Kiwanis Club Hears From the “Voice of the Bobcats”

By Mark Keith, 11/4/22 11:57 AM

The Hope Kiwanis Club heard a program from the “Voice of the Bobcats” Tuesday, P.A. Announcer Steve Lance.  Lance said he got drafted for the job by Anthony Gadberry and worked as Gadberry’s spotter.   Lance is a native of Mena and he said one of the hardest things he dealt with early in his tenure was making sure he said “Hope Bobcats” instead of “Mena Bearkats”.  He also talked about some of the folks he shared the pressbox with including Randy Wright, Bubba Powers, Maurice Henry, Cliff Knowles, Doyle Brewer, Daulton Brewer, and Ronnie Phillips.  He complimented the current media representatives including Calvin and Barry Haynes for KHOA-FM and SWARK for video coverage.

Lance talked about some of the outstanding players who played there such as D’Angelo Williams from Wynne and Sosa Agim for Hope.  Other Hope players that impressed Lance included David Williams, D.D. Holyfield, Brock McCorkle, Jacob Jones, Austin Stubber, C.J. Briggs, Trey Lawson, Andrew Washington,  and David Wright.

His favorite game was Hope vs. Watson Chapel.  Hope was down by 15 in the last 3 minutes but came back to win the game.  He also talked about an ESPN video about Sosa Agim that was filmed in Hope.  Agim was honored as ESPN’s high school player of the week.

Lance said “the band is back”.  He said the kids are having fun and they have an outstanding program.  Lance also mentioned the “Educator Hall of Fame” which was almost emotional for him this year.  Lance says Senior Night and Homecoming are stressful for him.  He also noted the challenge of getting all the pregame things in.

Folks often ask Lance why he still does the P.A. after all this time.  He said he feels it’s important and needs to be done right.  Lance says his job needs to be done right for the school, the athletes, and the community.  He says when times are tough, he doesn’t give up on the kids or the school.

Lance was very popular with the club and they enjoyed hearing of his experiences “in the pressbox”.