Meet ‘The Voice of the Bulldogs’
PHOTOS BY LISA McGINTY and CHRISTINA McCUNE
When he’s not at his full-time job as an AT&T repairman or on his motorcycle, he spends his Friday nights in the fall announcing for Bulldogs varsity football games.
DALTON Standing in the press box, with his adrenaline pumping, overlooking the varsity football players, marching band and cheerleaders on a Friday night at McFarren Field, Rob Kanya tries to give the crowd what they want.
If his home team – the Dalton Bulldogs – makes a touchdown, his voice is more enthusiastic.
There are certain key phrases that he has learned the crowd expects from him, such as “pack of Dawgs.”
“I love it,” said the full-time AT&T repairman and father of three grown children in their 20s who all graduated from Dalton: Dillan, Megan and Garrett.
He’s been known as “the voice of the Bulldogs” for at least a dozen years since taking over from another well-known announcer Jerry Berg.
At the end of his work week, Kanya scrambles home, puts on his black Bulldogs football T-shirt, and sometimes a black Ohio State ballcap, and heads to the Dalton High School stadium. He meets up with Coach Broc Dial and the opposing team’s coach to get the rosters. He does a quick check to see if he needs any assistance in pronouncing last names. And then he heads up to the press box.
