Voices of the game: PA announcers clearly care about their jobs
Tim DeBacco doubled as a public address announcer and organist for the Pittsburgh Pirates and also worked for the Penguins.
Diligent preparation, sincerity to the job, and total focus on the task at hand are all characteristics Ryan Briggs brings to his public address announcer jobs.
Add a wonderful, clear, and matter-of-fact voice and expert knowledge to that package and what you have is a PA announcer of pure excellence.
Briggs, the sports information director at Grove City College and often the Presidents’ Athletic Conference’s postseason PA announcer of choice, brings a professional approach and performance each time.
Public address announcers come in all shapes and sizes, all kinds of voice tones, high-pitched, calm, over-zealous, exuberant and, like Briggs, in control of emotions, narrating the game, providing solid information and entertaining the crowd.
“You are like the narrator,” Briggs said. “It’s not your job to keep going. You’re not reading a story or reading lines. The job is to enhance the operation and experience for every fan and to provide a nice experience but it is not to be the experience. Being too much ruins it.”
Each PA announcer has a system and style. There are common traits among those who do well at the job – provide necessary information, be clear, concise and correct. Pronounce the names correctly.
“There’s no excuse to mess up a name,” Briggs said. “Sometimes there are circumstances. If I’m saying a name, I’m saying it right.”
In recent years, there’s a push for those in charge to press the PA announcer to be loud, to be partisan, to be a show amid a bigger show.
“I always learned the best PA announcers are a complement to the game, not to be the game,” said Joe Klimchak, the in-game host at PNC Park for the Pirates. “If you’re doing it right, you don’t need to add any more. You may juice it a little sometimes. A relaxed conversation works well.”
Larry Richert, the PA announcer for the Steelers, said much of what he says to the crowd at Heinz Field is scripted. He must follow the rules and doesn’t do much, if any, freelancing. Richert’s voice alone is easily recognizable, and he brings that excitement in keeping fans informed and entertained.
“That’s my job,” Richert said. “Pittsburgh has been blessed with many great PA announcers and great play-by-play announcers. The fans here have been blessed with great ones.”
Just to name a few of those PA announcers: the late John Barbero (Pittsburgh Penguins); Roger Huston (longtime voice of The Meadows, Pitt football and world-renowned harness racing announcer), the late Randy Cosgrove (Pittsburgh Steelers) and people whose work at the high school level have made them the soundtrack of the community.
One of the best baseball PA announcers, Tim DeBacco, announced earlier this year, he was retiring from his duties with the Pittsburgh Pirates.
DeBacco remains for 2022, working only weekday day games. The Pirates are using a rotating system of Pittsburgh celebrities to serve as PA announcers this year, including Andrew Stockey, Guy Junker and Richert, among others.
DeBacco brought much to the Pirates’ game day activities.
He became a legend who replaced a legend in the late Art McKennan.
“He guided me and we became friends,” DeBacco said. “We had a lot of laughs. We talked baseball and shop. He welcomed me to the role and was always welcoming.”
In addition to being the PA announcer, DeBacco played the organ, following another legend, the late Vince Laschied.
“He played at my wedding,” DeBacco said. “We shared many laughs. He supported me.”
DeBacco’s confident, polished and relaxed delivery is what makes him special.
“He has been so important to what the Pirates do in-game,” said Rick Cerrone, the current editor and chief of Baseball Digest and the person who hired DeBacco for the job many years ago. “I don’t remember all the details but he was the most impressive and a standout when he auditioned. He’s proven he was the right choice. He is everything a great public address announcer is.
“He blew us away. He’s been an iconic part of the Pirates’ gameday experience. We knew we were in good hands. I am proud of that hire.”
His signature entrance: “Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to PNC Park. Today the National League presents the San Francisco Giants AND YOUR PITTSBURGH PIRATES. And now, ladies and gentlemen, if you’ll have your scorecards ready. Here are today’s starting lineups.”
Doing it right
The diligent public address announcers have gathered the names, confirmed pronunciations and are prepared to keep fans informed and engaged.
Bob Sheppard, the legendary PA announcer for the New York Yankees, lived and worked relying on the three Cs: be clear, be concise and be correct. That threesome served the great Sheppard, who had a distinctive baritone voice and precise delivery, so well for many years.
Not every PA announcer can be Sheppard. But they do follow the three Cs.
“Preparation is key,” said Brad (Scott) Langerman, longtime PA voice of Washington High School football and basketball. “Sometimes information changes. Something might happen in the stands. The PA announcer has some responsibility for crowd control. You prepare as much as you can but you can’t prepare for everything. There are some unknowns that can come up.”
Scott is looking forward to his 40th season of Prexies football in the fall. He’s been the PA announcer for the school’s boys basketball team since 1984.
“You just try to make the experience for the athletes, the cheerleaders, Homecoming Queen, a little better, a little more special,” he added. “Announcing someone’s 1,000th point in basketball is special. You hope the athletes remember some of your calls.”
