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For the Love of the Game...
January, 2006
 Area 'moonlighting' announcers just like being part of sports scene
Excerpts from New Years Day story by Roger Metzger, Times Reporter Sports Writer
According to the online encyclopedia Wikipedia, the definition of moonlighting is doing a second job outside of normal working hours. A prime example might be a factory worker who moonlights as a taxi driver to earn a few extra dollars.
Denny Trimmer, Jim Contini, Willie Grove, Geoff Stevanus, Roger Dominic an Steve Cores are area sports enthusiasts who have regular jobs, but take on a second one as they bring high school sports to area listeners and viewers by being radio or television analysts. But make no mistake, the money they get for broadcasting games is secondary. They are involved in broadcasting for the love of high school sports.
Trimmer is a licensed funeral director with Toland-Herzig Funeral Homes & Crematory, but turns into a radio analyst for WJER during the high school football and basketball seasons.
''Funeral directors have always been involved in community activities (like the Kiwanis, Rotary, Lions and Exchange Club) and my interest in sports pushed me to this rather than the Exchange Club,'' said Trimmer after a recent New Philadelphia-Claymont boys' basketball game.
Trimmer's casual conversation with former WJER play-by-play personality Matt Ritzert got him off the sideline and into the game.
''I saw Matt at calling hours and I said to him that I would love to do that,'' recalled Trimmer who was first hired in 1997 and did his first game when New Philadelphia, led by Cie Grant, traveled to Wooster. ''He gave me a shot at it.''
''I have no radio training and it shows every night,'' joked Trimmer, a New Philadelphia graduate and a former quarterback for the Quakers. ''After that first game with Matt, I got a check and I told them I thought they made a mistake.''
''I didn't know you got paid,'' said Trimmer. ''I just love to be around the kids and as a frustrated former athlete I just wanted to be a part of it. It's such a treat.''
WJER Sports Director Bill Morgan, who serves as the play-by-play voice and Trimmer's partner, said the industry would be lost without guys like Trimmer and many others.
''They don't need the money,'' said Morgan, who said his commentators get around $30 per game. ''They do it because they love high school sports and want to be a part of it. We couldn't do what we do without those guys.''
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In addition to his funeral home and radio duties, Trimmer also is the public address announcer for the Strasburg High boys' basketball team.
''I take my work schedule and lay it over my Strasburg schedule and then lay it over radio dates,'' said Trimmer. ''I try to do as many Phila games as I can because I'm from Phila.''
All of the announcers in this story come from different backgrounds, but there is one thing they all have in common - their love of high school sports.
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