AUBURN, AL. - After growing up an Auburn fan, Ric Smith went from attending Auburn games to serving as the voice of the Jordan-Hare Stadium.
Smith not only serves as the PA announcer on football Saturdays, but is a professor in the Auburn University School of Communication and Journalism as well as the director of internships.
Ever since he was little, Smith has been attending Auburn games with his family. Smith was raised in the Auburn-Opelika area until his family relocated to South Carolina his junior year of high school.
As an Opelika native and child of an Auburn alum, Smith was destined for Auburn. After receiving his undergraduate degree from the University of South Carolina at Columbia, Smith returned to the Auburn area to get his masters degree from Auburn in 1982.
During his time at Auburn, Smith was involved in Auburn University's student-run radio station, WEGL. “I got involved and just fell in love with it,” Smith says. WEGL showed Smith his passion that would set the path for a future he had not anticipated.
Auburn football was not where Smith’s professional PA announcing days began. Smith was first hired by the university to call baseball games at Plainsman Park and teach in the School of Communication and Journalism. “Once you get involved, one opportunity leads to another,” Smith says, “Ultimately that’s what brought me to Auburn football; I had done various types of announcing.”
After calling baseball games for several years, Smith was approached about the job in football to be the Voice of Jordan-Hare. “It wasn’t that I sat down for a special audition, I auditioned one baseball game at a time for five years,” says Smith.
The former Voice of Jordan-Hare, Carl Stephens, was someone that Smith highly admired throughout his career announcing baseball. When Stephens retired in 2006, Smith was passed down the job from one of his most influential role models.
Smith has been announcing Auburn football games in Jordan-Hare Stadium ever since that 2006 season began. “Ultimately it’s not about me,” Smith says, “It’s about the players and the fans in the stands; my job is to provide them with the information they need.”
Through his years of announcing at Auburn, he has been a part of a BCS National Championship and two SEC Championship wins. “In a sense it’s the dream job, that's one of the best gigs in the country,” says Smith, “I think it’s the best gig in the country.”
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