DaytonDailyNews.com

SPRINGFIELD — The glow of three computer screens bathed the face of Ed Kranz as surveyed Conover Field at Northeastern High School.

Kranz wore a headseat. He held a microphone in one hand, and his other hand rested on a handwritten list of player names. To his left and behind him stood his spotters. The scoreboard and clock operators sat to his right.

For at least five Friday nights every year for 38 years, this has been Kranz's world. Northeastern's season ended three weeks ago, but as sure as there will be football next season, there will be Kranz, As public address announcers go, he is Cal Ripken rolled into Brett Favre. In all those years, he has missed one football game — the 1997 Bellefontaine game, which took place hours after his sister-in-law was diagnosed with terminal cancer.

Kranz's vocal chords must have the strength of steel cables.

"James hands off inside to Addison Ford," Kranz said, speaking to the crowd Oct. 3 during a game against Triad. "Ford run out of bounds by Chad Phillips, who picks up enough for the first down. They spot the ball at the 34-yard line."

There is a Kranz — or a version of him — at most sporting events. They are the voices from above, calling out the players' names, reminding men to remove their hats during the national anthem and reading the name of the split-the-pot drawing winner.

Kranz, a retired guidance counselor, does all that and more with a style all his own.

"I guess one of the highest compliments anyone could pay me would be to say, 'I'm out in the parking lot, and I don't know which one's the home team,'" Kranz says. "I don't add to it. I know there are some announcers who do, and that's fine. That's their style. ... I'm here to inform and recognize — not to entertain. That's always been my style."

Contact this reporter at (937) 328-0351 or djablonski@coxohio.com.