BARNESVILLE – When Joe Bradfield returned to Barnesville following a tour in the United States Navy nearly 60 years ago, he thought he’d settle down, join the family banking business and raise his brood like many of his peers.

Little did he know he’d be thrust into a side job that would provide him plenty of enjoyment for nearly six decades.

Anyone who attends a football game at Shamrock Stadium recognizes Bradfield’s voice. Whether it’s letting everyone know the score or providing some crucial down-and-distance information, Bradfield has been a fixture at Barnesville gridiron events for many a generation.

”I’m calling grandchildren now and, I think, I’m calling great-grandchildren,” Bradfield marveled when looking back at his career. ”Well, when you figure, in 56 years, that’s probably happened.”

Probably.

In 1959 – when Eisenhower was still in the White House – a young Bradfield was approached about doing the public address at Barnesville football games.

”I said, ‘I don’t know,”’ he recalled. ”I never thought about it. Finally, I said, ‘OK, I’ll do it.”’

He had no experience on the mic. The only experience had had, if you can call it that, was the fact he’d played for the Shamrocks as a quarterback and halfback. So, he knew the game, and soon he began relaying his knowledge to the masses, high atop the action.

”The so-called booth was on top of a light pole on the opposite side of the field,” Bradfield recalled, describing the difference between the less-than-lush accommodations then and the ones enjoyed these days by press box staff.

”You had to climb up a ladder like a lineman and go up through a trap door. There was only room for two of us up there.”

That was usually Bradfield and Bill Davies, the late legendary Barnesville Enterprise and Times Leader sports scribe.

”That daggone thing shook,” Bradfield said laughing.

What wasn’t a laughing matter was the attention to detail to which Bradfield paid to his job. Then, and now, Bradfield has always aimed to be informative and impartial.

”You’re a PA announcer, not doing play-by-play,” he explained. ”I would’ve loved to have done that, though. All you do is call the game. I’ve kept it that way. You can’t be partial. You have to give the other team credit.”

As with any profession, Bradfield said he makes mistakes now and then, but most of the comments he’s received about his work throughout the years have been good.

”I like to say that 95 percent of them have been favorable,” he said.

And if he doesn’t go through his normal routine? Well, sometimes he’ll hear about it. Like one time when he stopped giving the score when Barnesville was trouncing River.

”We were so far ahead I didn’t think the River fans wanted to hear the score any more so I stopped saying it,” he recalled. ”I got more phone calls than you could ever believe.”

As it turned out, the press box speakers could be heard at nearby Barnesville Hospital and some of the folks there had opened the windows to hear Bradfield ”call the game.” When he quit giving the score, they were in the dark as to what was going on.

”I never did that again,” Bradfield laughed.

For years, Bradfield even paid his own way to get into the games, even though he didn’t have to.

”It all went for a good cause,” he said.

Athletic Director Mark Cook was the one who talked him out of it, he said. Cook is one of about 10 ADs Bradfield said he’s had the pleasure of working for through the years. Not to mention all of the coaches and players he’s seen.

While he never imagined he’d be at the mic this long, Bradfield wouldn’t change a thing. He enjoys the banter and camaraderie he has with his fellow press box mates five nights a year.

”It’s been a great experience,” he said. ”It’s fun.”

If you know of someone in sports in the Ohio Valley whom I could feature as an Ohio Valley Unsung Hero, drop me a line at rthorp@timesleaderonline.com or via Twitter at RickThorp1