Carter County Living - Winter Edition

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Scott Morgan is flexible in his role as the “Voice of the Highlanders” as he is as comfortable doing baseball as football.

Morgan enjoys being the voice behind the mic for Cloudland athletics

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s football season gets underway in Roan Mountain, one tradition is as familiar as the sight of players in helmets and pads: the voice of Scott Morgan streaming across the PA system on Friday nights. Morgan, a graduate of Cloudland High’s Class of 1989, has been the Voice of the Highlanders for 33 years. “It’s kind of a strange story,” he said. “The guy that normally did it, something happened and he got mad and left and I was just coming to the game. I got my ticket and walked to the gate and Danny Winters met me at the gate and said, ‘Scott I need

Story by Ivan Sanders and Photos Contributed & by Ivan Sanders

somebody to announce the game.’ I asked him what I needed to do and he told me just to introduce the players and the numbers ... I did it that night and for the next few weeks, Coach Oaks always saw me at the store and asked me if I was going to do the games. It evolved from that to today.” That was in 1990 and admittedly Morgan couldn’t even remember the team that had come to Roan Mountain — only the meeting at the gate with Winters. Being behind the mic for all those years, Morgan has witnessed some of the most memorable games for Roan

Mountain fans. One of those games was the South Pittsburg game in 2001, a state semifinal contest with the winner advancing to the state championship. The second to come to mind was in 2000 when the Highlanders were in TSSAA Class 2-A. The game was with the Oliver Springs Bobcats and the Highlanders were trailing 22-8 late in the contest. Cloudland quarterback Mark Byrd went to work and led his team back to an astonishing 24-22 victory. Although many games have been played at Orr Field, those two were the two which stuck out the most to

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Morgan. Morgan hasn’t limited his work to football. Shortly after starting, Rik Anderson approached Morgan and asked if he would be willing to help with basketball. That was in 1990 and Morgan called games for seven years before going back to school. He has been back now for the last four years and also did a stint with Cloudland baseball when Coach Cory Rhodes was coaching. The last couple of years have been challenging as Morgan’s oldest son, Colin, transferred to Hampton to play baseball when Cloudland’s baseball team got shuttered. Colin also was an


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