Editor’s Note: Local public address announcers, such as Ed Phillips of West Lowndes High School and Milton Tate of Noxubee County High School, are part of the appeal of Friday night high school football throughout this state and nationwide.
Both Phillips and Tate have brought their own personal flavor to the airwaves and have dozens of stories to tell about years in the press box.
By ANDREW HAZZARD
“Lookey here, lookey here.”
If it’s a Friday night in the fall, and the West Lowndes High Panthers are playing at home those words will be uttered, a lot. It’s a bit of a signature phrase for Ed “The Mouth of the South” Phillips, who has been calling games for West Lowndes (and the former Motley Hgh School) as a volunteer for 29 years.
Former West Lowndes athletic director and current basketball coach Roosevelt Bridges approached and asked Phillips to announce the games. At the time, Phillips attendance was sparse and the games were boring.
“I thought, ‘Well, I need to perk this up a little bit’,” Phillips said.
Perking things up is exactly what the “Mouth of the South” does. He growls like a Panther after big plays. He explains to the crowd that “cramps” are really “Charlie-horses”. He calls out old buddies and community members in the stands; Phillips seemingly knows everybody in town. He routinely plugs the concessions stand.
“He brought everybody into the ball game,” said former West Lowndes athletic director Bobby Berry.
Phillips only missed one or two games due to family conflicts during Berry’s five-years as athletic director.
“If he wasn’t there, they were asking where he was,” Berry said. “He made the game exciting, and people came to see him.”
Phillips, 65, still works as a technician for Coca-Cola, a job he has held since his return from Vietnam in 1971. He has no plans to quit either of his gigs anytime soon.
“It’s been an experience I’ve enjoyed, and I’m still enjoying it,” Phillips said.
Not far away, in Noxubee County, Milton Tate reigns over the stadium microphone as “The Voice of the Tigers”. The Tigers were facing the Aberdeen Bulldogs two weeks ago, and Milton was wearing black athletic pants, a black U.S. Army hat, thin glasses, a thinner mustache and a red shirt that read “35th Class Reunion, Noxubee County High School Class of 1977”.
He has a casual demeanor as he calls the game, his right hand is often in his pocket while his left is cupped around the neck of his microphone.
“Second down,” Tate says on a Tiger touchdown play. “Connor, drops back– throws. Here’s trouble, he’s headin’ in! TOUCHDOWN TIGERS! From Timorrius Conner to number 20, Ladaveon Smith.”
Tate’s voice picks up cadence and energy in step with the build up of the play. He delivers like a professional on the microphone.
Tate has been the voice of the Tigers for seven years. He took over from his teacher, coach and mentor Lennell Hern, who passed away last year. Hern was the first one to encourage Tate to D.J. while he was a student at Noxubee High. Tate attributes a lot of what he does in the booth to Hern. He has done some work as a D.J. Once, during his 20 years in the Army, he tried his hand at stand-up comedy at Fort Knox in Kentucky. He was pretty good, too.
“I thought I was going to bomb, but I didn’t,” Tate said.
The community gives Tate a lot of positive feedback. On his walk to the concessions stand, Tate is hailed by people in the crowd and catches up with old friends. His two children went to school at Noxubee, too.
Tigers head coach Tyrone Shorter, said it would be hard to imagine a game without Tate.
“He does a great job for us, and he’s so professional with it,” Shorter said. “A lot of the kids really like what he says.”
Shorter said that Tate comes to the locker room before the game to talk to the players. The familiarity he has with the team can be heard in his voice; he almost never has to look at the roster to make a call, which allows him to deliver professional style calls during the game.
Noxubee County had a critical goal-line stand in the 29-0 win over Aberdeen. Tate was all over the action as the Tigers held the Bulldogs at bay.
“Williams, out of the shotgun,” Tate calls during a third and goal for the Bulldogs. “Williams, drops back–he’s looking. And Williams is sacked! Number 94, Jeffrey Simmons walks in and steps up to the occasion, along with the rest of the Tigers. So it’s fourth down for the Bulldogs, fourth and goal. So the Bulldogs are going to test the Tiger defense. Williams looking. Williams throws! Incomplete pass. So, the Tiger defense steps up to the occasion, and the Tigers take over on downs!”
Shorter said that Tate is good at what he does because he cares about the kids.
“When someone enjoys what they’re doing, they put a lot of energy into it,” Shorter said. “And that’s what he does.”
Both men are entertainers, but also servers of their communities. They have other commonalities, too. Both are Army veterans who returned home after their service. Both said they were too small to play football themselves in high school, but have been long interested in the game. Both have stepped up to provide an important role in small-town American society.
“He does a lot for the community, not just call the games,” Shorter said of Tate.
For Tate and Phillips, their work as public address announcers at football games helps them connect with their community and do what they do best–talk.
“That’s just me doing what I like to do with the mic there-I like talking,” Tate said.
Phillips’s work as a Coca-Cola technician brings him to many school districts in the area and he has always had a good relationship with the kids.
“They have always respected me, even the so-called ‘bully on the yard’,” Phillips said.
“The Mouth of the South” likes to work in the community he grew up in. He sees his work as the PA announcer at the football games as an opportunity to serve and entertain those he has been surrounded by his whole life.
“If the opportunity to contribute is there, I’m going to take it,” Phillips said.
Sometimes, Phillips said, he thinks about throwing in the towel on his 29-year career, but he just can’t do it.
“Every year I think about it,” Phillips said. “But I think about the kids, and I can’t let them down.”
The Dispatch Editorial Board is made up of publisher Peter Imes, columnist Slim Smith, managing editor Zack Plair and senior newsroom staff.
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