July 22, 2008

• 
  My Wonderful Uncle.....

  This is my dear uncle and spiritual father.
  Please
  pray for my aunt and for my uncle.  He loves his wife so very
  much...she has been his queen... and he has cherished her for all their
  days together.  Her sweet dispostion has never wavered.  My aunt is having health issues and needs round the clock care.  When I picture
  her I always picture her kind smiling face.  My uncle and I never met
  until I was in college.  We were on opposite ends of the US and
  circumstances prevented it but when we did meet we connected
  immediately.  We know it was the Holy Spirit.  My uncle had prayed for
  my salvation since the day I was born and I know his prayers are what
  protected me through my childhood.
  I
  long to fly out and see him and help take care of my aunt.  I do not
  have the funds to do so but I am praying about that.  But here is a story
  about him that I am sure will touch your hearts.  He is a very godly man.  He gives and gives and is totally selfless in the biblical sense of the word.
  

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  Longtime Putnam announcer is cutting back

  Neil Mast says he is hanging it up after more than three decades announcing Rex Putnam High School football games

  By John Denny

  The Clackamas Review, Jun 24, 2008

  

  John Lariviere / clackamas review

  Putnam announcer Neil Mast.

  The voice of Rex Putnam High School home football games will change in the fall.

  Neil Mast, who has announced Putnam varsity
  football and basketball games for the past 35 years, says he has
  announced his last football game.

  “They’ll have a new field, a new scoreboard and
  new lights, and I think it’s best they start out fresh [with a new
  announcer],” said Mast.

  Mast, whose wife is ill, said the health of his
  wife and his own health played a part in his decision to quit
  announcing football games.

  “It’s not as easy to see the numbers on the
  jerseys as it once was,” said Mast, who spends a good deal of his time
  caring for his wife.

  “I may have to give up announcing basketball too, depending on my wife’s health,” he said.

  Mast fell into announcing quite by accident. He
  was on top of Putnam’s grandstands as a volunteer, making sure that
  there wasn’t any trouble brewing behind the grandstands.

  “Guys would go back there and have fights,” Mast
  recalls. “One night [late in the 1973 season] they pulled me into the
  press box. They said they needed a spotter and asked if I’d help out.”

  Later that year, announcer Bill Boyer was late arriving to a game because of a late arrival of an airline flight.

  “[Athletic Director] Bill Foelker said, ‘You’re it!’” Mast recalls.

  Mast announced three games the following year, and he’s been doing it on Friday nights ever since.

  Foelker liked the job Mast did at football games,
  and he recruited Mast to also announce at basketball games. For a
  couple of years, when boys and girls games were played on different
  nights, he announced both boys and girls games. But through most of the
  last 35 years, Mast has been the voice of Putnam boys basketball.

  “I tried to give all of the kids credit where
  credit was due,” said Mast. “It didn’t matter if they were from Rex
  Putnam or from the opposing team. I tried to be fair. My main
  philosophy was the kids come first. I wanted to encourage them, not
  demean them.”

  Mast says few people are aware of the work behind announcing a game.

  In football, it meant visits with the home and
  visiting coaches to get lineups and to discuss the pronunciation of
  players’ name, getting jersey number changes, finding out who the
  kickers and punters were, getting officials’ names, and collecting and
  going over hand-scrawled last-minute announcements.

  “It’s been a joy,” said Mast. “It’s kept me sharp, although my skills have diminished over the years.”

  So why has Mast stuck with it for so long?

  “One thing, it’s a challenge. Another thing, it’s fun to do. It’s better than just sitting there watching….

  “I think the kids are the reason I kept doing it. I’ve made friends with all of the kids….”

  Mast also has fans among the Rex Putnam High School coaching staff.

  “Neil Mast has been a wonderful example of
  anything you could ask from a volunteer to your program,” said Putnam
  football coach Brian Freitag, a Putnam alumnus who has coached sports
  at the school for decades. “He has been there through thick and thin
  and always did it for the right reasons. His support to our program and
  the kids in the program has been unending. One of the more interesting
  things about Neil is how he has volunteered not just to our program but
  also to the community in general.

  “He assisted Putnam football in our efforts to
  follow his example and give back to the community. We had six to ten
  players every weekend last fall commit to spending three hours helping
  families or people who needed it (mostly yard work).

  “Neil personally arranged for two of those
  sessions and contributed a Saturday himself. All of our players donated
  a Saturday – and all of our players grew from the experience.”

  Freitag said that Mast took it upon himself to
  hand out special awards of recognition to Putnam’s football players at
  the end-of-the year football banquet. And he’s done the same thing in
  basketball.

  “He always tried to highlight the kids that were
  not necessarily the best players, but the kids that made the most
  improvement or were the best team member or that had the best
  character. For many of those kids those awards were the highlight of
  their athletic achievement.”

  Mast recalls a football game where Putnam graduate and World Series MVP Scott Brosius was playing:

  “Scott punted the ball and it came down for minus
  one yard. I didn’t want to say anything negative, so I didn’t say
  anything except ‘the other team takes over.’ It was funny.”

  Mast also recalled an embarrassing moment when he
  forgot that his microphone was on and he made an aside comment to
  others in the press box:

  “It was a play down near the far scoreboard. We
  could see the play and the refs couldn’t see it. I said, ‘Boy, they
  blew that one.’ I didn’t know the mike was on.”

  Mast says he tracked down the officials following the game and apologized, saying, “I blew it too.”

  “I don't remember a negative word from the man's
  mouth,” said Freitag. “His positive outlook and view was reflected in
  every word he spoke and every interaction he had with the players and
  community of Rex Putnam. He has been a friend and we will greatly miss
  his announcing at the games. But I have a feeling he will still be
  around.”

  Mast was there Kevin Love’s senior year, when the Lake Oswego star broke a backboard during a basketball game with the Kingsmen.

  “I said, ‘Ladies and gentlemen, I believe there’s
  going to be a slight delay.’ It was more than a slight delay. The game
  was at Clackamas the next night.”

  Mast recalls some successful years for Rex Putnam football.

  “In 1984 or 1985, they went to the quarterfinals
  and played Glencoe. Wayne Harris and Darren Moreland were on that team.
  They were really exciting to watch.”

  And Mast remembers the 1976 Putnam football team.

  “My son Tim was on that team,” Mast said. “The
  team went 6-3 and their three losses were by a total of six points.
  They didn’t have a kicker.”

  A high point in announcing basketball came in
  2002-03, when Mast was asked to announce consolation games of the Les
  Schwab Invitational.

  Mast watched his daughter Marcia (1981) play on Putnam basketball teams that placed third and fourth at state.

  Over the years, Mast has also announced Putnam
  gymnastics, dance team, track and field, wrestling, baseball and
  softball competitions. He also announced American Legion and Babe Ruth
  baseball games in the late 70’s and early 80’s.

  Mast received a high honor a few years ago when
  the Oregon School Activities Association and National Federation of
  High School Coaches honored him with their “Award of Excellence.”

  The award reads: “For exemplary display of sportsmanship, ethics and integrity.”

  But Mast insists his biggest reward has been watching young people grow and mature.

  “It’s all about the kids,” he said. “When you
  honor the kids, and keep encouraging them, that’s what it’s all about.
  You get to watch how they turn out and hope that you’ve made a positive
  difference in some way. That’s the reward.”

  Copyright 2008 Pamplin Media Group, 6605 S.E. Lake Road, Portland, OR 97222 • 503-226-6397

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