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Maryland Today | What it takes: Sports announcement

Maryland Today | What it takes: Sports announcement

It’s not quite the voice of God – but as the Terps women’s basketball players took the court at the Xfinity Center on Sunday to open their season against Seton Hill, the Maryland faithful heard a familiar voice from on high.

This booming baritone belongs to long-time fan and public announcer Bob Johnson in 1983, whom eagle-eyed spectators will spot on the sideline calling every play, calling every foul and pumping up the crowd during timeouts and halftime.

He is one of three regular announcers for the Maryland Athletics’ 20 teams, along with Matt Noble and Steve Murfin. Johnson announces primarily for men’s and women’s soccer, women’s basketball, men’s lacrosse, softball and gymnastics.

He explains how he went from intelligence work to being the voice of the Terps, why he never eats before a performance and some of the craziest games he’s ever seen.

UMD to CIA to UMD
I grew up in Adelphi, playing in the woods and hearing the crowds at the football stadium. Basketball players from Maryland came to my elementary school. I have had basketball season tickets since I graduated in 1983.

I was reading at my sister’s wedding and the priest came up to me and said, “You must be on the radio, right?” My family laughed because I was in the intelligence community and worked for the CIA. I started my first year there and then embarked on a 32-year career with assignments in Vienna, Bangkok and Moscow. When I came home kicked out by the Russian government in 2001, I started thinking about doing something different. Voice acting became a part-time job until I retired from the agency ten years later.

Since then, I’ve narrated documentaries, e-learning, industrial videos, commercials, and over 100 audio books, all from a small four-foot by four-foot cubicle in my basement. Voice actors sit behind closed doors and talk to ourselves all day. That’s one of the things I like about announcements. It’s nice to get out and actually be with people. When you speak, you hear applause!

I started working for Maryland in 2010. I sat in the stands listening to Mac Barrett, who was the announcer at the time. He’s speaking into a microphone and I thought, “Maybe I could do that.” At that point, I had announced for some summer baseball leagues. So I emailed (Senior Associate Athletic Director) Carrie Blankenship and asked her if she needed help and they sent me to a softball tournament in Maryland.

I have now played 15 sports and more than 750 games. I come here 75 to 80 times during the school year.

Maryland men’s soccer coach Sasho Cirovski (left) presented Johnson with a commemorative jersey as he announced his 700th game at UMD. (Photo courtesy of Maryland Athletics)

Names and notes
One of the big things is the pronunciation of athletes’ names and their origins. When Maryland was in the ACC, I knew the cities along the East Coast. Now with the Big Ten, I get a city in Wisconsin and I’ll be like, ‘What is this?’ We’ll try to meet with the opposing team’s sports information director for help.

In basketball, I lie on the floor and sit at a table with the advert to my left and the official scorer to my right. In other sports, I’m usually in the press box. The football stadium is more difficult; We’re high up on the fifth floor, so hope the person relaying the information on site is doing a good job.

I like the lectures before games to warm up my voice. They start by welcoming everyone to the Xfinity Center, then move on to the serious reading of “In Case of Emergency,” and then do a sponsored reading where you can sit tight and read it like a commercial.

During games, I take my own notes, write down fouls and team fouls, and move my pen with possession. I always keep an eye on the clock and the scoreboard.

I get the script before the game, and I always try to stay one step ahead by checking with marketing to see what’s coming: Do I hand it off to an in-game announcer, like the crabwalk race in softball? Is there a raffle that could happen at the next timeout as soon as there is a dead ball? In this case I need the person’s license plate number and name, but they don’t always have that, so sometimes I just have to read it off the JumboTron. At the end we announce any post-game interviews or autograph sessions and thank the fans as they leave.

Personal equipment
Before COVID I just used a windscreen with other microphones, but now I bring my own microphone. For me, the sound is more consistent, especially when announcing in places like Ludwig Field or the softball stadium – you never know what microphone quality you’re going to get.

I have to drink a lot of fluids. I drink 96 to 128 ounces of room temperature water daily. After a lot of games, I drink a lozenge – nothing special, just Ricola – and a bourbon or a scotch when I get home. Getting sick is a big worry; Even a mild cold can affect the way you make a delivery. And I never eat before a game. That comes from experience. One of my first summers playing baseball, someone passed around a funnel cake. I had a small portion, and when I wanted to announce something, the powder that was still in my mouth got stuck in my throat!

Highlights and craziest nights
My favorite day is Senior Day. You’ve seen these freshmen come in and when you read their awards you feel an overwhelming sense of pride. Man, they really did something with their training at Maryland – at one point we had three medical students on the women’s basketball team.

I’m involved in sports so often that I’ve seen almost everything. The biggest fight we ever had was in Maryland women’s soccer – people were coming over the fence. As an announcer, you have to be ready, stay calm, but also be energetic to keep people off the field. The other crazy thing was the game against Caitlin Clark last year. We’re spoiled for women’s basketball in Maryland – we’re in the top 10 in attendance. But to see what she did, getting the people there four to five hours before the game, the little kids, it was just incredible.

I often sit in the press box and look at the Maryland flag and think, I can’t believe I’m doing this. I don’t think I could do that for another school. I wouldn’t feel the same connection or excitement.