Justis served: Beloved UNI public address announcer retires
Bob Justis has been calling Northern Iowa football, men's basketball for 50 years
CEDAR FALLS —- “Heeeeeerrreeeeeee COME the PAN-thers!”
Bob Justis has been uttering those words and firing up crowds at University of Northern Iowa football and men’s basketball games for a half century. To generations of Panther fans, his tones have been golden.
Now, Justis says, it’s time to give the vocal cords, and himself, a rest. Saturday’s season-ending home football contest against Indiana State at the UNI-Dome will be his last game, concluding his 50th season.
“I’m ready,” said Justis, 77, adding with a little self-deprecating chuckle, “I think people are tired of hearing from me.”
Some might take issue with that, but no one would begrudge him from pushing away from the table. In his time, Justis has coined some of the most memorable tag lines in the history of Panther athletics, evoking the roar of many a home crowd.
Like this one, from the heyday of Panther football with its numerous conference titles and playoff appearances:
“Ladies and gentlemen! A FEROCIOUS PREDATOR has been seen STALKING the NATION! We caution you to to WATCH…for the CAT!”
And this, from men’s basketball games at McLeod Center:
”The CAGES are OPEN….and the CATS are IN THE HOUSE!”
While some stadiums have on-field personalities to fire up a crowd, Justis could get Panther football fans to “make some noise” for the defense with a little subtle nudge of intonation.
All he’d have to say is, “It’s THIRD and TWO!” and bring the UNI-Dome faithful to their feet in deafening cheers for a defensive stop.
And on a scoring play, he’d say:
“Kenny Shedd FOOOORRRRRR they TOUCHdownnnnnnn!” Football fans even made posters with those words — complete with that phonetic spelling.
And, whether the succession of quality Panther placekickers made a chip-shot extra point or a seemingly impossible long field goal, his call would be the same. Bob’s staccato “GUD!” was music to Panther fans’ ears.
Like any good journalist, Justis advanced the story of the game with grace notes of verbal flair, without getting in the way of it.
“They’re not here to hear me, they’re here to see the game,” Justis said.
But he does admit the crowd response to some of his lines, many of which he came up with for his own amusement, have been gratifying. Never over the top, and, he emphasized, never deprecating of the visiting team or fans.
Nonetheless, his announcing has been part of the atmosphere and ambiance of Panther athletics for a long time. For many years, at football games, the Panther Marching Band would rise to its feet, turn to the press box and yell “HI BOB!” in unison.
Justis is a 1965 graduate of Cedar Falls High School. He served three years in the U.S. Army in counterintelligence. After finishing his degree at UNI in 1974 following military service, he went to work in the university foundation, helping to raise funds for the construction of the UNI-Dome, working for alumni relations and development director Lee Miller and alongside longtime football coach and athletic director Stan Sheriff, for whom “the Dome’s” playing field is named.
Through that fundraising, Justis developed many community contacts — and also was asked if he’s like to take a try as public address announcer. It became a long-term gig — for football, at the building he helped raise funds for, the UNI-Dome; and for men’s basketball contests at the program’s various home venues — first at the now-demolished Men’s/West Gymnasium, then at the Dome and now the McLeod Center.
He also worked for many years in development and public relations at Allen Hospital in Waterloo, now part of the UnityPoint organization, where he was vice president of corporate relations and development.
In 2002, he became executive director of the Cedar Falls Chamber of Commerce and worked with the board of the Waterloo Chamber of Commerce as the two organizations merged in 2007 to form the Greater Cedar Valley Alliance and Chamber, now called Grow Cedar Valley. He retired from the organization in 2013, serving then as vice president of community development.
His wife, Nancy Justis, worked 30 years in the UNI athletics department, 26 of those years as director of media relations and was inducted into the UNI Athletics Hall of Fame in 2009.
He recalled that, when accompanying Nancy on one football road trip, a fired-up head football Coach Mark Farley, who is also retiring after Saturday’s game, strode up to him and asked, to Bob’s surprise, if the Panthers should go on offense or defense upon winning the opening coin toss.
” I said, ‘Coach, you can’t score if you don’t have the ball’ “ Justis said. “He said, ‘Right!’ “ Farley strode away just as intensely as he had approached him.
One high point came in 1999, when a Panther alum football player quietly made his way into the Dome to watch a game. It was future Pro Football Hall of Fame quarterback Kurt Warner, who had been Gateway Conference player of the year at UNI in 1993. His St. Louis Rams were on their bye week in what would be a Super Bowl championship season.
Warner was sitting a few rows below the press box. When associate athletics director John “Jersey'“ Jermier noted Warner’s presence, Justis got his daugher Nicole to go down and invite Warner into the press box, where he received congratulatory and handshakes and signed autographs.
When Justis later announced Warner’s presence to UNI-Dome crowd, admiring kids flocked to previously unnoticed emerging NFL star.
“That was a special day,” Justis said.
Saturday will be another special day for him. Extended family are coming as the UNI-Dome faithful give him a sendoff.
It’s a job he’s done totally as a volunteer — without financial compensation, but not without reward.
“I have no regrets,” he said.
For 50 years, Bob Justis has had the best seat in the house at Panther athletic events. After retirement, he still will — with his family, as a fan of UNI, and Cedar Falls.
Pat Kinney is a freelance writer and former longtime news staffer with the Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier and, prior to that, several years at the Ames Tribune. He is currently an oral historian with the Grout Museum District in Waterloo. His “View from the Cedar Valley” column is part of “Iowa Writers Collaborative,” a collection of news and opinion writers from around the state who previously and currently work with a host of Iowa newspapers, news organizations and other publications. They are listed below. Clink on the links to check them out, subscribe for free - and, if you believe in the value of quality journalism, support this column and/or any of theirs with a paid subscription .
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Nice tribute; stellar headline!