While watching a men’s lacrosse game at Walker Field, you would not expext to hear Zac Brown Band’s song “Chicken Fried” over the sound system. Jermaine Williams, events coordinator and public address announcer for Mesa State, selects the music for all sporting events. He often plays songs he has heard at other venues to fire people up, keep them standing, and cheering. He likes to play these kinds of songs during what he calls “a hot timeout.”
“I don’t think there is any sport that I would say that I can’t play this genre of music or that genre of music, because once the game starts it’s a family fun environment,” Williams said. “So just because it’s a football game doesn’t mean I won’t play country (music) and just because it’s a wrestling match it doesn’t mean I’m not going to play clean rap music. I play a little bit of everything at every event to touch all of the fans.”
“Chicken Fried” happens to be Butch Miller’s, MSC Athletic Director, favorite song. So, when Williams plays it Miller will look at him and tip his cap.
Sports fans are likely to hear Williams’ voice over the PA system unless there are a couple of events going on at the same time. It doesn’t matter if he is announcing volleyball or basketball, he approaches each sport with the same enthusiasm. He loves the Mavericks.
If Williams had to pick his favorite sport to cover it would be basketball. That’s because Williams comes from Indiana, a basketball mecca. Basketball also was the first sport that he ever announced.
Williams graduated from Greenville College, a small Christian school in Illinois, with a degree in Sports Management. He came to Mesa State because he got an opportunity a couple years ago to work at the Junior College World Series, at Suplizio Field in Grand Junction. Jamie Hamilton, Associate Athletic Director of Fundraising for MSC and runs JUCO, encouraged Williams to join the MSC athletic program.
Williams coordinates events for Mesa’s 23 intercollegiate sports. He also assists with facilities and other events on campus, including tournaments and high school games at Walker Field, Brownson Arena and the El Pomar Natatorium.
“I started here in 2009 and it’s a seven day a week job, on any given weekend you have Friday, Saturday, and Sunday events. I have to be in the office during the week preparing for the weekend events and keeping up with everything.” Williams said.
Besides the weekend, Mondays are his busiest day because he has to send out game day protocol for the sporting events coming up. The protocol tells the visiting teams where to park, what time things are going like the shoot around for basketball, and who to contact if they have any questions. He also has to do all the will-call sheets for the sports that MSC charges admission for and he has to print those up and get them all ready.
Then he does a wrap-up with the previous weekend’s concession and ticket sales. Not only does he serve as the events coordinator, PA announcer, assists with facilities, assists with high school events on campus, and works seven days a week. He has a staff of around 50 students.
The only things that frustrate him are the weather, which nobody can control, and fans who get out of control.
“It’s like, ‘Hey you know you can’t do that, you can’t act this way, you can’t just park wherever,’” Williams said. “Little things that a lot of people don’t see and don’t think are that big of a deal are a nuisance to the three assistant AD’s, the facilities manager, and myself. The 700 people at the event have no clue that anything ever went on, which is good.”
He also leads “The Herd,” which was started when Williams arrived here.
It was a program that had been talked about before Williams arrived, but he implemented a few special components to get it started.

afix@mesastate.edu