There is one voice that every LB football fan knows. The famous voice of LB athletics is announcer Kyle Byars, an LB graduate. The familiar voice of Byars has been a part of the LB football tradition for almost 12 years now. What most people don’t know is that Byars had other LB sports roles before his current role as football announcer.

“I started out as the basketball team manager,” Byars said. “I videotaped all of their games and helped them out with practice and stuff. Then, one day I asked my [former] gym teacher Joe Soos if he needed any help with the soccer team, so then I started working with them. I ended up announcing the JV soccer team’s games, and that was my first game here back in 2003.”

While Byars’ job is to get the crowd loud and into the game, the crowd plays an essential role in getting Byars fired up to do his job.

“It’s just fun watching everybody react,” Byars said, “and being a part of the energy here in the stadium and the gym. It’s great seeing the fueled response from the fans. Obviously, the bigger the crowd, the more they cheer, the more hyped up I get and that pushes me.”

The football team feeds off the energy of the atmosphere, and Byars is an essential part of that. Byars makes a bigger impact on Friday night games than he even realizes.

“It’s really cool how we get to hear him say ‘First and Ten LLLLake Braddock’ at home games,” senior Kamron Abolfotouh said. “It definitely gets the crowd going and contributes to the game’s atmosphere.”