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Light Rain Announcer’s career draws to a close
For a quarter-century, Bill Bogatz has been the voice of Wantagh football. He’s not on the air, but his voice has filled the air at home games since 1990.
Bogatz, an economics teacher at Wantagh High School, is retiring at the end of the school year. The Homecoming game on Oct. 18 was the last home contest of the year, meaning, if the Warriors don’t make the playoffs, his announcing career is likely over.
In 25 football seasons, Bogatz has announced 106 games, mostly from the press box atop the bleachers. He also called a few games at Hofstra University when the Warriors made deep playoff runs.
He took over from Chuck Kalinowski, who was the chairman of the business department and the varsity basketball coach. “It was available,” Bogatz said of the announcing position. “I though it might be fun.”
He is not the same announcer he was when he began, he said. Perfecting his craft took time, and over the years he attended away games to see and hear what other high school announcers were doing. When he started, Bogatz said, he had to learn when to announce plays, what signals the officials were using, and how to do a halftime show. His goal has always been to both inform and entertain the crowd.
In 2001 he took possession of the documented history of Wantagh football, handwritten by Jack White, who was Nassau County’s sports historian at the time. It had every game the Warriors had played, along with every score and coach. Bogatz has kept the list going, and he uses it to provide information at games, such as Wantagh’s all-time record against a specific opponent.
Trivia has also been a part of his routine. At every game he will have three or four questions for the fans, usually about professional or college-level football records. Bogatz said he gets his information from newspaper articles.
For most of his announcing career, Wantagh was in Nassau County’s Conference III, and its biggest rival was Bethpage. “The Wantagh-Bethpage games were always intense,” he said, adding that since Wantagh’s move up to Conference II, Garden City has become its prime nemesis.
Bogatz said that a rivalry is created when there is constant competition between two teams and there are great expectations for each. Over the past few years, Wantagh has played his alma mater, Mepham High School, on a regular basis.
“I’m entrenched in Wantagh,” he said, asked who he roots for in those games, “but it’s always nice to see your old high school playing.”
He said there is nothing like calling a game on a fall day, looking off to the west and seeing the leaves between the Wantagh Parkway and the school fields changing colors. The cheerleaders, dance team and marching band complete the scene. “It seems like much of the school is involved,” he said. “To me, it’s as exciting as any college or professional contest.”
Keith Sachs, the varsity football coach, noted the value that Bogatz brings to games and Wantagh football in general. “He’s a special part of the program,” Sachs said. “He’s a lot more than just announcing the games.”
Bogatz, 62, has taught at Wantagh High for 30 years. Getting a job was initially a struggle, he said, because he finished college in 1974, a time when public school enrollment was declining and there were fewer teaching positions available.
He also taught at Mepham, Oceanside, Seaford, Syosset and Baldwin Harbor BOCES before coming to Wantagh, and didn’t get his first permanent position until 1988. He teaches Regents-level economics as well as a course offered through Syracuse University.
Every football season has its own personality, Bogatz said, but one unforgettable year was 2001, when Wantagh was in the Rutgers Cup game and beat Harborfields for the Long Island championship.
Before the Homecoming game, he made a rare appearance on the field to introduce the senior football players, dance team members and cheerleaders. He didn’t know that the real reason he was down there was so the school could recognize him. Athletic Director Jennifer Keane and Sachs presented him with a plaque and as commemorative football.
“That was a pleasant surprise,” he said. “It was sentimental, and I’m very thankful. I’d just like to thank Wantagh for the opportunity to announce.”
