By Mark Carpenter
Sometimes one of the most memorable moments at a sporting event is the vocal efforts of the public address announcer. In southeast Ohio, the gold standard for announcers is Lou Horvath at the Convo with his “Basketball 30.” In this county, fans can enjoy the work of Dean Brown at Peebles and Dave Louden at North Adams and the county recently lost one of its favorite PA guys in A.G. Lockhart from Manchester, who will forever be remembered for his penalty flag pronouncement, “We have laundry on the field.”
The National Federation of High Schools declared Oct. 4-10 at PA Announcers Wee and fans everywhere can relive some of their favorite moments brought to them by their favorite voices behind the microphone. A good and informative PA announcer can be a sports writer’s best friend, helping the writer keep up with things he may have missed while trying to multi-task a dozen things at once. Knowing the down, distance, and yard line in a football game is invaluable to the writer.
One of the top announcers at the present in Adams County is Troy Thatcher, who handles the announcing duties currently at Manchester High School. Thatcher recently talked ti the Defender about his experiences “behind the microphone”.
“Over the years I had been asked by the MLSD staff if I would mind introducing players prior to some games, especially when my daughters may have been cheering or playing,” said Thatcher. “Over time this led to me calling a game in its entirety. It really all began with Lady Hounds varsity basketball. I noticed at Manchester and at other schools that girls basketball sometimes merely received the attention of someone introduce the players and that was all. This led me to a discussion with then Lady Hounds head coach Vohn Hoop and he agreed with me that it was time for the girls program to have a ‘voice’ at MHS.”
“I never really thought about announcing as something I wanted to do, however, now that I am doing it I hope that Manchester allows me to do it for years to come. We are blessed here in Adams County with great kids and being a part of their lives is a blessing for this old man.”
The good public address announcer will not attract attention, but will get attention if he or she performs their job correctly.
“The PA announcer is really an extension of the officiating crew,” says Thatcher. “There can be no favoritism in your approach to calling the game. During pre-game introductions, I may give some emphasis to our Hounds, however, once the whistle blows your tone must be the same for both teams. There’s nothing worse than going somewhere and losing and having the other team’s PA announcer being a ‘cheerleader’ for the home team.”
“I learned this by listening to Dean Brown at Peebles. If you know anything about Adams County high school basketball, you know that Coach Justice and Coach Arey have had some pretty good teams. They win a lot more than they lose, however, Dean’s tone remains the same whether they are down by two or up by 20. Your job is to just call the game, period.”
The list of memorable sports moments in Adams County’s long and exhausting, and the PA announcer is usually there for them all, at least those that happen on the home court. Thatcher realizes that just being behind the microphone is a memorable moment for him.
“Honestly, every time I introduce the players and the starting lineups is memorable for me,” Thatcher said. “With so many distractions in this world, it’s wonderful to see the kids you have had the pleasure of watching grow up be part of a team effort. It doesn’t matter that I know that kids who participate in extracurricular programs have a higher percentage of being successful, what truly matters is that they want to be part of a team, win, lose, or draw, supporting their teammates while representing their high schools and communities.”
:The most difficult part of the PA job is not getting caught up in the game or distracted by Something on the bench or in the crowd,” Thatcher continued. “This is especially true for those who do games on the radio. I was fortunate enough to be asked by Don Bowles to do some games and the radio and I worked a couple of times with he and Judge Spencer and it is a lot tougher than it looks. They do an amazing job and it’s important to support out local radio and the Defender and the small businesses in the county, especially those that advertise to bring us the games on air or in print.”
