A Big Blog Blast from the past:Who are the best announcers in our area for high school baseball?(People talking Tom Parker[SWG] tops)

We did this one last year and by request, we are bringing it back….

Here a few of the top public address announcers that were being named by readers of the site, back in May of 2014….

Top PA Announcer of the Year:
Dudley-Arthur Allen
Northeast Guilford-Eddie Holloman
Northwest Guilford-Dan Hilton
Southeast Guilford-John McDade
Southwest Guilford-Tom Parker….The SWG man sounds a lot like Bill Flynn(WMAG radio days) and his first name might be Tom and I think he is a Virginia Tech man/fan…Met him at the baseball playoffs last year at NWG and he stepped up to do the SWG game vs. another Piedmont 4-A team game since there was no PA man available for that game….He has been around for a while, and like the good PA men, they like to be heard and not known….Most all, if not all of these men are working per gratis/free and we tip our cap to the job that they do……

*****Who is your pick in 2015???*****

Most of the above are still at it, but I do believe NWG has made a change, and you will hear Donnie Strader on occasion at NEG….Enad Haddad now the full-timer at Western Guilford….Arthur Allen is the man with a 1,000 sound effects at Dudley and on occasion, he will get the call to take his show on the road….John McDade, at Southeast Guilford, is a king of high-energy and sounds like he could have been a ROCK jock at WCOG or WRQK back in the day….Lots of fans in the past have liked the man over at East Forsyth…He announces like name, number, position, even some stats and your hat size if he has it…Page has a new set-up for baseball with a press-box and their work has come a long way and hit new strides…Some schools have students doing the PA work and that can be a good thing and it can be a bad thing at times too….Danny Robinson has done some of the key PA work for Eastern Guilford and Danny Shutt used to be the softball PA man for SEG…

Many times the walk-up music, if they use it, gets in the way of the PA man and for fans who like key info, the Public Address Announcer must have his space and time to get the key info on the players to the fans…To me it is all about info….Others like the music and the wild sounds…I do really like those sound effects down at Dudley though….You need a certain amount you use year-to-year and a certain amount that you bring in new each year…Some of those sound effects never grow old….

The Dilloways have been the keys on the PA at High Point Central for the past several years, and they do a very good job….Mr. and Mrs. Dilloway both worked the microphone, but never at the same time…They would give each other breaks over the 7 innings of each game….

We have a lot of good ones out there and who do you like the best???

For many/some this is serious business and for all those who have worked the PA job over the years, good job and thanks for your time/effort….

But, the question remains, “Who” is your favorite and who do you think is doing the best job??? Be true to your school and support your school….
(Or let us know how you plan to change and improve “The Voices” of Guilford County high school baseball.)

*****I have been on here too long, time for all of you to take over and bring it back….*****

20 thoughts on “A Big Blog Blast from the past:Who are the best announcers in our area for high school baseball?(People talking Tom Parker[SWG] tops)

  1. SE announcer is one of the best around as well as Page. I must admit that when I went to visit a dudley baseball game I was stunned. Following the music from their football and basketball games you would think the baseball music would be uplifting and exciting and something that would get the players motivate but it’s far from that. The music that I’ve personally observed at their games are very old and it many instances the music music that most have never heard before. Many of the fans there looked around in displeasure. The fans seem to dislike it as well as all of the kids. Very sad. Great food but the announcing and music is terrible. No walk-up music for players which is something that you can find at middle school baseball games now.

  2. Yes, The voice of the SW Guilford Cowboys is Tom Parker. Super nice guy and AWESOME announcer!

  3. SW announcer is definitely the best around! NW announcer this year is the worst. Sorry to get personal but just facts.

  4. Sounds like that SWG announcer should know music and talent…With his family background coming out of Tennessee and with them discovering Elvis(Colonel Tom Parker) he has some deep roots in the announcing and entertainment business..

