High school rodeo injuries did not put Sylvan Lake’s Brett Gardiner on the sidelines.
Instead Gardiner dusted himself off, grabbed a microphone and started telling stories in the announcer’s box.
“It just fit the personality,” laughed Gardiner. “I was always the guy yapping and loud.”
Shortly after Gardiner’s rodeo dreams were crushed because of injuries incurred during bareback riding and steer wrestling, a friend invited him to help announce at a minor rodeo event.
Gardiner, then 19, remembered being “absolutely petrified” and “doing an awful job” but he enjoyed it enough to pursue announcing rodeo events.
Fast forward to 2012 and Gardiner has turned his gift of gab into an award winning side career as a Canadian rodeo announcer.
And last week Gardiner was named Canadian Professional Rodeo Association’s Announcer of the Year for the second consecutive year.
“I wanted to stay involved in rodeo,” said Gardiner, 29. “I love the sport and the camaraderie. At heart I am a storyteller ... I like the history. I can portray that to the audience.”
Gardiner said every announcer has his own style and he likes to throw in one liners like, “He’s tougher than truck stop meatloaf on a Tuesday night special” and “We’re going live in less than five.”
“If you catch them, that’s great,” said Gardiner. “If not, heck that’s okay too. We’ll catch you next time.”
Gardiner said the crowd and the atmosphere can dictate the announcer’s script.
These days Gardiner calls roughly 40 rodeos a year under the Canadian Professional Rodeo Association and the Professional Bull Riders Canada. He has talked rodeo to audiences from as far east as Halifax, N.S. to Abbotsford, B.C. in the west.
When Gardiner is not in the announcer’s box, he is in front of his Grade 9 and 10 class at École H. J. Cody School and raising a family in Sylvan Lake.
“This year I had a really big June,” laughed Gardiner. “I taught school and then had 25 performances in the month of June. I was just beat up. I was feeling sorry for myself. I feel very fortunate. I am very lucky. I love both my jobs. Some people go through their whole lives not enjoying one. And I have two.”
Now he is striving to be become better and ultimately the best. One day he’d like to see himself with microphone in hand at the Canadian Finals Rodeo, the Calgary Stampede and the Ponoka Stampede.
crhyno@www.reddeeradvocate.com