After 44 years behind the microphone at Jackrabbits football games, Tom Manzer ’75 is stepping aside.
The longtime public address announcer provided his final soundtrack for generations of South Dakota State football fans Dec. 15, when the top-ranked and defending national champion Jackrabbits defeated UAlbany, 59-0, in the semifinals of the Football Championship Subdivision playoffs.
“Tom’s voice is synonymous with Jackrabbits football,” SDSU Director of Athletics Justin Sell said. “He has added so much to our game day atmosphere. His long commitment to SDSU and our athletics program is greatly appreciated.”
For Manzer, that Friday night finale brought things full circle. In 1979, when he first sat in the PA chair in the press box at Coughlin-Alumni Stadium, the Jackrabbits reached the NCAA Division II playoffs for the first — and only — time.
“For having done it for so long, it’s more like just a blur of games, the same way with players,” Manzer said. “I remember a lot more good games than I do bad games.”
South Dakota State has played 270 football games in Brookings at either Coughlin-Alumni Stadium or Dana J. Dykhouse Stadium, which opened in 2016, since the start of that first campaign 44 autumns ago. Manzer estimates he has had a bird’s-eye view for all but two of those contests.
“I’m sure I wasn’t very good the first year or two, but I just developed a style over the years,” Manzer said. “I’ve always said that if they wanted to have anybody different they could always do that, but they kept inviting me back.”
In addition, he served as the PA announcer for a 2005 game the Jackrabbits played in Sioux Falls and another game this fall when SDSU played Drake at Target Field in Minneapolis.
It wasn’t a job he lobbied for, but one that came about after a chance meeting on campus with his boss at the time, Vince Heer, who was SDSU’s director of admissions, and longtime athletics administrator Harry Forsyth ’51/MS ’57.
“I was walking back to my office after lunch one day and in the outer office were Harry and Vince. I was almost through the door when Harry asked Vince if he knew anyone who could do the PA, and Vince said, ‘Manzer can do it.’ “
When he started in the PA role, an audience approaching 10,000 fans for a Jackrabbits football game was considered large. This season, four Jackrabbits home games at the 19,340-seat Dana J. Dykhouse Stadium sold out.
Manzer has rarely wavered from delivering an account of the action in a straight-forward manner, but longtime spotter Van Fishback joked that what you hear isn’t always what you get.
“He’s got the perfect voice for this job, but what you really need to know is this guy’s been working for 44 years, and in virtually every one of the games in those 44 years he has said some pretty unchurch-like things about the calls of the referees — and he has never had the mic on, never got caught.”
While many public address announcers become known for the way they introduce a particular player or make an in-game announcement, Manzer’s most iconic phrase was delivered time and again at halftime during performances by The Pride of the Dakotas Marching Band.
“THE PRI-I-I-DE IS BACK!” was first written into the script in the early 1980s and continues to this day. For a few of those years, Manzer’s son, Drew, led The Pride drumline, making that part of the game day presentation even more special. Furthering the family connection, his grandson, Elijah, filled a spotter’s role throughout his high school years.
In the 30 years he has known Manzer, first as a student drum major to today as the director of athletic bands, Kevin Kessler ’98 said he doesn’t remember an instance Manzer didn’t deliver his signature line in perfect time to the march-on cadence.
“One of my first visits when I got this job in 2015 was to visit Tom to make sure he would continue to be our announcer,” Kessler said. “In a time of change and transition in the band, Tom was the constant we needed. We’re all so grateful for Tom’s dedication and love for the band.”
As he looks back on more than four decades of describing the action from the likes of Paul Aanonson ’08 to Zach Zenner ’14 with hundreds of other Jackrabbits players in between, Manzer provided one final comment in his typically understated fashion.
“I’ve been glad to do it.”
By Jason Hove
SDSU Athletic Communications
