PEORIA, Ill. – A familiar voice to Peoria radio will be back behind the microphone for the upcoming Peoria Rivermen season.
Ed Hammon has been named the new voice of the Peoria Rivermen for the 2026-27 season. He takes over after Jason Ruff took a similar role with the ECHL’s Jacksonville Icemen.
This is not the first time that Hammond has called Rivermen games. He was the play-by-play voice for the 1985 IHL Turner Cup champions, and came back for the 1993-94 season.
For the past 24 years, Hammond has been the voice of the Bradley Braves women’s basketball team. He will be leaving that role to take the Rivermen job, something he admits was not easy to do.
“This opportunity is not going to come around again for a while, and just want to see if I can still do Rivermen games and still do hockey games, so I thought this was a good situation for me,” Hammond said.
Hammond says his schedule will include all 30 home games, along with road games at Evansville and Quad Cities. He and owner Bart Rogers have discussed the possibility of going on other road trips, and says the decision is in Hammond’s hands.
Hammond says he will miss being around the Bradley women’s basketball team and the people surrounding the team. He says his favorite memory comes from the 2021 team, who won the Missouri Valley Conference tournament and earned their first-ever March Madness berth.
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