Mr. Sehome

A Bellingham native who has announced for just about every sporting event

Story and Photo by KATIE WEBBER

Kevin Johnson was always embarrassed by his nasally-sounding voice growing up. Children would plug their nose and mock his voice in public school. He never thought his voice would become his career.

A 1993 graduate of Sehome High School and Western alumnus, Johnson has built a comfortable life in Bellingham with his wife and two daughters. Johnson started coaching football the fall after he graduated from high school. He has since coached football, baseball and slow-pitch softball at Sehome. He and his wife decided to take a step back from coaching once they started a family.

“Some people have worked all over the world,” Johnson said. “I like to say I’ve worked all over Bill McDonald Parkway.”

His teaching career began in 2001 at Sehome, where he has taught social studies, leadership and AVID, a college readiness class.

During the early 2000s, Johnson was the gym manager at Sehome and one night they didn’t have anyone to replace the regular PA announcer for basketball, who had retired. The athletic director, Colin Cushman, told Johnson he was the only one who could fill the role.

“He just was a natural,” Cushman said. “He’s a huge part of this community. I see him as Mr. Sehome. He’s the voice of the [Sehome] Mariners. He has an infectious personality. [He] makes everyone around him better by just having [an] incredible sense of spirit and pride.”

When hearing his own voice, Johnson hears a different voice than his own. Subconsciously his voice lowers when announcing at games. People tell Johnson all the time his voice sounds like a stadium announcer’s.

“I hear those stadium announcers at Seahawks games or Mariners games and I’m just like, ‘Man those guys’ voices are so cool! I just want them to read the phone book to me!’” Johnson said. “I can’t imagine anyone wanting my voice to be that one.”

He’s never sought out a job. They always seem to find him.

Seven years ago, the Bellingham Bells changed ownership and hired a new manager, Gary Hatch, who was also the Sehome High School baseball coach. The Bells were looking for a PA announcer, so Hatch suggested Johnson.

The Bells’ general manager, Stephanie Morrell, has worked with Johnson the past five summers. When Johnson knows she’s having a bad day, he’ll play her favorite songs during pregame.

“He really adds to the experience,” Morrell said. “At this level we try to give an experience for everyone. Not just people who like baseball. We want it to be an upbeat atmosphere. We want it to be really fun and we want it to be something people can enjoy. He really does that and he really just kind of ties it together for people.”

When Harrington Field opened at Western four years ago, Paul Madison, who was the sports information director at the time, asked Johnson if he could announce at men’s and women’s soccer games. Johnson announced at soccer games for a year. Eventually Johnson’s job turned into the PA announcer at Western women’s basketball games, where he is currently.

Johnson takes his job more seriously now than he did at the beginning of his sports announcing career. He used to just grab the roster on his way into a game and wouldn’t type out scripts.

Now he’s more self-contained and brings his own mic, cables, highlighters and has his script well in advance. His goal is to be self-reliant and not be a burden on Morrell, Cushman or Jeff Evans, Western’s sports information director.

“They don’t need to be worrying about what I’m doing or what I need when a game is going on that they’re producing or that they’re putting out on the field,” Johnson said. “I need to be the least of their worries.”

When announcing for the Bells his first year, Johnson learned an important lesson when an athlete was injured during a game: do not play music.

The shortstop for the away team took a hit under his eye and fell down immediately with blood on his face. Johnson’s first thought was to play music to distract fans from what was happening on the field, so he played the first song he could, which was “We Will Rock You.” He felt bad, so he went down on the field the next day to apologize to the injured player, who actually found the mistake hilarious.

Since the mishap, Johnson hasn’t played music during injuries not only so he doesn’t embarrass himself, but also so emergency medical personnel can communicate if needed.

Johnson enjoys announcing for his current or former students from Sehome. There have been several who have continued on to Western or the Bells. His favorite part is seeing them growing up and evolve as athletes, players and leaders from freshman in high school to seniors in college.

“It’s fun to know for people like Rachel Albert,” both a Sehome and Western alumna. “I’ve been the soundtrack to her basketball career,” Johnson said.

Johnson comes to games early to look over scripts and names to ensure he pronounces names correctly. At Bells games, Morrell said he often has a five to six-page script he has to follow and know what all is going on down on the field with promotions and the game.

When announcing for the Bells, Johnson lengthens the name Bellingham for several seconds to get fans excited at the beginning of games. Morrell said no matter where you are, you can hear him.

Johnson has announced at pretty much every sporting event: basketball, baseball, volleyball, soccer, track and field, wrestling and dance.

“I believe if he wanted to, he could pursue it to another level,” Cushman said.

A fun memory Johnson likes to reflect on is when Dillon Moyer, son of former Seattle Mariners pitcher Jamie Moyer, played for the Bells in 2011. The Bells decided to honor Jamie with a bobblehead night and to have Jamie throw out the first pitch. Johnson read a long script while Jamie walked out onto the mound and threw the first pitch.

After the game Johnson found Jamie to get an autograph on the script and a picture taken together. Since Jamie was a professional pitcher that was his first, first pitch ever.

The one sport Johnson hasn’t announced for is football because he’s afraid that it will take away his chances of coaching football again.

Presently on top of his teaching, sports announcing and coaching slow-pitch softball, Johnson is currently studying through Gonzaga University for his administrative certificate. If any opportunity would come up for him to move out of Bellingham in the future, it would be an administrative job.

“This is a new kind of exciting challenge to be not just the leader of students in my classroom, but a leader of students across the campus and adults and helping the district vision become a school vision and having success based on that,” Johnson said.

Johnson likes being part of games without interfering and not bringing attention to himself. He could not be at a game and the outcome would shape out the same way, but he wants to be able to change the atmosphere of games.

“I don’t think I’m ever that big a piece of a game,” Johnson said. “I feel like if a game is a sentence I put the punctuation in it, but I don’t really write any of the words or anything.”