Friday Night Sights: P.A. announcers

Sitting in a small booth considered the best seat in the house, public address announcers diligently work to keep the audience informed of the facts during a game. 

With computers, rosters, microphones and enthusiasm, PA announcers introduce players, announce scores, starting lineups, game progress and more. 

Indeed, these voices are a critical component of each teams’ home-field atmosphere and advantage. And without them, Friday night football just wouldn’t be the same.

The First Academy: Joe Fana and Dr. Tim Dix

Having worked at The First Academy for more than 25 years, Joe Fana realized he wanted to get more involved with the school’s sports teams.

Six years ago, he became the PA announcer for the school. 

Fana said he was never good at sports but has a deep love for them, so he started participating in sporting events as much as possible. 

“Through the process of my time here, it became evident that I really wanted to use some of the gifts and talents that God has given me to help the school in the way of doing PA announcing,” Fana said. “Once I started doing it, I just knew how much I really loved it and enjoyed engaging with the spectators and the athletes as well. … It’s my way of finding a way that I could contribute and hopefully make it an enjoyable experience during our athletic competitions.”

He explained that PA announcers don’t just sit down and start announcing. There is a lot of preparation that goes with it. 

“We learn about not only our own teams, but we learn about the opponents as well in a couple different ways,” Fana said. “We learn about ‘Who have they been playing?’ ‘What are the different student athletes?’ ‘Who are the student athletes to really keep an eye on?’ We (also) spend time trying to get to know the pronunciation of the student athletes, because it’s something that honors them on the (field) and also honors their families. We do the best we can to pronounce names correctly.”

Fana will celebrate his 500th game as a PA announcer this fall.

“I can’t think of another place I’d rather be.”

In addition to Fana, TFA has another familiar voice in Tim Dix. 

Dix grew up playing sports, and when he got to high school, he began taking speech and communication classes. Through those experiences, he became comfortable with public speaking, which became apparent to the school’s softball coach, who then asked Dix if he would be interesting in doing PA for softball games. He said yes. 

Twnety-nine years later and he’s still announcing. 

Dix has been at The First Academy for four years as a teacher and PA announcer, now severing as an assistant principal. 

“For me, it’s the love of sports,” Dix said. “I love being around it. I love contributing to the excitement and to what’s taking place on the field. I love the opportunity to highlight students as well.” 

Dix talked about the love and support students give him if he calls one of their names on the speaker during a game. 

“I really do it just as a service to students — just to celebrate them and really do it out of love for sports,” Dix said. “But I tell you: The thing that I enjoy, like secondary to just calling the games ... is watching the maturity and growth of a team and getting to be a part of that. Watching that team grow and gel.”

Dr. Phillips High: Richard Colgan  

Besides teaching math at Dr. Phillips High, Richard Colgan also coaches cross country and track. 

But that’s not all. 

He’s also the PA announcer for the school. 

His career as an announcer began shortly after graduating college, though Colgan said he didn’t do it for quite some time until moving to Florida from New Jersey. 

“It makes me feel more connected to the game if I’m announcing or keeping stats,” he said. “It helps me to appreciate the game on another level.” 

Like Dix, Colgan enjoys when his students come up to him after games to recognize their names being called by him. 

“It’s just really fun to watch the games, see the kids play, and be able to announce their names and hear about (it) afterward at school the next day about how much they liked hearing their names,” he said. “That’s the really fun part of the job.”

Colgan said there’s a Florida bylaw that doesn’t allow PA announcers to act as cheerleaders. They must remain neutral throughout the games. 

It’s not always an easy, but announcers go through training before stepping into the role.

To make the game as entertaining as possible without being a cheerleader, Colgan uses emphasis on certain words and says things enthusiastically, when appropriate. 

This is his fourth year acting as PA announcer for the Panthers. 

“They seem to like me announcing the games,” he said. “So as long as they like me announcing it, I’m happy to do it.” 

Windermere Prep: John Roe

John Roe has been announcing at Windermere Preparatory School for three years but has been in the industry for years. He said his origin story is simple. At his kids’ games, he was very vocal — much to the dismay of his kids and his wife.

We’re either going to have to sit apart at games or you’re going to have to shut up, his wife, Beth Roe, said to him. 

Beth Roe is the girls volleyball coach at the school, and at her first coaches meeting of the year, she mentioned her husband to the athletic director, who said the school was looking for an announcer. 

While in the booth, Roe said he approaches the role as announcer with care and vigilance.

“I try to remember that this is high school sports, and those are all kids,” he said. “They’re still learning. Most of them are trying their hardest.” 

He said he tries to make sure nobody walks away feeling upset about something he said of their performance. 

“I try to be very positive, very excited for the home team without being over the top,” he said. “I try to recognize when the other teams do good work, as well.”

Roe said he thinks of himself being an addition to the game.

“I try to make it as entertaining as possible for the fans without being a distraction,” he said. “I try to do things that the fans would appreciate and enjoy, (but) I try to approach it that the game is more important than anything I do.”

He said one of the best parts of being an announcer is being able to be close to the action.

Roe said all PA announcers are putting forth their best effort while performing their roles and duties. And they never want to be a distraction.

“If people don’t remember anything about what I did after a game is over — that’s important to me,” he said. “I’m there to help (the audience) enjoy the game — but not be memorable — in a positive way. If somebody remembers something that I said or a mistake I made, or some over-the-top comment that I made — that’s not appropriate.” 

Central Florida Christian Academy: Marc Stomprud 

When Marc Stomprud was a young boy, he would watch basketball games on TV all the time. 

One day, he heard a PA announcer doing the starting lineups and announcing when people scored. 

“I thought to myself ‘Man, I would love to do that one day,’” he said. “And so I always wanted to do that.”

When he was in college, he heard the school’s basketball team needed a PA announcer. 

“I just walked right into the athletic director’s office and just told him I was interested, and he gave me a shot,” Stomprud said. “I’ve been doing it ever since.”

Aside from being the head of school at Central Florida Christian Academy, Stomprud has announced for multiple sports, including football, basketball, softball, volleyball and lacrosse. 

“As I got to know the Athletic Director Kyle (Wills), I mentioned to him, ‘Hey, I’ve been announcing my whole life. I love announcing and if you ever need me to, I will.’” 

Do as many games as you’re willing to do, Wills told him.  

As his side gig for most of his life, PA announcing allows him to enjoy the fun, enthusiastic atmosphere game-day brings. 

“My favorite thing is probably when we do senior nights or homecoming, because it’s a very festive night,” he said. “There’s usually a bigger crowd for those games, there’s more electricity in the crowd. … It makes it fun.”

Besides the fun, announcing comes with responsibilities and seriousness, he said. 

“I only announce facts — so and so scored, so and so fouled, so and so is the starting player — that kind of thing,” he said. “I think people sometimes misunderstand that the PA announcer is supposed to be like a hype man or more a play-by-play… The PA announcer is just announcing facts.” 

He said there are ways to make the crowd entertained without being a cheerleader, such as emphasizing certain calls for dramatic effect.