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Show Thursday, August ougars' xGolden Voice1 Echoes at BYU Stadium THE HERALD, Provo, Utah SO, 1984, DAVID ' - - - t " n Herald Correspondent crwae ! it " ' if - address system at Brigham Young University's Cougar dium. Cougar football fans have just listened to the "golden voice'' of Kenner Kartchner announcing another home football game. While most Cougar fans recognize the voice, few know much about the man behind the voice. Kartchner, a native of Arizona, S V ' . Mor-tenso- n, n f ij tO A t EUROPEAN IMPORT Radial Metric Size Radial 6 P'y RayOn True Continental Styling Made in Germany S2 I the move to Kartchner, whose beautiful bass voice has been an intregal part of the Ralph Woodward Chorale for many years. "People can hear and understand what I say." However, having a good voice isn't enough. Kartchner puts a great deal of effort into his volunteer job with the Cougars. It's more than just showing up for three hours on Saturday. "I try to get to the point where I can tell the BYU players without even looking at their numbers," he said. "I go to lots of practices and scrimmages until I can pretty well tell most of them by the way they walk across the field or the way they're built." These hours of preparation enable Kartchner to keep track of the Cougars on both offense and defense as he sits at the microphone. His one spotter, Ben keeps track of the visiting team. But his work doesn't include just being able to tell which player did what. Kartchner thinks it's very important, both to players and fans, that the names be pronounced correctly. He learns the BYU players' names early in the year, then always consults with the visiting team's sports information director to get the correct pronunciations for the opposing players. "Over the years, I've learned the basic pronunciation rules for s rntc from the University of Utah. He was also a special agent for the FBI for several years before resigning to go into business in Provo 20 years ago. lor this (announcing)," said .r FLAT REPAIR FREE REPLACEMENT attended six different colleges and universities over the years (including one year at BYU) and has a Juris Doctor of Law Degree After making lhaa T.rac to Tires and save FREE ROTATION FREE Sta- Provo. Kartchner began officiating athletic events as a hobby and worked as a sportscaster at KIXX radio. He first began announcing lor the Cougars when BYU wrestling coach Fred Davis asked him to announce his varsity wrestling matches. A year later, he announced the NCAA National Wrestling Championships at BYU and was invited by Arizona State to announce the national meet in Tempe two years later. He was soon asked by track coach Clarence Robison to announce his track and field meets and then, 10 years ago, BYU officials asked him to take over the microphone at the BYU home tootball games. "I'm told I have a good voice OLICY the tires we sell regardless of trie type of rim you nave, nof co we cha'oe for mileage or road "azard guaamees Most tire deal's crwge extra for these services So If (W"- -! Dl...M At By PATRICIA KNOELL "...and don t forget the Cougars' next home...' concludes the familiar voice over the public S5A Pige D P155SR-1- idler ' Brian TregasUi Pboto ""' 3 $29 95 $32.95 S34 95 $34 95 P175SR13 P175SR U Kenner Kartchner spends many hours behind a microphone keeping track of players for BYU and opposing teams. ' he said. languages,-"BYU always has a number of fine Polynesian players and I've come to know how to pronounce certain their names correctly, partly through experience and partly through help from my nephew, is of who vice-preside- nt BYU-Hawaii- ." Officials are also a part of football, and Kartchner said this is another area where he tries to keep "I check each fall with Berdean Jarman (principal at Orem High), who is a long-tim- e college football official who works regularly in the WAC, Big 8, Big 10 and PCAA, to find out about rule changes made during the year and to review the signals used by .football officials on the field," he s; id. One of the most difficult and tasks Kartchner faces before each game is preparing the biographical sketches for the persons who are honored in the "Lighting the Y" ceremony before the game. "It's no easy task to condense a person's life down to a minute and a half and do justice to them," he said. The task involves researching BYU files for background information and usually interviewing the person involved. "One person," he recalled, "gave me five pages of single-spacen information to work with. I really had to agonize over that one." The sketches must be completed in time to submit them to Athletic Director Glen Tuckett for approval before they are read at the game. Each fall he also meets with Tuckett and assistant AD Pete Witbeck to review their general philosophy regarding the role of the public address announcer: "A PA announcer is there to make d, type-writte- CLASSIC II Steel Radial the game more enjoyable for the fans. ..to be accurate, informative and take care of any ceremonies that might be involved... smoothly and with class and never be the partisan, editorializing cheer- Steel Belted Radial Polyester Steel Wriitewall Increased gas mileage over bias & belted tires leader that you see in some places around the conference and around the country." It's a policy with which Kartchner completely agrees. "My objective is to be totally professional and do the announcing with class and good taste and make a contribution to the overall quality of the event," he said. In addition to football, Kartchner also mans the microphone at BYU at track meets, baseball games and women's basketball games. He also does the announcing at high school state football and basketball tournaments and even does the state dance and drill team championships. Kartchner said one of his most interesting announcing jobs, outside of his BYU connection, is at the summer prep Basketball Congress International tournament. The tourney, which matches teams from across the nation, was held at BYU for a couple a years and the BCI director and president were so impressed with Kartchner's announcing during that time that they invited him to continue announcing it when the tourney moved to Arizona State. He has now announced the BCI tourney for six straight years. "It's fun," he said of the 32 to 36 team tourney. "You get to see a great many of the finest high school players in the nation. Five of the 12 members of the U.S. Olympic team played in the BCI tourney." But his first love and loyalty is to BYU. During his years with the Cougars he has seen a lot of players, coaches and even teams come and go in the WAC and has and funny a lot of fond memories. P1558CR13 P18V7SRU Pi 95 75RU P17580R13 f P185'80R1j $42.95 $45.95 P20V75RU P21575R14 $46 95 $47.95 $48 95 $49 95 RV TIRES Bias Ply 6 Pl RM OlKM WW Law RV TIRES $99.95 9.50RX15 6 DtY 50.000 MILE WARRANTY 10x15 RWL $82.95 $94.95 $139.95 rwl i2ii56i 5 IJ!iN!Nl?l gfeg I ijj jjiii iittdt $9.95 INSTALLATION Most Vehicles I I S 5xi56pt 10R16 5phf l?5ftx16 5tpt Plus aJjH ! FET 36 10 ja jgg 3i itekb MONROE I I MacPherson Struts I i $39.95 j I Comouteri;ed Electronic TUNE-U- $34 95 f 22:22 $14.95 I With 12 11 Most Vetwtes With Thr$ Coupe This Coupon Mos: Vehicles ! 4 CyL 6 CYL j 8 CYL. I I With This Coupon Front Disc or Rear Drum $29.95 1 110 00 toi Metallic Pads With This Coupon Mosl Vehicles Aoo 5 L APPLY FOR A DAVID EARLY CREDIT CARD! Works like my other credit card! 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