And from the heavens, a voice rang out: 'First dowwwn, Saiiiiiints!'
 

The Times-Picayune is marking the tricentennial of New Orleans with its ongoing 300 for 300 project, running through 2018 and highlighting 300 people who have made New Orleans New Orleans, featuring original artwork commissioned by NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune with Where Y'Art gallery. Today: Jerry Romig.


The icon: Jerry Romig.

The legacy: Ask any Saints fan, and he or she will tell you that the game-day experience at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome is a sensory feast, a heady whirl of sights, sounds, smells and raw, unbridled excitement. For 44 years, a key part of that were the pipes of Jerry Romig, whose cries from the skies as the team's in-stadium play-by-play announcer -- including his trademark "First down, Saiiiiints!" -- kept the black-and-gold faithful both apprised and energized, and which were as much as part of game day as the Who Dat chant and Dome Foam. His secret? It wasn't just a job for him. It was a passion. "I love football enough that I want to be a part of it," he said in a 2009 interview. "I want to be part of something that is so meaningful to the city of New Orleans."

http://image.nola.com/home/nola-medi...c6bddc6ff2.jpg

The artist: Sean Randall.

The quote: "Dad's passion never changed because he never stopped being a fan. ... I remember him getting so excited after a play, he pounded his fist into a table and had to spend the second half of the game with his hand in a cup of ice." -- Mark Romig, the son and the in-booth successor of Jerry Romig


Jerry Edmund Romig might be best known for his role with the Saints, but he held down a number of jobs over the years, including as a sports reporter for The Times-Picayune and the New Orleans States, a TV reporter and station executive with WDSU-TV, a founding executive at WLAE-TV, the spokesman for Charity Hospital and a fundraiser for the Archdiocese of New Orleans.
He was a graduate of Holy Cross High School and Loyola University. He also served in the Army in a stateside capacity during the Korean conflict.
Before he was the voice of the Saints, Romig was the voice of the Green Wave, having been hired in 1968 to call games for the Tulane University football team.
A year later, the Saints came calling, hiring him to replace New Orleans sportscasting legend Buddy Diliberto as their PA announcer. He continued his duties for the Green Wave, though, in addition to calling high school games, Bayou Classics, Sugar Bowls and Super Bowls. In addition, he was the voice of Endymion, serving as an announcer for the Carnival superkrewe's annual post-parade party.
Because his voice was his moneymaker, he babied it with a mixture of honey and lemon juice, he once said.
He retired in 2013 after having called 446 consecutive Saints home games over 44 years.

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