Tomato Bowl announcer honored for 44 years of service

Published 12:49 am Sunday, September 7, 2014

JACKSONVILLE — Dwight Parsley, 79, moved to Jacksonville in 1969 to join the faculty as a business teacher. He had coached a little in Dallas, so the school’s superintendent at that time, E.T. Osborn, asked if he could serve as the teams public address (PA) announcer for the upcoming season.

“I thought it was part of my faculty responsibilities, so I said yes,” Mr. Parsley said.

Now he will be forever known as “The Voice of the Tomato Bowl.”

For 44 consecutive years and an incredible 220 straight Jacksonville home games, Mr. Parsley enjoyed the best seat in the house.

He was honored during halftime of Friday’s game. He announced his retirement following last season.

“A number of things contributed to the decision,” Mr. Parsley said. “My wife’s health has not been great. My son Martin, who has been my spotter for (20 years), has more responsibilities in Tyler with (Texas East Gymnastics) and he’s rushed over here for many years.

“Also, we love to travel, and the little travelling we’ve done in the fall had to fit in between (Jacksonville home games).”

Friday’s acknowledgement was the first time Parsley had ever been on the field during a Jacksonville game.

Well, he needed to clarify that a little.

“One of my most memorable games here was in 1952,” Mr. Parsley said. “I was a player at Crozier Tech High School in Dallas (school closed in 1971). We came down in busses from Dallas, and I had never heard of Jacksonville.

“We played, and it was kind of a cold night, and we lost the game. I was a defensive back, and they had a big bruiser, and one time he got the ball, and he got to me, and he had a big head of steam.”

Speaking of steam, and trains in general, the Tomato Bowl features train tracks that run right past the stadium just behind the north end zone. The train whistle almost is as regular a figure at the Tomato Bowl as Mr. Parsley is on the microphone.

Even if you couldn’t hear Mr. Parsley’s call over the train whistle.

“One time five or six trains came by in one game,” Martin recalls. “It was always a thing to put a little mark at the top of the paper every time one came by.”

Doing it the right way

Jacksonville lost 43-30 on Nov. 8, 2013. He did not know it at the time, but it was Mr. Parsley’s last game as PA announcer.

He called that game just as he did the 219 before that.

His goal was for home and away fans to leave satisfied with how he announced the game. He admits to obviously rooting for the home team Indians, but Mr. Parsley said one of the more satisfying things was receiving thanks from opposing fans.

“I’ve had people tell me how much the appreciated me not playing favorites on the mic. They said, ‘You recognize and honor the visiting team just like the home team.’

“That is what I really tried to do. To make sure the people sitting on the visitor’s side couldn’t tell whether it was a home mic guy or someone (Jacksonville) brought in to do that game.”

His son and partner in the booth, Martin, is quick to amend that statement a little while poking a little fun at his dad.

“Although you must admit last season you got quieter and quieter when you were announcing the score,” Martin said. “And then at the end of the game you would whisper the final and be louder with ‘Be safe on the way home, Chapel Hill.”

Jacksonville went 0-10 last season and many of the games were over as a contest by halftime. The Indians already snapped that losing skid by winning their season opener over Pine Tree.

As far as getting excited in the booth, Mr. Parsley admits to letting out a whoop or two.

But no one in the crowd ever heard it.

“If it’s really a lot of excitement and we needed to (cheer or yell), we turn the mic off quickly,” Mr. Parsley said. “I don’t think we’ve ever made a mistake. No one has ever come back and reported to us, ‘Hey, we heard you yelling on the microphone.”

The Early Years

When Mr. Parsley agreed to be the new P.A. announcer, he had never done it before.

He had knowledge of football because of his coaching experience which was a big reason Osborn approached him about the job.

In those days the Tomato Bowl “press box” also housed the locker rooms for each team, equipment rooms and other odds and ends.

It was an open air press box, which Mr. Parsley said sometimes made for some uncomfortable evenings.

“They pushed away some equipment and set me up a microphone (and away I went),” Mr. Parsley said. “I remember it got so hot once that I said ‘Let’s get on the roof, so we can have more breeze.'”

Another hurdle Mr. Parsley faced in those early years had to do with his spotters. There was no regular person to call out who made the tackle or who had the catch. Instead, Jacksonville selected JV football players to help.

