The smell of freshly made popcorn permeates the homestands as student athletes get the concessions ready for Santa Rosa Junior College’s inaugural homecoming football game on Oct. 18, 2024.
Music blares from the loudspeakers as the home team walks to the locker room entrance in preparation for the runout onto the field. The cheer team gets in formation with a banner that says “We Can’t Hide Our Bear Cub Pride!” for the team to run through just in front of the doors. Coaches and staff wait eagerly on the sidelines waiting to receive the team. The sun slowly sets on Bailey Field as the Bear Cubs prepare to battle Butte College.
A guitar solo starts up and the team is announced onto the field. All at once, nearly 80 players come barreling from the locker room to the sidelines as “Welcome to the Jungle” fills the air. The song energizes the home crowd and the players get hyped on the sidelines as a familiar voice booms over the loudspeakers and soars over the crowd to welcome all of those in attendance for the game.
If you have ever been to a home game at SRJC, you have very likely heard the voice of Trey Dunia, the SRJC athletics public address announcer. Dunia is known for comic relief by way of sound bites. During a game where the team needs to make a clutch play, you can count on Dunia to use a sound bite such as “Get ’er Done” to get the crowd going.
During the school year, Dunia also announces for Sonoma State University’s volleyball and both men’s and women’s basketball. In the spare time he has left, he is the on-field announcer/master of ceremonies for the Sonoma Stompers baseball team, a collegiate summer travel baseball team based out of Sonoma.
In his 11th season as the SRJC announcer, he could not be more thrilled to be a part of the team. Always in a worn pair of cowboy boots and jeans, Dunia dons SRJC Athletics gear proudly from the press box of every game he announces.
The Oak Leaf caught up with Dunia during the semester to talk about how he became an announcer and what it means to him to be the voice of the Bear Cubs.
[Note: The following interview has been edited for length and clarity.]
Oak Leaf: How did you get started with the athletic department at SRJC?
Trey Dunia: I was announcing football at Analy High School, and I wanted to move up to the college level so I called Lenny [Wagner, SRJC football’s head coach,] and asked to meet with him. He told me that they had an announcer, but there was one game he could not make. I said, “Well, great! I’ll fill in. That’s perfect.”
I went to the first game to see how he did it, and then the next game I did it on my own. After that, I got a call from the regular announcer asking me if I was interested in announcing the rest of the season — of course I was — and that’s how I got it. That is how I have gotten most of my gigs as an announcer.
OL: What else do you announce? Had you announced other sports prior to being SRJC?
TD: I fell into announcing one year when they needed someone for a little league game in Sebastopol and thought it was really fun. Then my kids played in youth football the following year on the Analy field, so it was a natural progression to start doing the varsity football [announcing] for Analy. I figured out I was a better announcer than I was a coach.
Besides football, I announce men’s and women’s basketball, volleyball and softball at the JC. With [women’s] basketball, I got a call from Lacey [ Campbell, the head coach,] and she asked, ‘Have you ever announced basketball?’ and I never had but I told her I did. It was the Karen Frenchie Tournament, and I showed up not knowing anything, but I figured that I would learn it.
I’d been to basketball games. I know what they say…I just have to do it. Lacey gave me a couple of pointers as the games went on. Remember the format back then was four games in a day over three days so there was a lot of time to adjust. Again, I was just filling in for their regular guy that season, but the following season they called me and asked me to take over.
OL: What do you do when you are not announcing for the school?
TD: During the school year, I announce here and at Sonoma State University (SSU). During the summer, I am the on-field announcer for the Sonoma Stompers, a college summer travel baseball team out of Sonoma. I started with them in 2015 as the PA announcer.
After the pandemic, it took us two seasons to get back to playing the game. The general manager and I really had to go back and restructure. We brainstormed what we could do to bring people back to Arnold Field, and I brought up the on-field announcer position and he agreed. I get to create on-field games and interact with the crowd. Not something I can do as a PA announcer.
OL: Being an on-field announcer is so interactive. How do you keep that same level of energy going when you are restricted to the PA box?
TD: I see the reactions from where I am in any of the games, so I have come to know that if I play certain trending sounds. I know they’ll have reactions from the crowd. If I play the “We Will Rock You” sound clip, the stands are shaking from the ‘stomp, stomp, clap.”
The stands’ energy then brings it to the players in the game. Our cheer team does an amazing job responding to my sound bytes. I am in awe of their incredible ability to dance to any song I play — and in unison I might add. It really gets the crowd going and they’ve been an integral part to bringing good energy into the games. I’m grateful to them because they are the biggest group of fans I know that will interact with me, and in turn gets others in the crowd going.
OL: Do you have a favorite sport to announce?
TD: When Ally [Sather, the SRJC volleyball head coach,] asked me to announce, I wasn’t really sure since it was not something I had done before, but how could I say no? So I tried it out, and I gotta tell you, volleyball is probably one of my favorite sports to announce because there is so much action.
Win or lose there are great plays on both sides of the net every single set. I get an opportunity to add my own little twist. Whenever the home team gets a point —- boom — hit the music. It’s a 3- to 8-second clip of a hit song that everyone knows and then it fades right before the next serve.
I think that the players like it. Ally has said that they love it. I enjoy that. And because I was so enthralled with announcing volleyball at SRJC, I reached out to SSU to see if they needed someone for their home games.
OL: What does it mean to you to be a part of the SRJC athletics team?
TD: Let me just say that I love being the announcer for SRJC. The fact that I do football, men’s and women’s basketball, volleyball, and softball, I’m very proud to be able to do that.
I believe in the school. I believe in the product that they have and I think that the [athletics department] trusts me to be the voice of their programs. I’m very proud of that. Nobody comes to the sporting games for the PA announcer, except maybe my dad — but if there’s a way that I am able to increase the level of entertainment and make it more fun, that’s what I do and it means the most to me to be able to do that.
I like taking the game and elevating it. I believe I have been able to do that at all the sports that I have announced at, be it at SSU, Little League, the Sonoma Stompers or right here at SRJC.