    Not sure the music needs to be a central part/point of what goes on with the baseball game day experience….Some of it is too way too loud and some of the current music is too strong lyrical and the older music might be smoother and better for the listeners…

    If the parents of the players are in tune to what music is being played for the players, then they are living out of their age group/time zone…

    Don’t want to take away the music for the kids as they come to the plate, but for discussion purposes, how much does it help and how does it even influence a player’s outcome at the plate???

    Just curious…..

    I like it most when they just go out and play the game and the PA announcer is a vital cog, because for those of us that are taking notes, we need that info….

    My theory says if the music gets in the way, get rid of the music…If you’re not ready before you come to the plate, then you need to go back to the dugout, pick up your stuff and go home….You were not ready when you left the house this morning….

    The music is not going to change your game or your approach at the plate…Players need to spend more time listening to the coaches instead of listening to the music…

    Just some thoughts from one of those sports guys that is becoming an old-timer or it might be time to become a new-timer and get out there and work and train and be ready to play some ball….

    Just putting a few more things out there and again, curious to see/hear what others have to say…..

    NWG-Glenn game time set for 4pm, and I hope that is right….

  5. The one thing I have noticed with history. There has never been, and will never be a monument built in honor of the critic. The music played at baseball games has never been played for the players. There minds should be on the game not the music being played. That music is to give the fans something to do or think about between innings. A memory, an old favorite tune, or one of your parents or grandparents favorite tunes. BBfan we at Dudley enjoy our music and leave entertained and have no complaints. Maybe the music was not being played for just you, but for the enjoyment of all the fans there. It’s not a concert, but a baseball game. Lets focus on the real purpose for being at the “GAME”, and not what’s being played between innings. Also BB, when you start announcing games and playing music, maybe you can make this list, because there is no best critics list.

  6. I enjoy the music for the most part. Dr. Al is right on above in that the music is for the most part for the fans. The exception is I think the boys enjoy the walk up songs. I think it can help get them pumped for the at bat.

    Just like all things it all sometimes can go too far. A memorable example would be playing “Whatever Doesn’t Kill You Makes You Stronger” when a kid is laid out on the mound after taking a line drive to the forehead a couple years ago.

    99% of the songs and short clips are funny but some are not “family friendly” or don’t show the type of sportsmanship that the high school game is suppose to be about. I don’t think the cursing has a place and the obvious bleep outs don’t eliminate it. We as the supposed grownups should try hard to keep out that 1%. And yes 4 fingers are pointing back at me.

  7. Dr. Al, as a dan of dudley baseball the fans, administration, players and supporters do not car e for your music. I enjoy some but please make it up to date. It should be about the kids. I know your administration there wish it would change.

  8. Some of the music is good at Dudley games, some of it is funny. I think you could make some changes, if it’s a chance to pump up the players, and the crowd. Don’t just not do it, because, you take things personally… It just might work, for everyone.. nothing wrong with change..

  9. As a parent I enjoy old school music but at the game i is ot for me, it i for the players. kids get pumped up with music they like. like you said Dr Al lets focus on what we are at the games for (THE KIDS ). Blieve it or not parents listen too some of the music thier kids listen too.

  10. DJ Eddie Holloman is the man. He scratches songs from the 70’s, 80’s,to our modern day tunes. He has walk up songs for the players that they choose and our kids love it. He is the only one in the triad that has a walkin song played for him when he enters the baseball complex. The man is so popular that he has fans and parents from our rivals come to the games when their teams are not playing (Northern Guilford).
    For him it is all about our players and we appreciate him.

  11. Should every kid have a Walk-up Song???

    I have heard some kids with an ‘Old School’ song or two and it makes you wonder, did they select it or pull it out and go with it just to have something played….
    (Let’s Get it On-Marvin Gaye)

    If one has it should they all have a Walk-up Song???

    I have heard about kids that listen to a lot of music before the games to get them pumped up/fired up/motivated…

    Does it work???

