By Aaron Schultz
Sports Editor

It all started two years ago for Lester Prairie residents Troy Feltmann, Bob Carlson, and Larry Roth, and now it seems as if they have been doing it forever.

During the 2006-07 high school basketball season, Lester Prairie boys’ head coach Brian Korf talked to Carlson and Feltmann about announcing during a few of their home games, as well as playing music during the breaks.

Those few games that season turned into a full-time gig last year for the Bulldogs boys’ basketball team, as the trio was on hand for every home game for Lester Prairie during its state tournament season.

This year, with Lester Prairie pairing with Holy Trinity, the three have done every single LP/HT home game, be it in Lester Prairie or at Holy Trinity.

“Last year was a lot of fun,” Feltmann said. “Even this year, watching the boys improve throughout the year, has been fun.”

“Brian (Korf) asked me one day when we were talking, and kept asking,” Carlson said. “I agreed to do it, and really enjoyed doing it, and continue to enjoy it.”

“Carlson asked me to help him spot for the games since I was just sitting there watching the games,” Roth said. “I agreed to help, and it has been a lot of fun.”

Notice any common links between the three – the link is the fun all three have.

Talking to all three, that is the one word that they kept coming back to, just how much fun they have at the games.

“They have so much fun that they will beg me to take time-outs,” Korf said.

So, if you weren’t at a Lester Prairie boys’ game last year, or to a LP/HT boys’ game this year, you just might be asking what the heck these three guys do at the games.

In simple terms, they do the announcing, and play music during breaks in the action.

It all starts with Carlson, whose day job is the Chief of Police for Lester Prairie.

Not only is Carlson the Chief of Police, he is also a member of the Lester Prairie School Board.

Carlson grew up in Hawley, a small town in northwestern Minnesota, which just happens to be a rival of Pelican Rapids, the town Korf grew up in.

His professional career started in radio in Detroit Lakes, and he later moved on to WDAY Radio in Fargo, where he took care of the overnight news, and engineered broadcasts of North Dakota State University basketball games for the radio.

After being in the radio business for nearly a decade (1988-1996), Carlson figured it was time for a career change.

“I really loved working in radio,” Carlson said. “If I could have made a living by doing it, I would have.”

But with radio work not exactly paying bundles, Carlson moved into law enforcement, which brought him to Lester Prairie, where he is now the Chief of Police.

As a cop in Lester Prairie, Carlson teaches DARE, and did so in Korf’s fifth grade classroom, which is where they got to talking.

After Carlson agreed to do some announcing, Feltmann was next up on the list of guys for Korf to suck in to make the basketball experience one to remember.

Feltmann, a Lester Prairie High School graduate, went to St. Cloud State and Hennepin Technical College, studying television broadcasting, and did some production work on the Granite City Sports report while in college.

Currently working at the Herald Journal, Korf knew that Feltmann had the technical know-how to run the sound board.

Feltmann quickly agreed to do a few games that first year, and before you knew it, he and Carlson, along with Roth, were doing every single home game for the Bulldogs.

The third member of the team is Roth, who helps the two out by being that extra set of eyes during the games.

“Larry (Roth) really helps us out a lot,” Feltmann said.

Roth follows the action during the games and lets Carlson know who it was that just scored or picked up a foul, should he miss it.

There is a lot more than meets the eye to everything that these three do, and much of it takes place prior to the game.

First off, they need to set up their equipment, which pretty much entails a laptop computer, which is LP/HT head football coach Joe Scoblic’s.

The computer has the sound board, and is equipped with nearly 250 different songs.

Then Carlson always checks with the other team’s coaches for the proper pronunciation of the kids names.

Once the junior varsity game, along with varsity warm ups, are over, then it is time for the three wisemen to shine.

They announce the opponents, then do the Bulldogs’ starting line-up.

“That is the part I enjoy the most,” Carlson said. “(I) want energy to get the crowd excited, but I don’t want to sound too radioish.”

Anyone who has heard Carlson do the pre-game starting line-ups, knows it is just right.

Once the game starts, then the third member of their crew does his job – that being Roth and his spotting assignment.

During the game, Feltmann plays music during time-outs, while Carlson battles with him to get out any announcements he needs to read.

“We do go back and forth on if I am going to play music or if he is going to read the announcements that need to get read,” Feltmann said. “I always tell him that if I’m not going to get to play music that I can just shut off his mic.”

With 250 songs to choose from, Feltmann has more than a big enough selection, but he says that there are a few that he saves until the second half when he thinks the team, and the crowd, needs to get pumped up.

One of his favorites isn’t even really a song, it is a speech from the movie “Animal House.”

You know the one, where they go “It aint over . . .”

Still, talking to the three, they all say that pumping up the crowd gives them the most enjoyment of it all.

“When the student section is stomping the bleachers and standing up during a time-out in a close game, that is really cool,” Feltmann said.

While the fans may not always appreciate it at the time, they all sure do seem to enjoy it, as does the team.

“They have created an environment that makes it like a college or NBA game. It makes it fun to play,” Korf said. “The coaches and players really appreciate what they do.”

However, not everyone is always too happy with the wisemen.

Last year, after a playoff game against Cedar Mountain/Comfrey, the Herald Journal received a letter to the editor from a lady complaining that the music and announcing were too loud.

Then there was the first game at Holy Trinity this year, when they may have had the music a little too loud while they adjusted to a different gym.

But now, according to Feltmann, everything seems to run pretty smoothly at Holy Trinity, as it has at Lester Prairie for the past two years.

The service these three men provide to the basketball programs is greatly appreciated by all the fans who attend.

And it is a service, as they all made sure to note that they don’t get paid for doing it.

Although they may be doing it for free, they definitely don’t put a half-hearted effort into it.

Feltmann, Carlson, and Roth (I prefer the “three wisemen”) – keep up the great work, and all of us fans will keep on enjoying the basketball games that much more.