When Ohio Stadium’s new public address announcer takes the microphone for the Ohio State Buckeyes’ Sept. 9 home football opener against Youngstown State, it will be the first time he has performed that role in more than 20 years.
“I’ve had plenty of broadcast experience, but being a PA voice is something I haven’t done for a while, so I’m a little nervous about this job, especially with having an in-house audience of more than 100,000 people,” Tom Snyder said.
Snyder, 46, director of digital communications at Columbus St. Francis DeSales High School, was hired in late August to be the person who lets the stadium crowd know the key players involved in each play of a game and makes informational and promotional announcements during breaks. He replaces Bob Kennedy, who was at the stadium microphone for 20 years until his death in May at age 59.
A release from Ohio State University said more than 100 people applied for the job when it was posted, and Snyder was one of seven finalists.
“We came to the stadium one night in early August and were shown a YouTube video of last year’s Ohio State-Notre Dame game,” Snyder said. “Each of the finalists was asked to provide the call for seven or eight plays. I figured I was a long shot because the others had more experience than I did, including some who have done NFL games.
“Being around all those veterans actually had a calming effect on me when it became my turn to audition. I thought I did well, but it still was a pleasant surprise when I was informed a couple weeks later that I had the job.”
Snyder was born in Grand Rapids, Michigan, and is a graduate of Westerville South High School, where he had his most recent experience as a football PA announcer from 1999 to 2001. He also handled boys and girls basketball games.
He has many connections to DeSales besides his current position there. His father is a 1968 graduate of the school who moved back to central Ohio in 1987. He also has two uncles, an aunt and several cousins who are DeSales alumni.
Snyder received a degree in journalism in 2005 from Otterbein University. “It took a few years longer than normal to obtain a college diploma because I was balancing a job as billing coordinator at Mount Carmel Hospital with going to school part-time,” he said.
After his college graduation, he moved to California, where he took a radio job that included broadcasting high school football games. In spring 2006, he did PA work for some UCLA baseball games and continued in that role for the next seven years for UCLA and Long Beach State at various times and for the 2010 and 2011 Dodgertown Classic college tournaments at Dodger Stadium.
“By far the most experience I’ve had in public address work is in doing baseball rather than football,” he said.
From 2008 to 2013, he split his time between the Midwest and the West Coast, spending the late winter and spring in California working college baseball games and the rest of the year in Columbus doing medical billing for a pediatrics office. “I was very fortunate,” he said. “I found somewhere that was willing to employ me for half a year and allow me to take the other half off.”
During that period, DeSales began broadcasting its home and away football games live online at www.pouringpurple.com, with Snyder handling the play-by-play, which he will continue to do on Friday nights in addition to his Ohio State duties. He also has been an occasional PA voice for DeSales boys and girls basketball.
“After a few years of going back and forth across the country, I felt I wanted to settle down and do other things,” Snyder said, so he left California and became a full-tine central Ohio resident. He was hired at DeSales in 2013 to work in its enrollment and alumni offices and has been at the school since then.
“I’m blessed to be at DeSales, and the atmosphere of faith that’s part of every day at the school has become very important to me,” Snyder said. “It’s infectious. When I go with the football team to Masses or Eucharistic Adoration at school, it’s a great opportunity to give thanks for all my blessings.”
Those blessings include his wife of two years, Amanda, and their year-old daughter, Evelyn. “My life has been sort of backloaded,” he said.
“I was older than most men when they get married. Going back and forth across the country for so many years had a lot to do with it. That was not the kind of life for a family man.”
He said the couple “mainly attend (Columbus) St. Elizabeth Church and sometimes go to one of the other Catholic churches in north Columbus because there are several from which to choose.”
Snyder said in late August that as the football season was getting closer, he was familiarizing himself with the rosters of the Buckeyes’ six home opponents for this season and learning name pronunciations. “I’m a huge Ohio State fan, so I already knew the Buckeyes’ names,” he said.
“I’m concerned about getting everything right at Ohio State, for I know if I make a mistake, the fans will let me know in a hurry. But I’m more excited than nervous. It’s certainly a dream job for anyone who is a voice professional.”
