BLOOMINGTON, Ind. (WTHR) - Simon-Skojdt Assembly Hall has a new name and a fresh look with major renovations this season, but the voice inside the arena remains unchanged.
Ladies and gentlemen, your Indiana Hooooo-siers!
The signature call of Chuck Crabb over the public address system cues the Indiana University pep band as the Hoosiers take the court for their final warm up before tipoff. This is the 40th season for Crabb as the PA man for IU basketball.
Most public address announcers today are hype men trying to fire up the home crowd. Chuck admittedly is not. His call that welcomes the Hoosiers to the court before every game and at halftime is the only time you hear a homer. If you didn’t know the names, you couldn’t tell the difference between Crabb introducing the opponent’s and the Hoosiers’ starting lineup.
“I'm a traditional announcer," said Crabb. “The concept I would like to be remembered as using is being someone almost sitting next to you in a seat talking to you."
Crabb started in 1977 with a little more flair on the microphone. But after his animated announcing during a win over Notre Dame, Indiana head coach Bob Knight sent his assistant, Bob Donewald, to visit the 26-year-old PA man the day after the game.
"Coach Knight has a message for you, and that is if you ever pull that four letter word stuff again, you've announced your last Indiana basketball game,” Crabb recalled Donewald saying. “Coach said you're pretty intelligent. Now do you understand what I've just asked of you?"
Crabb got the message loud and clear, reinforced not long after by a conversation with Knight himself.
“Bob looks me in the eye and says, 'Now Chuck, you're a key part of how people enjoy the game. And we want them to enjoy being at Assembly Hall. But no one individual is greater than the basketball game that's being played between the lines. So just allow the action to take care of itself and everything else will go fine."
When Crabb started at the microphone, he was also selling season tickets, a pair for just 100 dollars. That might get you into one game now. But Chuck still has the best seat in the house, sitting at the scorer’s table just off center court.
“It's neat to know that I play a part, that people appreciate what it is that I add to the game for them," said Crabb. “There are a lot of wonderful things happening out here. I'm an Indiana grad from 1973 so I'm a huge fan of what our program represents. I want to see them succeed.”
While calling the action, Crabb also keeps score, reads a 16 page script and coordinates timeouts. He believes in brevity on the microphone.
“There's so much happening during a basketball game between the video, the music, the sound that's being introduced and then me adding the element of what I'm announcing and providing to the crowd that it could get lost - so the least said the better heard.”
Sometimes he forgets to turn off his mic, like in 2001 against Michigan State.
"I was drinking so stinking much water,” Crabb remembered. “It was hot in the building that day. I belched. That's my big faux pas. There's never been from me an F bomb or shucks or anything else, but there's been a belch. It happened."
At 66-years-old, the native of Brazil, Indiana, still works at IU as assistant athletic director for facilities. He also announces women’s basketball and track and field meets. He’s been told the mic is his as long as he wants it.
"It's a great friendship that I have with a program and with the people that enjoy what it is that Indiana basketball represents,” said Crabb. “People in this state take unbelievable pride in the success of the basketball program. My voice gets associated with it. I'm lucky.”
He gets occasional requests to record voice mail messages and announce wedding receptions. And after every game, his sign off is the same:
"This is your arena announcer Chuck Crabb bidding you a pleasant good afternoon. Please drive safely going home and we look forward to our next visit to an Indiana University athletics event."
When you come back to Assembly Hall, Crabb will be there to welcome you on the PA system.