    I would like to hear some examples of “does it, or doesn’t it” work…

    There are only a few songs that I can remember from over the years, “The Champ is Here” used by a key Dudley player from a few years back and “You Da Man” by the Northwest Guilford leadoff hitter from last year…

    Not into mentioning names on these, but Josh Tobias had a key Walk-up song a few years back at SEG, but I can’t remember the song…I remember one game when Josh was coming to the plate after being in a car wreck with his sister the Sunday morning before the game…Got beat up a bit in that car wreck….

    Josh walked up and then sent the first pitch he saw toward the SEG Falcons’ tennis courts…That was a key HR…

    I can really remember some of those key HR’s like the one Josh had and the one that Macon Smith(Western Guilford) planted in a neighbor’s yard across the street from the Dudley field and the three that Wil Myers(WES) hit over at Grimsley one afternoon and the one that DJ Reader(Grimsley) hit vs. High Point Andrews over at Dudley one day(Longest most people had seen from a sophomore)…DJ had a nice one day at Grasshoppers stadium one night too and so do did Eric Kimber from Dudley and George Carter had an inside-the-park HR for Grimsley vs. Page at New Bridge Bank Park, when the ball got past the center fielder, Johnny Brown(was at Page, finished at NEG) and the ball rolled all the way to the center field fence/wall…

    A very good weekend discussion amidst some NCAA basketball games…

    Best baseball music at the park/field/stadium ever???

    Put me in Coach:Center Field-John Foggerty
    The View from the Cheap Seats-Alabama

    Others???

  12. Back in here a little quick, but what that tune by Jerry Reed, “When You’re Hot Your’e Hot”….Loop that around and play it a few times for your Walk-up tune….

    Or what about the theme song from the movie “The Natural”…Very much a moving and majestic tune…Would make a real nice Walk-up to the plate tune…

    I’m out again….

  13. Not even close……Tom Parker at SW Guilford is far and away the best PA guy in Guilford County baseball….the Ragsdale guy is extremely PAINFUL to listen too…..it’s awful!

  14. People talking might say, “Tom Parker never heard of him”…

    Well you have now….

    John McDade, who is the “main man on the mic” for the Southeast Guilford Falcons, was the choice for top dog(Voice) in the fans voting last season(2014)…McDade with the Golden Mic from last year and is Tom Parker on the way up toward the top in 2015???

    People are talking about Tom and it is “Tom Talk” in a good/big way…

  15. Andy,

    For those being critical of certain volunteers doing PA, please get a life. It is entirely possible that the person doing the PA at one of the schools you mention was “pulled out of the stands” that particular day, simply because there was a need.

    If there are those at certain schools that are particularly good, I’m all for giving them kudos. And, if people take exception to certain music, I think it’s fine to express an opinion. But there’s no point in criticizing an individual working as a PA announcer. “The Ragsdale guy” mentioned above could very easily be someone who was asked to volunteer that day, because there was no one else willing to do it.

  16. Very important and good points by the NWGHS fan…

    Many days there is not a person available to do this unenviable task and like NWGHS said, somebody from the stands will just jump into the fire/fray and take the bull and the job on by the horns…

    To those folks we should thanks for giving us that voice with the players names and info…

    At Ragsdale, sometimes I think they use students on the PA and give them a chance to get some experience announcing the games on the PA system and that is a good thing….Sometimes they will make mistakes and not realize the mic is still on, but that is all said for the learning process…

    Great experience for students looking at announcing as a way to get into or to stay in the game….

    More power to those students and to all the volunteers that step and in the end, that is how most of these participants as announcers get started…

    “Can you help us out” and they do and again it is appreciated….Any info is better than no info at all…At basketball games where there is no PA man or woman, it kills you…You are looking down trying to write down a name and you miss who just scored the basket and it is gone, they are headed back up the court…Better check out the scorebook after the game..Wait a minute, they have already taken the book back to the locker room…The book is the key….

