few years ago, and Iron Man Hawaii.

Physical challenges are not the only hurdles triathletes must clear. They must also overcome any fears about swimming in the open water.

“I remember the first time I went with my coach and her club – we went to a nearby lake in central Florida – I went out about 20 feet and turned around and came back,” said Egan. “You knew there were gators and snakes in the lake. That was a tough fear to get over. You just kind of have to put it out of your mind. You know they’re around, but try not to think about it.”

Egan reached a milestone in the summer of 2024. He won his fifth triathlon of the season in his age group, claiming first in USA Triathlon’s Kentucky State Championship in Louisville.

What started as a weight-loss journey to transform his body has blossomed into a competitive outlet that keeps Egan moving in the right direction.

“The best part of the last few years is I’ve been able to compete and actually do well in these things. Before, it was just a matter of doing it and taking pride in finishing the race,” Egan said. “In these last few years, I’ve been able to get good enough where I’ve actually been able to win races, which makes it even more fun.”

Meanwhile, throughout Egan’s triathlon career, he has had a teammate who’s been with him the whole time: Big Orange. Big Orange is Egan’s bike, which he has been using since his first competition and has recently reached more than 100,000 miles.

“We’ve been through several crashes together and then several victories,” said Egan. “I know I talk about him like a person, but he’s kind of like a little teammate of mine.”

After almost 20 years, several crashes and miles and miles together, Egan and Big Orange have no plans to retire any time soon.

Egan is busy planning their next adventure.

“I told him that this is one of the greatest stories I’ve ever been told for a human being,” said Hubert. “I was so proud of him and still am today.”