This week we meet a P. A. announcer from Freeville, New York, Brandon Stelick, who has been announcing for well over a decade and has used the network he’s built over the years to remain in the business.

As a student at Dryden Central School, Stelick’s first work behind the microphone came by way of doing morning announcements his junior year of high school which evolved into announce JV basketball games.  He would eventually graduate to varsity basketball and football.

After high school, Stelick left for Tompkins-Cortland Community College where he would announce for both the men’s and women’s basketball teams.  After his time at TC3, Stelick moved to Buffalo State College where a chance meeting with Jeff Ventura, the Sports Information Director, while the school was looking for an announcer that led to a role behind the mic for the next six years.

Even after graduating with a Bachelors of Arts Degree in Broadcast Journalism, Stelick remained within the Bengals athletic department.

A snowstorm a few years prior led to the next opportunity for Stelick to get behind the microphone.  A friend of his, Bobby Comstock, Jr., who was a DJ for an oldies station out of Homer, New York, knew Cortland State was looking for a football P. A. announcer.  Stelick knew the SID of Cortland State when that snowstorm forces a Buffalo State game to be moved to Cortland State.  Using that networking opportunity, Stelick landed the job with the Red Dragons.

“I am currently in my fourth year doing the home football games, and could not be happier,” Stelick said. “Since I started here at Cortland, other opportunities have arisen for me, such as being able to announce high school tournament games and a Cornell University women’s basketball game.”

With the advent of more and more high school and college sports being broadcast locally or on the internet, the ability to be heard by friends and family has grown for Stelick.

“My grandparents could hear me in the background doing the announcing,” Stelick said.  “It’s a pretty cool feeling to know that you can be heard by friends and family and that it makes a difference in their lives.”

This season, Stelick will have the chance to announce his second Cortaca Jug game.  The Cortaca Jug is battled for by Ithaca College and Cortland State and has been called the biggest little game in the nation by Sports Illustrated.

Read more about the Cortaca Jug here