The Athletics Department at San Rafael High School is an integral part of the school’s community. A large number of students have either played for a sports team or have spectated a game. And chances are, if you have ever attended a San Rafael High School sporting event you have probably heard the voice of Dan Harrington. 

Dan Harrington works as the sports announcer for a majority of SRHS sports. He announces for football, basketball, soccer, and volleyball at San Rafael, and by doing so, has contributed to the SRHS community. He brings students, players, coaches, and parents together by informing everyone about activities in sports games. And by doing so, creates a more enjoyable viewing experience which encourages spectators to attend. 

Harrington has been the announcer for SRHS sports since 2019, although he has been announcing other sporting events for the majority of his life. He views announcing games as a way to bring together a community. “I want it to be fun for everyone, I want to be the trigger for applause,” remarks Harrington.

Harrington started announcing for sports just a few days after he graduated from high school, where he announced 12 basketball games in one weekend at Saint Ignatius High School in San Francisco. After that one weekend of practicing announcing games, he found himself with a solid understanding of how games should be announced. He continued to announce games and kept improving. 

Harrington himself is an athlete, playing baseball in college. He played one season for San Francisco State before transferring to Worcester State where he played baseball until he graduated in 1991. He also played recreational football and ran cross country during his college years. It was from these sporting experiences that he grew his passion for announcing sports. 

Graduating with a BA degree in history and minoring in both P.E. and geography, Harrington planned to become a teacher. But once his older brother became terminally ill, Harrington became a recreation director to afford himself time to take care of his brother. This allowed him to allocate more time to announcing sports games for inner city high schools. 

Harrington continued to help his brother until he passed away when Harrington was 31, at which point he entered the Army. He wasn’t sure at first if his skill in announcing sports games would be useful in the army until he became an informational announcer. He was able to use his announcing skills to inform and raise morale among soldiers. He served until he was in his early 40s and started announcing sports games again. 

Harrington began working as the SRHS sports announcer in 2019 after calling the Bay Game, a football game that would happen between San Rafael and Richmond. After that game, he was asked by the SRHS sports department to call more sports games, and he’s been a part of the community ever since. 

CJ Healy has been a P.E. teacher and coach for SRHS since 2002. She has coached various sports such as volleyball and golf but most of all basketball. She is currently an assistant coach for the women’s varsity team. Coach Healy has heard Harrington for the past four years and is very impressed with him as an announcer. “[Harrington] is a professional, he knows the drill, he’s very well prepared,” says Coach Healy. 

Harrington is a professional at his craft, he hasn’t only announced for high school games, but some much larger events, too. To name a few, he’s been an announcer for SF State football, Santa Clara basketball, and is currently starting his season as the lead mic-man for Laney College baseball.  

Just a few years out of college in 1993, Harrington competed for the position of stadium announcer for the San Francisco Giants. Although he lost to Sherry Davis, the first full-time female MLB stadium announcer, he placed in the final three out of 500 contestants. While not working as the full-time announcer, Harrington has announced from the booth at both Candlestick and Oracle Park, the previous and current homes of the SF Giants.  

With the amount of experience Harrington has, he knows what he is doing. Max Brode, a senior at SHRS, has been going to sporting events since he was a freshman. Brode has enjoyed having a proper announcer at football games and says, “His enthusiasm and respect for what’s going on really brings everyone together.” Brode isn’t the only student who feels this way, as our whole student body is thrilled to have Harrington as an announcer. 

I first talked to Harrington at a varsity basketball game, and before I even had introduced myself, he was already making conversation with me. Even while announcing a game, Harrington was able to hold a conversion. It was really impressive, and not only showed me how talented he was as an announcer, but how nice a guy he is. 

Harrington doesn’t only want to announce the SRHS games but teach his skill to anyone who is interested. So anyone who is interested in learning how to announce sports games, Harrington is more than happy to help! He can be found at most sports games in the press box. A few quick tips he gave me were, bring a pencil, water, cough drops, and talk to coaches before the game to learn the proper pronunciation of names.  

We’re very lucky to have an announcer as talented and as experienced as Harrington at SRHS. “I think it’s absolutely fantastic,” says Jason Mardesich, the current women’s junior varsity basketball coach. “I think that it very much brings the family and the fans together.” Mardesich, being an alumni who graduated from SRHS in 1983, played on the men’s varsity basketball team. “The community is taking the game and the sport more seriously,” stated Mardeish. This being one of the best aspects of Harrington’s effects on the student population.

Whether or not students have noticed, Harrington has been able to foster a community for the SHRS population. He has been promoting the athletics program by announcing sports games, and in turn, boosting the school’s overarching community. Sports games wouldn’t be the same without Harrington and neither would our school’s community.  

So next time you’re at an SR football or basketball game, don’t forget to say thanks to one of our most vital members of sporting events, Dan Harrington, for all he’s done to grow our San Rafael High School community.