He added that the only time he stopped making announcements during the game or for public service was when longtime Washington fan and “head cheerleader” Willard “Lock” Hartley, had taken the floor.
“I would never upstage Lock,” Scott laughed.
Jim Reynolds served as Canon-McMillan’s PA announcer in football, basketball and wrestling for many years. He announced his retirement recently.
“It’s almost guaranteed that something will happen that I’m not prepared for,” Reynolds said, “whether that’s an athlete who changed his football jersey without letting anyone know or my announcing a starting player in basketball who wasn’t even in the building or an opposing coach who won’t reveal his starters until game time.
“I really enjoyed hearing from fans of the visiting team. After a basketball game or after the wrestling match they would often stop by the scorer’s table to tell me how much they enjoyed the call, how professional they thought I sounded. To me, there’s no better feeling in announcing.”
Rich Briggs is clearly the voice of Fort Cherry Rangers’ athletics. He cherished the boys basketball team’s run to the WPIAL finals this year.
He said it’s the kids who motivate him to bring energy and excitement to the games.
“I’m proud of what I do and I want to get everyone involved in the game,” he said. “We wanted to change the culture. People started to listen. It really doesn’t matter the sport. I love the basketball game and ‘Friday Night Lights.'”
Few bring as much passion as Huston. At Pitt he had the “tackle made by No. 99 – HUGH … GREEN” call.
“My whole thing is to get the fans involved,” Huston said. “Pitt wanted to put some life into the crowd and that’s what I did. I totally loved my time at Pitt. We had a lot of fun.”
Good, bad and funny
Sometimes things don’t go as planned, says Tom Rooney, who has decades of experience in horse racing, team sports and live entertainment.
He was part of a group that ran the old Civic Arena. They were preparing for an exhibition soccer game between the Pittsburgh Spirit and the Cleveland Force when they realized they hadn’t hired a PA announcer.
Rooney stepped in.
“I had experience doing some high school games and I knew the Spirit players,” he said. “I’m literally in the press box looking at a lineup just given to me and none of Cleveland’s players names had vowels in them. I try to announce their names and these Cleveland players are literally rolling on the ground laughing. I was butchering their names and nobody helped me out.”
And then there was Don Ireland, who talked his way right out of a job as the Pitt’s football PA announcer one Saturday afternoon.
In October 1994, Ireland made comments heard all over Pitt Stadium during a Panthers-West Virginia football game.
To wit: “Ladies and gentlemen, there’s a tractor in the parking lot with its lights on. West Virginia license plate E-I-E-I-O.”
And, he asked, “Dr. Billy Joe Jim Bob” to call his office and finally stated there was no smoking at Pitt Stadium and “that means no cigarettes, no cigars, no corncob pipes.”
WVU officials were outraged and apology letters were sent to the Mountaineers. Ireland offered to resign and Pitt accepted. He did, however, remain as the Panthers’ PA announcer for basketball.
Perhaps nothing tops one evening in 2000, when Cerrone, who studied Sheppard and could uncannily imitate his voice almost perfectly, was asked to do the unthinkable.
It was the fourth inning of a Yankees game and Sheppard came down with laryngitis. A Yankees official tells Cerrone he must step in and do the PA – in Sheppard’s voice.
“I’m like, ‘You can’t be serious,’ ” Cerrone replied.
He was dead serious and wanted to make sure it was without anyone else knowing it really wasn’t Sheppard.
It worked so well that Cerrone did it a few more times when pressed into duty.
Cerrone laughs about it now, but he said Sheppard’s influence was great.
“He had principals and he was never going to be a homer or a carnival barker in his role,” Cerrone said.
Final act
George Lammay, superintendent of Washington School District and the PA voice of Washington & Jefferson College football, sticks to the facts.
He focuses on the play on the field.
He begins his preparation on Wednesdays. He follows information given to him by W&J, making his own charts and conducting his own due diligence.
“I get there 90 minutes prior to kickoff,” Lammay said. “I do the work I need done. I get familiar with the two-deep, talk to those I need to so I can complete my preparation. I’m not going to be exciting or loud. The game speaks for itself. I am there to inform and provide fans the information they need.”
At least one, Ryan Briggs – affectionately known as “Professor Briggs” – truly keeps fans informed. In the spring of 2021, Briggs not only served as a PA announcer, but also provided radio color commentary and served as official statistician, all at the same time, for a Grove City football game. That takes a unique guy and a masterful communicator.
“It’s one of the most professional performances I have ever seen,” said W&J athletic director Scott McGuinness. “The level of concentration it takes to accomplish it and do it in the manner he did is spectacular. Only a handful of people in this world could do what he did that night.
“Not many workers were allowed in the press box because of COVID. People were doing extra things. There were no workers from outside. Unless you have ever been in a press box, it would be hard to imagine his level of concentration. It was impeccable. Ryan was fully focused on three things for three hours. It was an incredible performance.”