Since 1995, the one standard among all St. Louis Park varsity games has been the voice of the announcer, Howard Luloff.

Luloff has announced sporting events at St. Louis Park for 18 years. He started announcing girls’ volleyball matches in 1995, soccer games in 1996. Since then, he has only missed two soccer games, a streak spanning 17 years. However, his career as an announcer started long before that.

Luloff said he started announcing during high school games at Bloomington Jefferson before receiving his broadcasting degree at the Austin Area Vocational Technical Institute.

“I did the sophomore basketball games at Bloomington Jefferson, but my announcing career didn’t really get going until about 1995 when it all started with the AAU (Amateur Athletic Union) 12 and under baseball tournament, and it got me hooked,” Luloff said.

Luloff can be seen pacing the sidelines before a game, practicing the pronunciation of the player’s names. He said he feels it is important because some parents in the stands do not want to hear their child’s name mispronounced.

“I usually show up 45 minutes to an hour before the game to get the pronunciations checked,” Luloff said.

Luloff said he came up with a good method for articulating the player’s names correctly 17 years ago during a soccer game.

“In 1996 I made a separate sheet of paper with the pronunciations for the Minneapolis Roosevelt roster. I kept the sheet of paper to remind myself how important pronunciation is.”

Freshman Emma Gruye said she admires Luloff’s devotion to his job.

“I think it is great he has that amount of dedication,” Gruye said.

While Luloff said he believes correct pronunciation is key, he said his favorite part of his job is informing fans what is happening.

“They don’t pay $6 to hear me, they want to know what’s going on,” Luloff said.

Luloff said he enjoys announcing because it combines his love for sports and broadcasting.

“I’ve always enjoyed handling the public address announcing. It keeps me involved with athletics and it brings my broadcasting degree to good use,” Luloff said.