"At 17, I started announcing Charlotte High School basketball games and football games. When I got hurt playing football, I started helping out the guys doing radio. I kept stats and would announce the stats at half time. I never had a fear of microphones.

"I was so enamored with broadcasting that I went on to Florida State University and got a degree in mass communications with an emphasis in radio and communication. I came back to Punta Gorda in 1978 and worked for WCCF-AM and -FM until I went into government in 1980.

"I'm still announcing Charlotte High football games; I'm the voice of the Tarpons, and have been for 28 years. It's not a paid position-I've never taken a dollar for the high school games.

"One game, I was working with a guy named Mike Moody, who you might know now as the manager of Clear Channel Communications. We were announcing high school football-this was in the early '80s-and we were at the Charlotte vs. North Fort Myers game when we saw a young freshman player for North Fort Myers who really stood out. We were very impressed and went to great lengths to talk about his playing. His name was Deion Sanders. I think he was about 14 then, and that is something we talk about all the time.

"I've been a broadcaster now for 34 years. I've always been enamored of radio, beginning when I was six or seven years old when I would go to bed listening to the Pittsburgh Pirates broadcasts on a transistor radio."

-Interview by Katie S. Betz