Touchdown Newton! 43
years and counting
By TROY HYDE NDN Sports Writer
Friday, September 26, 2008
photo by Chris Bollhoefer
By TROY HYDE NDN Sports Writer
Friday, September 26, 2008
photo by Chris Bollhoefer
For 43 years, Newton football fans at H.A. Lynn Stadium have heard his voice, his phrases and maybe even his cheers. For 43 years, Newton fans have heard P.A. announcer Burt Strike at Cardinal football games. “It got me to the games,” said Strike, who came to Newton in 1959 and has pretty much been a part of the football program ever since. “While it gets harder to make schedules with my family, I hate to give it up. I don’t think I could sit very well in the stands.”
For 43 years, Strike has
been through a lot at Newton. He has seen the highs and lows of the high
school teams. The lows were mainly the years before legendary coach Frank
Gilson in the late 1950s and early 1960s. The highs were the 1977 runner-up
team and the 1980 championship team. “It’s
hard to overlook the Dome teams,” Strike said. “You always remember the
playoff victories. There have been a lot of good kids who have come through
here.”
For 43 years, Strike had the privilege of watching his son Jeff and grandson Jarid work their way through the school and the athletic department. Jarid most recently played baseball this past summer and graduated from NHS in 2008. Jeff played baseball, too, and also was a starting defensive end on the 1977 state runner-up team. “Watching my son was fine I guess,” Burt Strike said. “He was just like any other player to me. I treated him just like everyone else. I coached him in sports so it was different for us maybe.” Oh yeah, and for 22 years, Burt Strike coached eighth-grade football at Central Junior High and spent many more teaching social studies. “It was easy to announce back when I coached because I knew all the kids because I once had them in eighth grade,” Burt Strike said. “Now, the more years go by, the less I know the kids. It gets harder and harder each year.”
The popularity of Newton football has grown into an impressive fan base today. In Burt’s opinion, that had a lot to do with Gilson. “Football wasn’t that good in the late 1950s and early 1960s,” Burt Strike said. “It took awhile to get going. We had some good teams, but when coach Gilson came here we started to become known as a football town. Paul Turner had some good teams, too. The kids just grew up wanting to play football.”
Burt Strike has had the chance to announce games featuring great athletes from Newton and a few star athletes from other squads. Such athletes as Ankeny’s Andy Brodell, who now plays wide receiver at Iowa, and Mason City star Jeff Horner, a former Hawkeye and current Iowa Energy basketball player, may have heard his catch phrases. When Mike Flanagan scores a touchdown in 2008, Burt will say “Touchdown Flanagan.” After kickoffs, first downs or just in between plays, fans can expect to hear, “Newton will take over with the ball resting on its own 35-yard line.” He also commonly refers to a group tackle as “A host of Cardinals” and when the Cardinals take the field, the 71-year-old Strike may say “Let’s bring on the Cardinals.”
For 43 years, Strike had the privilege of watching his son Jeff and grandson Jarid work their way through the school and the athletic department. Jarid most recently played baseball this past summer and graduated from NHS in 2008. Jeff played baseball, too, and also was a starting defensive end on the 1977 state runner-up team. “Watching my son was fine I guess,” Burt Strike said. “He was just like any other player to me. I treated him just like everyone else. I coached him in sports so it was different for us maybe.” Oh yeah, and for 22 years, Burt Strike coached eighth-grade football at Central Junior High and spent many more teaching social studies. “It was easy to announce back when I coached because I knew all the kids because I once had them in eighth grade,” Burt Strike said. “Now, the more years go by, the less I know the kids. It gets harder and harder each year.”
The popularity of Newton football has grown into an impressive fan base today. In Burt’s opinion, that had a lot to do with Gilson. “Football wasn’t that good in the late 1950s and early 1960s,” Burt Strike said. “It took awhile to get going. We had some good teams, but when coach Gilson came here we started to become known as a football town. Paul Turner had some good teams, too. The kids just grew up wanting to play football.”
Burt Strike has had the chance to announce games featuring great athletes from Newton and a few star athletes from other squads. Such athletes as Ankeny’s Andy Brodell, who now plays wide receiver at Iowa, and Mason City star Jeff Horner, a former Hawkeye and current Iowa Energy basketball player, may have heard his catch phrases. When Mike Flanagan scores a touchdown in 2008, Burt will say “Touchdown Flanagan.” After kickoffs, first downs or just in between plays, fans can expect to hear, “Newton will take over with the ball resting on its own 35-yard line.” He also commonly refers to a group tackle as “A host of Cardinals” and when the Cardinals take the field, the 71-year-old Strike may say “Let’s bring on the Cardinals.”
How long the long-time announcer
stays in the box at H.A. Lynn Stadium is anyone’s guess. “My wife
actually just asked me how long I was going to announce the other day,”
Burt Strike said. “I am still unsure of that question. It gets harder and
harder every year.”