Award-winning investigative journalist Tony Kovaleski clued his mom in early about his life’s direction. When he was only 5 years old and given the gift of a snare drum, he took a drumstick and rammed it through the drumhead. Asked to explain, Tony said he was curious about what was inside.

Born in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, Tony was a go-getter from the start. At San Jose State University, he became the sports director of the campus radio station, exploiting his degree even before it was received.

A journalist rising, Tony’s sleuthing talents became quite evident to the audience of KPRC-TV in Houston. Recruited later to KMGH-TV (Denver7), Tony’s scoops and methodology were already bordering on the legendary.

Fast forward to today, with more than 100 national and local awards on his fuselage, 50 Emmys among them, Tony is on a fourteener of his own making. In 2011, he and two colleagues were recognized by 5280 Magazine as among the 50 most powerful people in Colorado.

Tony regards his greatest success as the 2009 investigative documentary “33 Minutes to 34 Right,” which covered Continental Airline’s crash before airborne at the Denver airport in 2008. All passengers survived but Tony’s reporting about slow response time pressured the airport to permanently station an ambulance at the airport.

When asked to describe his modus operandi, Tony explained, “I ask all the tipsters and sources how we can expose concerns and navigate the challenges of getting to the truth.”

One might conclude Tony is tough, driven and persistent. All true, but he also has a softer side when he speaks of his love of life, passion for meeting people and desire to make communities better places through his journalism.

Away from work, Tony enjoys life with his significant other, Katherine, in the Forest Park neighborhood. Together they spend time walking Lambeau, a mini-Australian Shepherd. Beyond Lambeau, there is another Green Bay Packer connection: Tony is a fractional shareholder of the team. He joked that the team equity puts him in the same class as Jerry Jones of the Dallas Cowboys.

Tony has three adult daughters, Jennifer, Brianna and Brooke, all excelling in their chosen fields. Jennifer is following in his footsteps in television in the Phoenix market.

On the verge of retiring and excited about the next chapter, Tony is shaping a shingle for a new profession—crisis prevention and management. Having uncovered these things professionally, he, better than most, understands the granular issues that lead to corporate disasters. “Why not,” he said, “be proactive rather than discover a mess when the horse is already out of the barn?”

Denver’s faithful viewers will miss his wisdom and panache, and younger professionals will long follow his proven methods and tactics in investigative broadcasting. Reverting again to his “inner Lombardi,” Tony noted that, “Winning isn’t everything, but wanting to win is.”

 

By Joe Gschwendtner; photos courtesy of Tony Kovaleski