This fall I
will be starting my 25th year as the public address announcer for
Augustana College football and basketball.
Like so many other things that have happened in the lifetime of an
old-timer like me, these years have flown by.
Whether or not this season of Augie athletics will be my last is yet to
be determined. I have mentioned to
several people that 25 years is long enough but, who knows, maybe Augie’s move
back to the Arena for home basketball games will stoke my fire again just like
the football team’s move from Howard Wood to Kirkeby-Over Stadium did a few
years back. So, as far as this being my
last year as the PA “Voice of the Vikings”, I guess it’s too soon to tell.
Speaking of
telling, I’ve decided to use this blog to tell the true story of just how I got
started in this PA announcer “gig” in the first place.
I first
became aware of the role of the PA announcer at sports events as a young kid
way back in the late 1950’s listening to University of Minnesota football and
basketball games on the radio. The PA announcer for the U of M and for the state
high school basketball tournament in those days was a man named Julius
Perlt. Perlt was an icon as recognizable
as Goldy Gopher himself to Gopher fans, and many other fans across the country.
He had a unique voice which is difficult to describe. Unless you had the experience of actually
hearing it for yourself, there is no way that I could do it justice, but I can
say that it was rather quaint, piercing and somewhat esoteric in that, as
far as I could tell, you had to be born and raised in Minnesota to fully
appreciate it. Until 1963 I had only
heard Julius Perlt’s voice on the radio or on TV, but that year I attended the
state basketball tournament for the first time.
One of the first things I heard as I entered Williams Arena on the first
day of the tournament was the voice of Julius Perlt. I was quickly consumed with chills
that engulfed my body from head to toe. I could hardly believe that I was hearing that voice in person. His
voice, almost more than the games themselves, made that tournament a great
experience for me.
There were
three other PA announcers that had influence on me through my years. One was Al Swanson. Swanson was a high school English and speech
teacher in Worthington, Minnesota. He
also served as the public address announcer for Worthington High School sports
and for the district and regional high school basketball tournaments played in Worthington’s
spacious gym. Though Julius Perlt’s
voice is hard to describe, Swanson’s can easily be described as commanding and
forceful. Hearing his voice addressing
the crowd made every spectator feel like they were in attendance at a very
significant and, perhaps historical, event.
When he announced the starting line-up, not only were the players pumped
up and ready to rumble, but so was the crowd.
The crowds were always huge for those tournament games back in the
1960’s and people would come early and begin to fill the place long before the
game began. I’ll always remember Swanson
imploring the fans to make room for the late comers with a booming voice saying,
“More people need to be seated, so get to know your neighbor, and please squeeze together!” Years later I used that line a few times
myself whenever Augie hosted South Dakota State at the Elmen Center.
When I first
came to the Sioux Falls area as a young teacher and coach at West Lyon High school in
the early 1970’s I began to attend Augustana basketball games whenever I could. The Augie basketball announcer during those
years was A. Richard “Pastor Pete” Petersen.
Pastor Pete had served as the campus pastor, dean of men, associate dean
of students, assistant football coach, and assistant athletic director at Augie,
and for more than 30 years he was the public address announcer at all Augustana
athletic events. He had a strong, powerful, deep voice that
absolutely captured everyone’s attention. The sound system at the arena, though
not what it is today, was exceptional for it’s time and Pastor Pete’s voice
resonated like thunder. I’ve often heard people say that it was like hearing
“the Voice of God”. To me that describes
it perfectly.
In January of 1992, just a few short months after winning the 1991 World Series,
the Minnesota Twins Caravan came to Sioux Falls. I remember that Kent Hrbek, relief pitcher
Carl Willis, and radio announcer John Gordon were there, but the member of the
group that I was most interested in meeting was long time Twins public address
announcer Bob Casey. This was three
years after I had started announcing Augustana football and basketball games
and I thought it would be interesting to meet a fellow announcer of Casey’s
stature, so after the program was over I sought him out. I found him to be cordial and unassuming and
we spoke together at some length about the role and function of the PA
announcer. During that conversation, Mr. Casey gave me some simple advice that
has served me well over the last 22 years.
He said, “There are two things that you need to know if you want to be a
good PA guy. One is that you don’t have
to have a great voice to do the job as long as you put energy and enthusiasm into
it.” He went on, “the second thing is don’t try to copy anyone else. Just be
yourself and develop your own style.” That was great advice from one of the
best! Up until that time I think I had
been trying too hard to copy the Perlts, Swansons and Pastor Petes of the
announcing world but, because of Bob Casey’s sage advice, I began to develop my
own style, always with energy and enthusiasm.
Now it’s
time for the true confessions. I’ve been
asked how I got started as a PA announcer in the first place. You might be
surprised to learn that it started with a little white lie. Obviously by now you know that I have always
been interested in the role of the PA announcer and I always had a desire to be
one, but until one day in 1987 the opportunity just had not been there. I was in my first year as a counselor at
Huron High School and I heard, through the grapevine, that our Athletic
Director was looking for someone to announce the football games that fall. I thought that this could be the opportunity that
I had been waiting for so I went to him and offered my services. He asked me if I had any experience doing
public address and I was sure that, if I said no, he would say no in reply.
It was one
of those make or break moments. What
should I tell him? I had imagined myself in this role so many
times. As a kid I had actually practiced the art frequently while playing back
yard games so that, in my mind, I did have some experience. However, I was pretty sure that to Mr
Heitema, the A.D., those things wouldn’t
qualify me and so, out of desperation I told a little white lie and said that I
had been a football PA guy at my previous school. The next thing I knew I found myself in the
announcers booth at Tiger Stadium and I was the “Voice of the Huron Tigers” for
the next three years. With the help of a
friend and community leader, Lee Larsen, I also was asked to do the basketball
games at the Huron Arena as well.
When we
moved to Sioux Falls in the summer of 1990 I wasn’t ready to just give up my
announcing endeavors so I wrote a letter and sent it to the Athletic Directors at all of the
Sioux Falls high schools and also to the University of Sioux Falls and Augustana College I included some recommendation letters from
Huron coaches, administrators and community people, one of which was written by
Lee Larsen, who just happened to be an old Augustana football player and Augie
booster. Then, a month before the 1990
football season was to get underway, Bill Gross, who was Augie’s Director of
Athletics at the time, called me and offered me the football announcing position.
As the saying goes, the rest is history.
I’m sure that Lee Larsen played a big part in Bill deciding to make that
phone call, and I will always be grateful to him.
It has been
a great 25 years. A fulfillment of a dream, you might say. The people at Augustana have been great to
work alongside of over the years. I have
such admiration for people like Bill Gross, Jeff Holm, Bryan Miller, Jon Eng
and so many others in the Augustana athletic and academic community. Bill has retired from the Athletic Department
now and Jeff has moved on to another position.
A new administration has taken over and I’m anxious to get to know them
as well.
On September
13 the Vikings kick-off their home season against Minnesota-Duluth and I’ll be
behind the microphone for my 25th home opener. It seems like only yesterday that it all
began. Thanks to everyone who made it
possible and Go Vikings!
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