How Hornets’ new P.A. announcer plans to bring own style while honoring a local legacy
Things are a bit different at home games for the Charlotte Hornets these days, an unmistakable change that still seems like it’s a dream.
Patrick “Big Pat” Doughty’s booming voice no longer greets spectators and the personable, brightly shining spirit that lit up with every recognizable approaching face or adoring fan is gone. Doughty, the Hornets’ longtime public address announcer whose larger-than-life style reverberated throughout Spectrum Center, died in July and his absence leaves a huge void in a variety of ways.
“It’s definitely weird — rest in peace to Big Pat,” Miles Bridges said Tuesday. “Just his voice and his presence just brought comfort to us. Even if we were losing, getting back into a game, just hearing his voice calling your name through a comeback, that was big for us.
“So, it’s sad not having him here.”
Doughty was a celebrity, a staple of Hornets basketball. Shawn Parker, the person tabbed to serve as Charlotte’s new public address announcer, knows that all too well.
Parker is sliding into a hot seat by following a local legend, one who constantly posed for pictures and keepsake selfies with fans, some who traveled hundreds of miles to meet him. Parker was shocked like everyone else when the gut-wrenching news trickled out about Doughty’s death, and he’s quite aware the footsteps he’s trailing in are quite large.
“It’s an honor to follow someone that was so beloved,” said Parker, who officially made his debut during Saturday night’s loss to Miami and will be back behind the mic again when the Hornets host Toronto on Wednesday. “One of the things they asked me in my interview was how would you handle that? Because for a lot of fans, that’s the only voice they’re used to in the arena.”
Parker’s answer to that query was relatively easy. This wouldn’t be his first NBA job and certainly not the only time he’s ever found himself in such a position.
“The person that I followed in Minnesota had been there for 20 years — Rod Johnson,” Parker said. “And people were used to his style. It’s all about coming in and being myself. If I come in and be myself, even if the first five, 10, 15 games (and) they are like, ‘Who is that dude?’ And looking up at the speakers like, ‘Hold up a second. Uh, uh.’
“But eventually they get used to my style, they hopefully will feel the passion and love for the game that I have for the game and my new city. Because trust me, I’m all in when I’m in a city. I’m all in here in Charlotte and I hope they feel that.”
Parker spent five seasons as the Timberwolves public address announcer, climbing up the arena ladder after initially working at Tennessee State University and George Washington University. Originally from Lanham, Maryland, he has a bachelor’s degree in broadcast journalism from the University of Maryland.
That’s where, before beginning a career in sports broadcasting in 2014, Parker met someone who made a pretty good name for himself in the Washington, D.C./Maryland/Virginia area. The same person whose popularity soared thanks to his hosting of BET’s “Rap City: The Basement” from 1998-2005 and still boasts several jobs.
“I worked with Darian Morgan, ‘Big Tigger,’” Parker said. “That’s the Hawks P.A. announcer. We worked together for a little bit at Maryland.”
Morgan chuckled when reminded about that very thing.
“I forgot,” he told The Observer. “We were at Maryland, the Wizards. So, we’ve just been on this journey for quite some. I went that way and he went this way, and we kind of still ended up in the same lane, which is kind of cool.”
Morgan misses Parker’s predecessor as much as anybody, though.
“I’m just really sad to hear about Pat,” Morgan said. “I came to Atlanta and I was DJing for seven seasons, and when they gave me the job as the P.A. announcer he was the very first person I called. I called ‘Big Pat’ and I was like, ‘Bro, what do I do?’ He was a good friend, so I miss ‘Big Pat.’
“But with Shawn, I wish him all the luck.”
Getting the Hornets’ job
Parker had been living in Nashville, the place he moved with his wife after deciding to leave Minnesota to be closer to family in Tennessee. His recent path to earning the Hornets’ public address reins began with the submission of an application through the team’s website.
Those who were interested had to send in a demo reel to give decision-makers some general insight, and Parker also threw in a personal message to the team because wanted to stick out and underscore his passion for the job.
Following a video interview with some of the Hornets’ brass, Parker received an invitation to further audition for the role one, taking on the task at Charlotte’s preseason opener against New York on Oct. 6. His phone rang a little over a week later with a number that had an important message to deliver to Parker.
Slight problem, though.
“I was on the table at the chiropractor’s office,” Parker said. “I was laying down. l had the phone on my stomach.”
The doctor stepped out of the room, Parker took the call and accepted the job. And he’s fully immersed in it now.
“This is just the beginning because I still have a lot of work to do,” Parker said. “I still have a lot of people to win over here because I understand how much ‘Big Pat’ meant to this community, how much he meant to the P.A. announcing community as well. We have a P.A. brotherhood, is what I and a lot of others call it. He meant a lot to us.
“There’s a big void. I’m not trying to replace him. I’m simply trying to honor his legacy here and if I can come here and be recognized league wide as one of the best, then I can say, ‘Hey, it’s not just me but it is a legacy of people that were in that Charlotte Hornets P.A. announcer chair that led to me being where I am.’”
