Michael Criscuoli was on football, swimming, basketball and baseball teams during his four years at Pallotti High School. But the Laurel resident and 2009 Pallotti graduate made more of a name for himself off the playing fields during games as the public address announcer for nearly every junior varsity and varsity boys and girls basketball home games during his high school days.

"My freshman year I went to a JV game and there was no announcer," Criscuoli said. He approached athletic director Steve Walker about the situation and Walker suggested Criscuoli "shadow" Paul O'Brien, a long-time religion teacher at the school who had also done public address work at games.

"He always had a great enthusiasm for it. The whole thing was his idea," O'Brien said.

In 2007, Criscuoli became a member of the National Association of Sports Public Address Announcers, and was the youngest certified public address announcer in the organization. Then last year Criscuoli was named the NASPAA High School Student Public Address Announcer of the Year.

"Receiving this award has been a dream come true for me," wrote Criscuoli, 18, who has since been featured on WUSA TV Channel 9 in Washington and in several print publications.

Brad Rumble, the executive director for NASPPA, said Walker nominated Criscuoli for the honor. He was the third winner of the high school award. The organization also honors junior college, NAIA and NCAA public address announcers.

"Mike, with his experience and dedication, was more than qualified for the award," Rumble said Feb. 1 in a telephone interview from Missouri. "He has a lot of passion and is committed to doing it the right way. He is going to do well."

But Criscuoli, a freshman at Howard Community College, is not resting on past achievements. Last fall he was a public address announcer at the University of Maryland in College Park for volleyball and field hockey matches. He plans to call men's and women's lacrosse, baseball and softball for the Terps during the spring season.

He has acted as an ambassador for the NASPAA as a way to encourage students to become involved in public address announcing at their schools. He has spoken to students at Maret, a private school in northwest Washington, and met with Johnny Holliday, the long-time football and basketball voice of the Maryland Terps.

Criscuoli is now in his fifth season of announcing girls and boys basketball games at Pallotti.

"He does a great job," said Josh Pratt, the first-year head coach for the Pallotti girls basketball team. "I really like it. We have a band (at games) and it is a really good atmosphere. You can sense that he has a pride and passion not only for public address announcing but also the school. He comes up to coaches before the game. He knows our record. He knows our players."

"He has a lot of info, which I think is cool for someone his age," Pratt added. "I can see him doing it at the national level. Visiting teams come in and they say, wow, it is very professional."

"As far as voice inflection, he is good," said Rick Diggs, the commissioner of the MIAA and vice principal of operations at Pallotti. "I know he wants to make a career of it."

Criscuoli has gotten to know many of the opposing coaches who play road games at Pallotti, and he shows up about an hour before games to make sure how to pronounce the names of players.

Criscuoli hopes to transfer to Maryland in the fall and plans to study broadcasting and mass communications. His long-term goals are to work for ESPN or ABC.

"Any job is great with me," he said.

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