    But in the best case situations, these real good PA people have gotten us spoiled…We have become dependent and addicted to the information that they are sending our way….

    Tom Parker, John McDade, Arther Allen, Eddie Holloman, Dan Hilton, men that have us spoiled….They raised the bar so high, that they got us expecting more and more and better and better….

    Good topic, but there’s no need to kick the folks to the curb that are trying to help out in the time of need…

    The fans do listen intently and they grow accustomed to getting lots of good info…

    There was a girl/women/lady/female that used to announce the Colt and Palomino games on the mic over at Stoner-White Stadium and her brother played baseball for a while and then he turned his attention to football at Page…

    I think her name might have been Jenifer and the brother was a big-time baseball card collector down at Alan Ashkinazy’s Greensboro Batting Center in the early days down on Creekridge Road and then over at Golden Gate Shopping Center…Last name was Nall and can’t remember the young man’s last name, but his sister, the one who did the baseball PA announcing was and I’m pretty sure I am right, Jenifer Nall….The young man might have been Jonathan Nall, maybe Jonathan and Jenifer Nall…

    The Nall Call on the Baseaball…..

    Thanks to all of those volunteers and we can for sure keep this discussion going…..

    All we need is more info, and the info keeps the wheels a turning….

  17. I think Jared Pike did a few games for Western Guilford last season…

    Any thoughts about Jared Pike(107.5 KZL) when he was on the mike/mic???

    Pretty sure Enad Haddad is the main mic man at Western Guilford this season….

    Chuck Mobley did Western Guilford for a lot of years and from all we saw and heard over there then, Chuck had a lot of luck and did a good job on the PA back in the day….

    Guilford College uses Bryan Jones and he does a good job for the Quakers and they also use a student, a young lady and she sounds like she just came in from elementary school…No problem with the names or the info, but she sounds like she just got off the bus that arrived from the Middle School…Sure she will get better over time..(The older you get, the more adult-ish you will sound.)

    By reading all of this it should be obvious to most readers that some of us listen more intently that others…

    Sometimes, I will not even go into the stadium or field area, I will stand or be moving around on the outside listening in….

    Lots of listening and if you do, you can hear and in some ways see some amazing things….

    With the high school and college games you don’t get all of the contests and promotional activities that you get at the professional games….Some fans do not like the sounds of those contests….

    I guess if we are looking for a baseball Utopia, we need to head out to somebody’s back yard or cow pasture and yes, I did play baseball in a cow pasture back when I was a kid…I turned my ankle on third base one Thursday night and had to miss school on Friday….Third base was a piece of wood and not a cow pile….I think that ankle turn was the beginning of career ankle problems for me…

    Time for me to get out of here and leave the rest to the readers…..

    But we sure have given you some very good fodder on this day….

  18. With radio stations now playing music with profanity in it, to the subject matter not being what is decent enough to be heard by all family members finding current music that can be played is not an easy job. I never have and never will play music that is explicit in content, words or nature. Now if that means I won’t play your favorite current songs, then that’s something you’ll have to just live with. Just listening to the beat is not an option for the announcer, they have to listen for it all. The subject can be to the point that it makes the grandparents at the game blush, but the kids want a jumping beat to get up to. The words can’t be an instructional on how to make that next baby, but it has to be of interest. The content can’t push the limits too much, but just enough to give you a hint of what they’re talking about. This is the thin line that has to be walked between vulgar, crossing the line and acceptable. . Everything has a purpose, and a purpose for everything. Coaches, are suppose to coach, Players are suppose to play, and announcers, announce. Everybody do his or her job.

  19. After more thinking/thought, I believe that should be Jeff Nall on the Nall call..Jeff instead of Jonathan for the Nall young man….

  20. Dr. Al is correct that the music being played on the airways and even finding the walk up songs is difficult with the language content. Even the clean versions are not so clean. Dr. Al keep up the good work.

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