NEW WILMINGTON, Pa. –  After graduating from Westminster College in 2006, Jason Mackey would embark on a post-college journey that would feature a lot of twists and turns, but also a lot of success. Before he would launch into his professional career, however, Mackey built a strong foundation at Westminster that would assist him in his life journey. 

Mackey still has a great appreciation for Westminster, frequently visiting with his family and spending time on campus. Mackey will return to campus again on Saturday, October 18th, for the homecoming football game, and will be a halftime guest on the TV broadcast of the game. 

While he is now a successful beat writer covering the Pirates for the Post-Gazette, covering sports wasn’t always the goal for Mackey. While he was recruited for athletics, and athletics ultimately brought him to Westminster, Mackey’s original goal coming out of high school was to become a math teacher. 

“A high school teacher and a coach, that was my original goal,” Mackey said. After taking a semester of math courses, however, Mackey decided that it was time for a change. “I want to do something fun. This is not fun…” 

After some time searching for a new major, Mackey chose broadcasting, sports broadcasting and broadcast communications. While at first skeptical of his change in major, Dr. Barner (retired in Spring 2025) eventually welcomed Mackey into the program, marking the beginning of many lessons and adventures. 

In his new major, Mackey would learn some of the critical lessons during his time at Westminster. By his junior year, Mackey was a play-by-play announcer for both high school football games and Westminster Titan Games, hosted Coaches Corner, a program featuring coach interviews, wrote for this very newspaper, and worked on editing and videography as well. In essence, Mackey said “yes” to everything, one of the key lessons he put into practice at Westminster and a lesson he advises current students to partake in as well. 

“Doing everything that you can, gaining every bit of experience…Do it all and take it all in,” Mackey said. Saying yes to everything also helped Mackey narrow down what he wanted to do in his life, and he recommends Westminster students do the same. 

Another critical lesson learned by Mackey came not only from the sports broadcasting major but from all of his classes at Westminster. “Westminster just taught me to learn,” Mackey said. Mackey also added that while not all of the classes he took had a direct tie to what he does now, he still gained valuable experience in those classes. “I know how to work. I know how to acquire knowledge. I know how to push myself,” Mackey said.  

Mackey shared that one of his favorite classes was actually a physics class. Not because it was great fun, but because he knew very little about it and had to work extra hard to earn a B grade, because “I wasn’t gonna let this class beat me.”

While he feels he has always had a hard-work mindset, Westminster helped build on it. Mackey credits the work-hard-and-learn attitude he developed at least in part at Westminster in the building of his successful career. “I’m proud of what I’ve been able to do and accomplish, which I would say with minimal talent. But…nobody is going to outwork me, and that is the one thing I will brag about.”

While very successful in the classroom and in his career, Mackey also had success and a good time at Westminster outside of the classroom. Mackey was a member of the Sigma Phi Epsilon fraternity and was a part of the Westminster baseball team. 

Mackey was primarily a relief pitcher for the Titan baseball squad, making an occasional start here and there. Mackey played all 4 years, and the Titans won the PAC in his junior year. “I absolutely loved it. We had a great time,” Mackey said. 

One of his favorite baseball memories, however, came in his senior year. The Titans had missed the playoffs, but had scheduled an exhibition series with Thomas Moore University. Mackey always had an affinity for the catcher’s position, but was asked to be a pitcher for the majority of his career. This series, however, brought him the opportunity to play the position he always loved.

Mackey batted .400 in that series as a catcher and was able to catch a game with his best friend as a pitcher, who pitched very well that game, with some of Mackey’s family in attendance as well. “It was so perfect, and that is how my college career ended.” 

While his time at Westminster had come to an end, Mackey was able to take with him the valuable lessons and experiences he had gained at Westminster. 

Mackey’s journey after Westminster featured many twists and turns. He held newspaper jobs in Washington and Northern Virginia before moving back to Pennsylvania, working for different local newsrooms before landing at the Post-Gazette in 2016, where he remains today as a beat writer for the Pittsburgh Pirates. He is also featured frequently on the sports radio station in Pittsburgh, 93.7 The Fan. 

Regardless of his job title, the hard work and knowledge of how to learn that Mackey built upon at Westminster have aided him wherever his career has taken him. And while not every class had a direct correlation to every job in his career, each course was valuable toward his experience and helped him get to where he is today. 

While his experience at Westminster was very valuable toward his career, Mackey is also confident that he could not do his job without his wife, Abby. “…my wife is my best friend. My wife is the coolest, funniest and prettiest person I know…she does so much to support our family and my career.”

The business of sports communication is not easy, and Mackey has seen his share of challenges, but the people around him, his time at Westminster, and his hardworking mindset have all helped him build the successful career he now has.