Local sports PA announcer hangs up his hat after 41 years

Willie Crutchfield, at left, with his son, Mitch.

The close of this year’s high school football season at Hillcrest High School marked the end of an era with the retirement of Willie Crutchfield as the school’s longtime public address announcer.

Crutchfield, age 74, called his first game at Brooks Memorial Stadium in Evergreen in 1971, and he called his last game on Oct. 19 when Hillcrest played region rival Escambia County High School.

During the 41 years between 1971 and 2012, Crutchfield only missed six or seven games out of over 200 games that were played in the stadium during that time. Most of the games that he missed during those years were due to family vacations, he said in an interview on Tuesday.

“Over all those years, I saw some great games and some great players,” Crutchfield said. “Calling the games was just something that I’ve always enjoyed doing. It kept me involved. I knew the kids. I knew their parents, and I’ve watched a lot of them come through over the years.”

In addition to witnessing many great games and players, Crutchfield has also witnessed many changes over the past four decades.

“The press box is different now,” he said. “They rebuilt it back around the time that Hillcrest High School was established. Also, the costs of coming to a game have gone up. I think it was around $1 to get in back when I started, and now it’s around $6 for a ticket.”

Despite all of these changes, Crutchfield noted that he has used the same set of basic equipment over the years.

“It’s basically all the same as when I started,” he said. “We’d set it up every Friday night and take it right back down. Any repairs that ever had to be made, we made them ourselves.”

While Crutchfield’s was the voice heard over the loudspeakers by fans at Brooks Memorial Stadium for years, he also had some help in the press box. Usually, he worked with two spotters, one who watched the offense and another who watched the defense. His wife, Agnes, who worked for years as the secretary at Evergreen Elementary School, usually served as his offensive spotter. James B. “Jimmy” Real, a former teacher, served most recently as his defensive spotter.

During Hillcrest’s game against Escambia County on Oct. 19, local school officials publicly recognized Crutchfield’s many years of service with a special ceremony on the football field. During that ceremony, he was presented with a special plaque, a $100 gift certificate to Salter Hardware and a lifetime pass for free admittance to all Hillcrest sporting events.

While Crutchfield has stepped down as the PA announcer, he plans to continue to attend Hillcrest’s football games.

“I’m going to miss calling the games,” Crutchfield said. “In fact, I’m already missing it. Even though I was in the mountains on vacation, I hated to miss the last home game. When it was all said and done, it was just time for me to give it up and step aside.”

Crutchfield’s son, Mitch, handled the PA duties during Hillcrest’s last home game of the 2012 season, a meeting Friday night between the Jags and Sidney Lanier High School of Montgomery.