Senior Trevor Felch has known since he was a child that he wanted to be a sports announcer. Beginning at age six, he would sit in front of the TV and imitate the professionals as they announced a game.

Now he is well on his way to achieving his goal. Felch, the first student in Gunn’s history to announce at school sporting events, has announced Gunn football and basketball games for the past four years.

Felch’s career as an announcer began in the eighth grade when he auditioned for the KJLS video announcements at JLS Middle School. “There were two reasons I started getting into it,” Felch said. “One was that I started realizing I wasn’t going to be a Major League baseball player. The second was that sports commentary melded sports and performance into one. As an announcer, you have to know a lot about sports and know a lot about entertainment.”

At JLS, Felch met Mel Froli, the co-coordinator of the KJLS program and a former announcer for Stanford volleyball, gymnastics, basketball and baseball. Froli took an interest in Felch soon after he found out about his aspirations.

Froli introduced Felch to Rich Scherer, the assistant Gunn athletic director at the time, who agreed to let Felch announce at the JV home football games. After two games, Scherer asked him to announce the varsity games.

That winter, Felch began announcing at Gunn boys’ basketball games. He continued his career when he entered Gunn as a freshman and has been announcing ever since. Froli explained that Felch is highly dedicated to his work. “Some of the things he does are very impressive for a high school guy,” Froli said.

Froli also highlighted Felch’s resourcefulness. “The thing that amazes me most about Trevor is that he acts quickly on his feet,” he said. “He can handle most everything unforeseen that comes up be it a problem with the sound system, crowd control, missing rosters or neighbors’ complaints. Trevor does not become flustered.”

After four years of practice, Felch still feels that his performance is far from perfect. “You improve each and every time,” he said.

With Froli’s help, Felch has developed relationships with a few professionals in the industry. Froli introduced him to Ted Robinson, who currently announces Stanford football, NBC Olympics and tennis.

Felch has visited Robinson numerous times at his press box at the Stanford stadium. Robinson, like Froli, thinks highly of Felch’s broadcasting abilities. “He has a natural understanding of what communication over radio or TV is about,” Robinson said.

Felch interned last summer at AT&T Park with Dave Flemming, an announcer for the San Francisco Giants. Felch observed Flemming for the first two games and recorded his own play-by-play account during the third game.

Felch explained how the experience helped to advance his professional development. “I now know how to better pace myself, how to tell information without going overboard with statistics and stories, how to better prepare myself before each game,” Felch said.

The next step in Felch’s career will be college, where he plans to pursue broadcasting as an extracurricular activity. “I’m not going to pursue it in an academic way,” he said. “I’m not going to major in Communications, because this is not the type of thing you can learn in a classroom.”

Felch has ambitious career aspirations. “Eventually I want to announce at Fenway Park or Yankee Stadium,” he said.

Robinson is confident that Felch will have no trouble achieving his goals. “He is going to be far ahead of all his peers because he has been so dedicated about pursuing this during his high school years,” he said. “I have no doubt that Trevor is going to be quite successful.”