Kevin Kelleher-The man who 'makes the ballpark' 

Vin Mannix/Boca Raton News, April 18, 1996

                  Boca Bobcats announcer brings music, fun to PA job
"GIMME GIMME GOOD LOVIN' EVERRRY NIGHT..."
Down in the stands behind home plate, young mothers were shimmying their shoulders to the late
1960's bubble-gum sound of Crazy Elephant.  A grandfather sitting behind the fence along the third-
base side of Meadows Park was slapping his thigh, shaking his head and tapping his feet.
     Up in the press box, Kevin Kelleher, the PA announcer and the "VOICE of the BOBCATS", was smiling.
His musical magic was at work.  What a way to spend a Friday night.
     "When I see people clapping and rocking back and forth, then it really makes me tingle, "said Kevin,
age  45.  "That gentleman bopping to the music down there?  He's gotta be in his seventies, that's
what makes it worthwhile."
     Then it was back to business. The Bobcats were coming to bat.  Kevin turned down the CD player.
He spoke into the microphone:  "CATCHER...JAKE...COSTE..."

REWARDING WORK

Kevin's words echoed throughout Meadows Park crisp and clear.  All those afternoons spent as a kid
at Yankee Stadium listening to legendary announcer BOB SHEPPARD were evident.  So were those
weekends reading sports pages to blind and visually impaired Radio Reading Service listeners in
Fort Myers for two years.
     "Most rewarding thing I've done in my whole life," he said.  "I read to them like I was sitting with
a neighbor over a cup of coffee.  When I read the Yankee scores I gave it some extra punch.  It was
a gas!"
     Kevin's personal touch is apparent, too.  Neither of his kids goes to Boca High School.  In fact,
son Casey goes to archrival Spanish River, which makes for good family ribbing.  Yet Kevin has
been the Bobcats' volunteer PA man since 1992.  Along with umpiring and coaching American
Legion, that has meant a lot of missed dinners at home.
     "Sometimes it hasn't been easy," said Lila Kelleher, his wife of 23 years.  "But when Kevin does
something he enjoys, he puts his heart and soul into it.  He never lets the kids down."

A LABOR of LOVE

Bobcats coach Jack McDonald, who's been in baseball for 40 years, can tell: "He cares...they know that,
and I know it too."
     It's a labor of love.  Lots of fun, too. "What I feel," said Kevin, "is if the players can get some semblance
of what it's like to get their name announced in a professional type of atmosphere, it has to lend a
little bit of excitement to what they go through during a game.  I try to play some good music to get
them going, too."
     It does.  Just ask senior left fielder Greg Shea.
"He sounds very professional, dramatic pauses and everything," he said.  "You look forward to it."
Right fielder Todd Blosser does too.  "It adds a lot, makes it sound like you're playing at a higher level," 
he said.
"It's not the same at other parks.  They have music but the character isn't there.  It's Kevin.  Just the
way he announces your name pumps you up."
     It should work for Norberto Labrador.  Kevin speaks enough Spanish to make do as a telemarketing
sales rep in the Caribbean.  But, with the Chicago Bulls' stirring intro theme playing in the background,
he announces the Bobcat shortstop with a Hispanic flourish:  "JUGANDO EN CAMPO CORTO (playing
shortstop)...BATTING NINTH...NUMERO VEINTE SIETE, No 27...NORBERTO LABRADOR..."
     Kevin kidded, "He hasn't complained, so I'll keep doing it."
You won't hear anybody complaining about the music, either, especially the fans.  They're too busy
enjoying themselves.  Kevin used to manage a record store on Long Island.  He has over 500 CDs and
plays everything from SINATRA to SEPULTURA-SEPULTURA?-on a state of the art DJ sound system.
     "When he played White Zombie, I was like, WHOA! Kevin rules!" said Blosser.

'KILLER MUSIC'

     When Kevin played Hank Williams Jr.'s rollicking Monday Night Football theme song recently, the
players' mothers were really into it.
     "Kevin plays some killer music," said Mary Blosser.  "I can come here in a bad mood and feel great."
So you can imagine what it was like when Kevin's original equipment was stolen and he had to miss
three games that season.  "It was like a funeral, it was so dead," said Tom Black, whose son, Jay, plays
second base.
"He brings an excitement that just isn't here without him."
     Kevin missed it too, until the BOBCAT BOOSTERS replaced his sound system.  "It was tough, because I 
feel involved," he said.  "I was in the bleachers and lasted an inning-and-a-half before I couldn't take
it anymore."
     Being a perfectionist, Kevin takes his role seriously.  But he can laugh at himself.  Like the time the
Bobcats played Olympic Heights in a rainout make-up postponed from the day before.
     "Coach is looking up at the press box, scratching his head while I'm enthusiastically announcing the
wrong line-up, from the rainout game!
     Or forgetting senior Dave Dymtrow in the pre-game line-up announcements for the second straight
game.  Dymtrow's mom, Jan, stared at Kevin in good humor from below.
     "Sorry Dave..." Kevin later apologized to the third baseman, "It won't happen again."
Nobody can get mad at him anyway.  "Kevin makes the ballpark around here," said Mary Blosser.
"He really does."                               _______________________________________