(Butler, PA) He arrives alone, 45 minutes before the volleyball game begins, seeks his script, rehearses pronunciations of visiting players, and takes his place at a scorer’s table whose black skirt facing the crowd reads, in white and blue letters, Home of the Pioneers.
His voice, too young to state his name at a voting booth, too young to order his first drink, then echoes from speakers suspended above the fans inside Butler County Community College’s 25,000-square-foot Field House:
Good evening ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to the BC3 Field House for tonight’s matchup featuring Penn State Shenango and your BC3 Pioneers. …
BC3 and the NJCAA both promote good sportsmanship by student-athletes, coaches and spectators. We request your cooperation by supporting the participants and officials in a positive manner. … BC3 thanks you for your support and cooperation.
Now ladies and gentlemen, we ask that you please rise and remove your caps as we honor America with the playing of our national anthem. …
And now for tonight’s starting lineups …
Tyler Aaron is a senior at Butler Senior High School and BC3’s new public address announcer.
The 17-year-old continues:
“And now for your 2022 BC3 Pioneers, led by head coach ROB Snyder …”
The experience BC3 has provided to him will be key in his pursuit of a career as a play-by-play announcer for a professional sports team, Aaron said.
“BC3 has opened that door for me,” Aaron said. “It’s helping me to chase my dream because it’s giving me this opportunity and it’s building me up to be more successful in the future.”
Aaron is believed to be the third high school student in recent years to serve as a public address announcer at athletics events at BC3’s Field House.
He follows Tyler Friel, who began while a Butler High junior in 2011 and today is news director at Butler Radio Network.
“BC3 has opened that door for me. It’s helping me to chase my dream because it’s giving me this opportunity and it’s building me up to be more successful in the future.”
Tyler Aaron, 17, BC3 public address announcer
“Broadening his options and gaining more experience is a great opportunity for him and one that you probably wouldn’t have at a different institution,” Torey O’Donnell, BC3’s associate director of student life, said of Aaron.
“But because we are BC3, the community’s college, we are able to give students and individuals in the community that opportunity.”
Aaron alerted BC3 administrators about his wish to become a play-by-play announcer while attending the college’s main campus open house April 5.
“He mentioned that he wasn’t going to be an athlete, but that he would like to announce or broadcast,” said Jennifer Smith, BC3’s assistant director of student life for athletics.
“ ... because we are BC3, the community’s college, we are able to give students and individuals in the community that opportunity.”
Torey O’Donnell, BC3’s associate director of student life
Aaron is enrolled in a communications track at Butler High, where he has taken television production classes. He served as a public address announcer during four games played by the Butler BlueSox, a collegiate-level baseball team; and as a camera operator for Lawrence County SportsNet.
“I took his number,” Smith said, “and reached out to him a few months later.”
“… Number one. MAD-ison RAY-push. Number three, AB-by Young …”
Aaron became a paid member of BC3’s event staff. His first game was Sept. 2, when BC3’s volleyball team hosted Penn State Shenango.
“When I first walked through that door into the Field House, I was excited and nervous at the same time,” Aaron said. “I had butterflies in my stomach. My hands were shaking.”
His voice later echoed from the speakers suspended above the fans.
“… Number 10. AS-lyn PRY. … Number 12. ZOE-y MOR-ley …”
“Many people are afraid to be a public address announcer because everybody hears what you are saying,” Smith said. “If you’re not confident, if you’re not passionate about it, you may not want to do it.”
Aaron wanted to do it.
“The most fun is talking through a microphone,” he said. “I love giving the fans in the stands the information. … I love the fact that everyone can hear my beautiful voice speaking throughout that Field House.”
Aaron told Erik Robbins, a teacher at Butler High, about his goal to pursue a career as a play-by-play announcer and about his opportunity at BC3.
“Tyler has been filming things for years and been part of our TV department for a long time,” said Robbins, who teaches video production, English and journalism classes. “What I like about the BC3 opportunity is that it gives him a chance to branch out from what he is doing here and work with different people and for different people.
“I try to preach to my students the importance of actually working in the field, and getting that experience, because it is so important and moves beyond what we are talking about in the classroom. … It’s an amazing opportunity for him to be doing this at his age.”
Aaron served as public address announcer for all nine BC3 volleyball home matches this fall and, Rob Snyder said, “seemed far more comfortable at the end.
“The thing about announcing is repetitions, and getting comfortable, and it takes a while to get there,” said Snyder, BC3’s director of student life and athletics and the college’s head volleyball coach. “He was announcing the welcome and the names in volleyball. When you get to basketball, there is a lot more of the play-by-play, and it gets a little bit harder.”
“… And Number 14. BECC-a MCCAND-less …”
Aaron will get to basketball when the Pioneers teams open their 2022-2023 home schedules Saturday against squads from Prince George’s Community College, Largo, Md.
BC3’s women’s team is 3-0 and plays at 1 p.m. BC3’s men’s team is 3-1 and plays at 3 p.m.
“It will be more speaking,” Aaron said. “I will get to announce who scores points and other information. It is a bigger opportunity for me with basketball. BC3 has given me the chance to do the thing I love.
“The fans get to hear me speak.”