By MIKE COURSON
Great Bend Post
Being a play-by-play man kept Patrick Burnett in the game. For 14 years, Burnett served as the Voice of the Panthers on Eagle Radio. Burnett stepped away from the role at the end of the football season, but Tuesday night, he was recognized by GBHS coaches and players for his work. The Panther crowd responded with a standing ovation.
"It was very, very touching for the crowd to welcome me the way they did, and to recognize the years and the work that I put in as the Voice of the Panthers," Burnett said. "When you start off to do something, you don't go in with the idea of getting recognized, but to see the appreciation in the moment, it really warmed my heart."
Burnett graduated from Otis-Bison High School in 1999, then attended Fort Hays State University, where he earned a degree in business management in 2003. He always wanted to be a radio voice but had the degree as a fallback. He got his foot in the door under former Voice of the Panthers Randy Goering.
"Randy Goering was still the play-by-play voice for Great Bend High, and he needed a color man for two years," said Burnett. "That's how I got started was as a color analyst, then I was a color analyst for Hoisington sports for a year."
Burnett went on to be the play-by-play voice for the Hoisington Cardinals for a year, then transitioned to work for Great Bend High School. Some of his calls, including the "Miracle on Morton," were played throughout the gymnasium during Tuesday's recognition.
"I really enjoyed it because it was a way I could still be part of the game," Burnett said. "I knew I wasn't able to physically play the game, or wasn't talented enough, but I thought I could use my talent to describe that for radio listeners. That's how I was able to still be relevant and still be part of a team by being the play-by-play voice of."
Burnett said a highlight of doing play-by-play work was the relationship he built with coaches and players.
"As a play-by-play voice, coaches let you into their programs, and they accept you in as one of their own," he said. "Oftentimes, you develop a huge relationship with coaches because you confide in them and they confide in you. It's a journey. When you work with coaches for years and years, and you build a relationship, you feel for them, and you feel for their kids, and you feel for their teams. You're really in those battles together."
Burnett was joined on the floor by various GBHS coaches, each of which presented him with signed memorabilia. The Panther Booster Club gifted him a plaque for his work.
"It blew me away," said Burnett. "Those are treasures that are going to be with me the rest of my life. The amount of gratitude I have for those coaches, for the administration at Great Bend High School, and for the Panther Booster Club for putting it all together, I never could have dreamt it or imagined it."
Alongside coverage of GBHS, Burnett also did play-by-play work for several area teams as they competed in various state tournaments.