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by Braden Berg (for Ozarks Sports Zone)
In El Dorado Springs, they have had the same radio announcer call their football games for the past 20 years.
And he is nicknamed Jumpin’ Joe.
During the day, Joe Barger is just a local business owner, but on Friday nights he becomes the voice of the Bulldogs.
“20 years ago we had a football coach named David Large who was wanting to up our program a little bit. He asked me if I would be interested in calling a football game. At the time I didn’t think that I would be very good at it, but 20 years later, here I am.” said Barger.
Now Bulldog fans can hear Barger every Friday night on 105.5 KESM.
“I love the atmosphere, I love the competition, I love to watch the kids grow from Freshman and Sophomore to Junior and Senior. There is just nothing more fun to me than Friday night.” said Barger.
Barger says being the voice of the Bulldogs is an honor.
“The folks at home can’t see it, so you can draw them a picture.” said Barger. “What they see is what I tell them, so it is an awesome feeling.”
And he gave us the inside scoop to the story behind the name Jumpin’ Joe.
It all started in his first year behind the mic, during the district championship against the team the Bulldogs were playing tonight… Warsaw.
“We ended up kicking a field goal in overtime to win that game. First time we had won a playoff game in I can’t remember when, but as it went through the uprights I jumped up and caught the table with all of our equipment with my knees. And I turned everything over on the floor. So it was about 5 minutes before anyone in El Dorado Springs knew if we won or not. Because we were plugging everything back in. (What did you tell them when you got back on air?) Sorry folks, we won…” said Barger.
He hopes to stay behind the mic for a while.
“I love it more than about anything that I get to do. So why quit something that you love?” said Barger.
