Chip Shots: That’s A Whole Lotta’... Me

If you’re a public address (PA) announcer, and you learned the PA announcer from one of the most coveted venues with one of the most coveted jobs stepped down with no notice before his home opener, your brain would be sorting out all sorts of blanks to fill in among all directions.

What happened? Why did it happen? Was this his choice or the franchise’s choice?

Dale Carter announced he was quitting while he hosted his radio show September 11, 2025, on his radio program, The Dale Carter Morning Show, on Country 94.1 KFKF in Kansas City.

Carter also made some posts on Facebook about a red line that was crossed.

His third down stadium call was unique before a wave of increasingly hyped levels of third down announcements were adopted among the football PA announcer nation.

His call was baritone, but more subdued than the current energy given while announcing the down.

“IT’S. THIRD. DOWN.”

The Chiefs franchise office was getting calls about a guy whose third down call was amped up, and Carter was going to run with the suggestion of finally turning up the volume and stretching out the vowels in this season’s cadence.

The Chiefs, although Carter was ready to comply, moved more aggressively to have a “hype” announcer accompany Carter on game days to announce their opponents’ third down. They, in fact, told Carter on September 9 Nate Rohr, the Chiefs announcer for pregame messages, would fill that role.

Carter’s resignation resulted in Rohr becoming the man behind the mic for all the pregame and in-game action.

The game Carter was ready to call was the Super Bowl LIX rematch: Philadelphia’s Eagles were headed to town a few days after Carter’s announcement.

Carter seemed to use some careful language to note this was the red line that was crossed, and he gracefully wished Rohr well in the role he suddenly left vacant.

In recent years, I’ve noticed The Ohio State University and Penn State University accompany their regular PA announcers with hype announcers for selected situations. This is a thing, now.

Ohio State would be foolish to hand everything over to the hype man. Their PA announcer can speak smoothly while delivering a very crisp announcement of the ball carrier/receiver, the tackler, the gain of the play, and the down and distance.

In fact, the Buckeyes’ Ohio Stadium voice almost sounds like he’s an artificial intelligence (AI) instrument. He is like nothing I’ve ever heard. There is a special scoreboard ribbon auto printing his verbiage as he speaks for those who cannot hear because of the crowd noise, or because they are hearing impaired.

Carter left the Chiefs PA announcer role, but his dance card remains full with his aforementioned weekday radio show, and he is also campaigning for legislative office in his county of residence. He noted he has spent numerous fall and winter holidays away from family because game day prep for NFL games starts incredibly early game day morning.

Carter posted on social media and told the press he is ready to spend much more time with his family he usually missed in 16 previous NFL seasons.

I belong to a Facebook group of PA announcers among all levels working among prep and collegiate institutions as well as working among professional teams.

The reactions to Carter’s sudden exit varied from hardliners who stick by their position of not hyping third down, to other announcers who will say they’ll “do what the boss says,” whether it’s an athletic director, a team owner, or the franchise’s marketing department.

The third example I noted has a lot of pull in what gets said over the loudspeakers these days in pro sports.

PA announcing at all levels has changed from harvesting a roster’s proper pronunciations and conveying essential information without much going on before or after a contest to a pregame and halftime full of dedicated events.

Indiana high school football games have become increasingly popular particularly from the time Peyton Manning started working Sundays under center for the Colts. There are, however, only four or five regular season home games depending on your home-and-home biannual opponent’s rotation.

Post-season gate revenue tends to feed the IHSAA’s coffers much more than the institutions hosting the gridiron playoffs, so the revenue stream to fund football and other lower revenue sports via football’s gate and concession receipts are as precious as donations to the blood bank among those with rare blood types.

I’m not a fan of the third down hype because most of Warsaw’s football opponents who do not succeed in converting third down to first down tend to try converting on fourth down in turn.

Less is more.

Think about this. I conveyed results of 96 plays ,9 kickoffs, and 4 punts during the Wawasee game, Friday September 12.

That’s a whole lotta… Chip Davenport.

There are – in limited home games afforded to Indiana prep gridiron teams – few and precious opportunities to honoring individuals, teams, organizations, enthusiastic causes, fall season seniors, and promoting incredibly special events during pregame and halftime.

Pregame and halftime – even at high school level – aren’t the atmosphere you mom’s and dad’s pregame and halftime once were.

The present and future includes sponsored big plays (Warsaw and McDonald’s team up for the “Big Mac Sack”), acknowledgement and sincere gratitude for sponsorships, and when push comes to shove, if there is room for expanding such partnerships, it’s gonna’ be filled up.

It’s good business.

My opinion about all this? In-game duties are way easier than football pregame and halftime duties, but they’re still fun, and I enjoy acknowledging all the things I already mentioned on any given football Friday night.

When I started calling frosh and Junior Varsity football in 2014 I knew immediately there was no other seat I’d rather take in Warsaw’s stadium than the one behind the mic on Friday nights if the opportunity afforded itself for me.

I’m too old for some big-time college or pro outfit to come looking for my PA announcing chops, but I am NOT too old to adapt to “doing what the boss says.”

I’ll continue to adapt while you continue to experience a whole lotta’… me.