Document text
Champion rodeo voice taught himself photo by Bob Pennell World champion rodeo announcer Zoop Dove, left, and rodeo producer Casey Vollin work out the script for this weekend's Wild Rogue ProRodeo at Jackson County Expo in Central Point. Doors open tonight at 6 and rodeo action begins at 7. By JOHN DARLING for the Mail Tribune CENTRAL POINT -- Astride his gray quarter horse, his voice booming through eight big speakers over the sawdust arena "like a combination of Southern Baptist preacher and Wolfman Jack," world champion rodeo announcer Zoop Dove is right at home. Dove Dove is the voice of the 1999 Wild Rogue Pro Rodeo tonight and Sunday at Jackson County Expo Park. "He's energetic, precise and knowledgeable of the sport," said veteran rodeo soundman Jerry Jensen. What does it take to be the best? "Truthfully," said Dove, "somewhere back there in your early life, you have to get an intense desire to be part of this incredible world of greasepaint, baggy pants and sawdust, and then somehow realize you lack the talent to ride and rope." Dove, the national Pro Rodeo champ voice in 1988 and nominated seven times since, said his art didn't come easy. "I had no college, didn't have great communications skills, vocabulary or grammar. So I set out to make it all work. I studied all the great announcers and decided I wanted to design my own technique -- a combination of Southern Baptist preacher and Wolfman Jack," he said. He laughs at himself. He knows about Southern Baptist preachers. "My dad was one. And a mechanic, not a cowboy. He was a deep man. I neglected to realize how deep until it was too late. His patience and faith taught me the greatest lesson: to be willing to lose the battle if I can win the war. That's how I've lived my life and that's how I've come to be doing what I love seven days a week, instead of on weekends." Strapped into his wireless mike, Dove practices his spiel to throbbing rock music before the show, carefully re-editing on his legal pad and working in the new parts -- local sponsors and contestant bios. "My philosophy is -- you see it and you say it. I tell 'em what I'm gonna say, I say it, then I tell 'em what I said. I talk to the blue collar guy without alienating the doctor and lawyer," he said. "It's not old frontier homilies today. Now, you couple it with space-age technology, modern paranoia and computer geek terminology." Dove points at rodeo cowboys and says, "This is the real deal. In rodeo, you don't see any sports stars with jets, consulting their shrinks, hitting and spitting on coaches and getting expensive lawyers to beat their cocaine busts. They don't have diet consultants. They eat from the three basic food groups -- Wendy's, Burger King and McDonald's. "They love the energy of what they do. They'll say the highest high of their lives was realizing they were going to beat the eight-second whistle. It's not the instant gratification. I've heard them say they'd gladly trade a lifetime in the stands for eight seconds in the saddle." The name Zoop? Something he got tagged with in early rodeo work growing up in New Mexico. "It's a good hook," he said, strolling off to wash his horse. "You need a hook in business -- and in life." Mail Tribune Copyright � The Mail Tribune 1999, Medford, Oregon USA