The stadium voice of the Braves belongs to Casey Motter. As a youth football player in Cobb County, Motter learned early that the personality behind the mike sets the atmosphere.
By Casey Motter
For the AJC
Around age 5, I started playing football at Nickajack Park in Smyrna. The year was 1974. Every Saturday, the same announcer announced each player. Sometimes he’d pronounce my name “Motor” and I’d laugh.
I fed off that, because I played defense and guard and didn’t get that much attention. I’d tell my parents, “My name got called six times!” It was a level of self-esteem. When someone calls your name, everyone knows you are there.
When my son, Judson, joined the Peachtree City Packers at age 5, the place was so silent you could hear the coaches on the field.
I looked up and saw there were some big horn speakers on the light poles. So I asked somebody if I could try. In the middle of the first quarter, I started saying, “It’s first down and 10,” or “That was No. 34 on the carry.”
When I finished, all the coaches and parents said, “You were real good at that. Could you do that the rest of the season?” That was my spot for the team.
I became the announcer dad for the whole Peachtree City Packer program -- six games every Saturday. At the banquet at the end of the year, after they had called the players and team mom, they gave me a trophy and a gift card.
While announcing youth baseball games during the spring, I brought my own sound system with stuff around the house, like a microphone from a karaoke machine, CDs of marching bands and a keyboard that could make noises like clapping. It was rigged up real sloppy, but it would work, and even the umpires enjoyed it.
Even if a kid is playing in the outfield, he’s still got to come up to bat. When he hears his name, it makes him feel part of the team.
Braves general manager Frank Wren heard me in November 2006 and then he called me in February 2007 to announce at Turner Field. I try to do the same thing for the Braves players that I do in youth-league football. I pump up each of their names when they come to the plate.
It's my passion now, and I feel like I'm truly using a gift that God gave me. I still announce for the same youth-league parks where it all began. We all should find time to use our gifts so we can create our own field of dreams.
-- as told to Michelle Hiskey for the AJC
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