“They were good, but you have a 15 or 16-year old boy and they are looking down across the stands and all of the people moving around and you see the cheerleaders jumping around and the drill teamers,” Mr. Parsley continued. “And then I ask him, ‘What was the number of that tackler? And his response, ‘Sorry, Mr. D., I didn’t see it.'”

Help is on the way

Mr. Parsley admits he would not have stayed in the booth if not for the inclusion of son, Martin, as his spotter.

In August 1991, Martin moved back to East Texas from Dallas to begin running Texas East Gymnastics, which was now based in Tyler after Mr. Parsley began the gym when he arrived in Jacksonville.

Now, he had someone he could rely on every Friday night. Around that time the press box was closed in, and the air conditioning was turned on.

And the football on the field was pretty good too.

In 1996 and 97, Jacksonville reached the quarterfinals. The Indians had a gunslinger by the name of Josh McCown (now quarterback for Tampa Bay Buccaneers) leading the team.

It has become very common to see a McCown leading the offense at the Tomato Bowl.

It began with Randy (started at Texas A&M) with younger brother Luke (now a backup for New Orleans Saints) following Josh.

Obscene passing totals came with each and Mr. Parsley and his son Martin were there to watch it all.

“The McCowns, of course, were special, and there is another one out there right now,” Mr. Parsley said.

Carter McCown has led the 2014 Jacksonville Indians to a 2-0 start.

But one player Mr. Parsley and Martin remembers stands out from all the rest. A running back with the last name Peterson, who played for Palestine High School and twice tore up Jacksonville at the Tomato Bowl.

“We were sitting up there, and he was something else,” Mr. Parsley said about Adrian Peterson, who is arguably the most feared rusher in the NFL. “The first time he carried the ball I remember saying if his blockers would just get out of the way, he’d run further.

“He was something else. Probably the most outstanding runner I’ve seen in person.”

Mr. Parsley never had an opportunity to announce a state championship game (30 years ago the home-team announcer was asked to do the same job for the team during the playoffs at neutral stadiums).

But he did do two state semifinal games in 1974 and 1975.

In both instances, Jacksonville lost to Cuero.

He remembers the 1974 game, which was played at Rose Stadium in Tyler, more for the conditions than the game.

“It was an ice bowl at Rose Stadium in Tyler,” Mr. Parsley said. “Guys were sliding into the end zone.”

Another year Parsley was called into action at Kyle Field in College Station.

“By the time we got up top to the press box, it was so high that it was hard to see the players numbers,” Mr. Parsley said.

Leaving a legacy

Mr. Parsley took pride in keeping it short, clean and to the point at the microphone. The fans were in the stands watching the action and it wasn’t his job to describe it, just tell them who made the play.

But during 44 years, even he admits to having a misstep or two.

“I remember this one time I was doing a game, and this fellow went on to be an outstanding player in college, but it was the only time I ever had a parent come up to the press box and knock on the door and say ‘his name is pronounced like this,’ Parsley said. “I was always careful, but if you look at a football roster these days, you’ve got some tough calls to make unless you have them write it out phonetically.”

Not even major surgery could keep Mr. Parsley away from his press box responsibilities.

“One year, I had back surgery and I scheduled (in the middle of the week), so I wouldn’t miss the game,” Mr. Parsley said. “Well I announced it, and someone came up to me afterward and asked where I had been that Friday because it didn’t sound like me. I informed them I just had back surgery and wasn’t (myself). That was on the crazy things I did.”

Mr. Parsley and Martin posed for a couple pictures in the press box with the Tomato Bowl field easily recognizable in the background. As Mr. Parsley descends the wooden steps, maybe for the last time ever, he admits something to his son.

“I don’t know about Martin, but I have never seen a game from the stands here,” Mr. Parsley said.

Mr. Parsley said a gentleman by the name of Bill Avery is the team’s new PA announcer.

But he will never forget his 44 years in the booth.

“Friday night football is special whether you’re team is 10-0 or 0-10. It is a special thing,” Parsley said. “I never saw the movie Friday Night Lights, but being a part of this for this many years was special and being with Martin was special. And I wouldn’t have missed it. I wouldn’t have missed it.”