Behind the Scenes: Producing Sporting Events as an Announcer

Emily Anderson

11/6/2023

If you have been to a Belton Tigers football game in the last 10 years, then you have heard the deep and hearty voice of Mr. Potts, announcing plays for the Tigers. However, many people may not realize all the duties that the announcer has during the football games. Mr. Potts sticks to a strict schedule while announcing. Before the games start, he must read advertisements and announce recognitions of important people, making sure that he pronounces each name correctly. Additionally, he has advertisements that must be read during specific quarters of the game. This means that he must look for any opportunity, like a time out, to read the advertisements and not interfere with game play. Mr. Potts is also responsible for giving score updates of other games going on and giving reminders to students, such as to call their ride at the end of the third quarter. While thinking through this schedule, Mr. Potts and his partner, Dr. Durphy, have to constantly stay focused on the game so that they don’t miss a tackle, timeout, or touchdown. 

With Mr. Potts' perfect voice for announcing, it may seem reasonable to assume that his involvement with football has always been from the press box. However, Mr. Potts said “I was actually coaching and they came to me and said ‘no offense to your coaching but we'd rather have you up in the press box announcing the games.’” Mr. Potts has been announcing high school football games ever since then, 21 years ago. 

Aside from his great voice and concentration, Mr. Potts must also have a deep understanding of the rules of high school football in order to accurately understand and announce the game. Playing and coaching football himself helped Mr. Potts gain the knowledge of the game that is necessary to be an announcer. 

Sports announcing is not the only way that Mr. Potts has used his talented voice. Mr. Potts’ voice has been in TV and radio commercials. In fact, voicing commercials and advertisements is one way that Mr. Potts made money while he was in college. One radio commercial that Mr. Potts made for an Oklahoma Toyota dealership is sometimes still aired on the local radio. 

All of us at New Tech have no doubt that Mr. Potts’ voice is exceptional. However, Mr. Potts takes none of the credit, stating “God blessed me with a voice that a lot of people recognize as one that needs to be on the radio or announcing. I can be thankful to him for that one.” We are so thankful to Mr. Potts for sharing his talents for so many years in Belton ISD.

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