The Voice of the Warhorses signs off
Carl Bartlett steps out of the Owen press box after 45 years
Fred McCormick
The Valley Echo
September 9, 2021
Carl Bartlett, who was a member of the first freshman class at Owen High School in 1955, waves to the fans at Warhorse Stadium, Aug. 27, as he was recognized for 45 years of volunteer service to his alma mater’s athletics program. Photo by Fred McCormick
When a new tradition took root in the Swannanoa Valley on a fall evening in 1954, Carl Bartlett was watching from the stands. A member of the first freshman class set to attend Charles D. Owen High School when it opened its doors the following January, the lifelong football fan was eager to watch the team make its home debut against Lee Edwards High School, known today as Asheville High School.
The players on the field were already familiar to Bartlett, whose Friday nights had long been dedicated to attending the games of the nearby Black Mountain Dark Horses or the Swannanoa Warriors, before the two high schools were consolidated to create Owen. As he took it all in, the teenager never imagined the role he would play in the program’s storied legacy to come.
Bartlett would go on to enlist in the U.S. Navy, enjoy a lengthy career in the banking industry and serve 15 years as the mayor of his hometown, but as the “Voice of the Warhorses” signs off after 45 years, many of his most cherished memories were made in the press box, announcing his alma mater’s home football games.
“It’s right near the top,” Bartlett said of his tenure calling home games for Owen, which he began doing part-time in 1975 before taking over the full-time role in 1989. “How many times do you get to address that many people on a regular basis, and say things that make them feel good about the game, their children, the team, the school? It’s a feel-good job that I didn’t look at as work, it was more like an opportunity.”
Warhorse fans were given an opportunity of their own to recognize the man behind the voice that called the generations of names of local student-athletes before the team took the field, Aug. 27, for their season opener, as Bartlett was honored on the field. They responded with a standing ovation.
Bartlett called his final game for the Warhorses, a 50-43 victory over Avery, in the team’s last home contest of the 2020 campaign. The Owen High School Boosters organized the pregame tribute to open the 2021 season, thanking him for his years of service, according to president Roger Brown.
“The success of our athletic program relies heavily on the people who volunteer every year at the school,” said Brown, who has assisted Bartlett in the booth for years and is taking over the announcing duties this season. “Nobody has given as much time over the years as Carl has.”
The true definition of a Warhorse
Owen is the smallest of the high schools in Buncombe County, but the list of outstanding athletes and coaches who have competed while wearing maroon and white is unquestionably impressive. Names like Super Bowl winning-quarterback Brad Johnson; Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame Coach Roy Williams; top NBA draft pick and NASCAR Cup Series team owner Brad Daugherty and many more are proudly displayed on the Black Mountain, Swannanoa and Charles D. Owen High School Athletics Hall of Fame plaque in the school’s cafeteria. Nearby trophy cases are filled with accolades commemorating the achievements of longtime coaches like Jim LeVine, Bill Rucker and Kenny Ford, while a banner recognizing the Warlassies basketball team that won 90 straight games in the 1960s hangs high above the gymnasium.
Bartlett, who will continue serving as the president of the school’s athletic hall of fame, has seen most of them in action, and called many of their names on the football field or during his time announcing basketball games in the 1970s and 1980s.
“We’ve had a tremendous amount of talent over the years at this school,” said Bartlett, whose only extended period of time away from Owen sports was during his three years of service in the military and when he began his banking career near Baltimore in the 1960s. He lived in Charlotte for a few years, but even then me hade the weekly trip back to the Swannanoa Valley to watch football.
Bartlett officiated high school and college sports until 1975, when an injury he suffered during a game kept him from returning to the field. He turned his attention back to a familiar place.
“I couldn’t run anymore, so I told Coach LeVine I would operate the clock for the football games so they didn’t have to pay someone to do it,” he said. “I helped with the stats, too, and filled in as an announcer whenever someone had to be out.”
The role allowed him to channel his love for sports, his community and former school into Friday nights for nearly half a century. Bartlett’s willingness to find ways to support Owen athletics is emblematic of his unwavering support for the youth of the Swannanoa Valley, according to Wendell Begley, who presented his longtime friend with a plaque commemorating his service before the season opener.
Wendell Begley, left, presents Carl Bartlett with a plaque commemorating his service as the Voice of the Warhorses. Photo by Fred McCormick
“I have known Carl all my life, and he is an unequivocally genuine person,” said Begley, who served on the Buncombe County Board of Education from 1983 to 2008. “He has been an advocate for youth all of his adult life, and on the athletic side, it’s meant a lot to the young folks who go on to play at the high school level. I don’t know of anyone who has done more for our local sports programs here in the Valley.”
Begley was one of nine community members with deep ties to Owen and its athletic program who recognized Bartlett on the field. The group announced the establishment of the Carl Bartlett Service Award, which will be given annually to an outstanding volunteer with the athletics department, according to the booster club president.
Begley also presented Bartlett with a plaque, recognizing his dedication and integrity as an inspiration to others in the community.
“Carl stepping down from the booth is absolutely the end of an era, there is no doubt about it,” Begley said.
Ford, who joined Begley, Anthony Lee, Joe Tyson, Bill Mott, John Knight and Maggie and Larry Tuttle on the field to celebrate Bartlett, was struck by the last sentence of the inscription on the plaque.
“It said he was the true definition of what it is to be a Warhorse, and if that ain’t Carl Bartlett, then I don’t know who else it could be,” said Ford. “It’s unbelievable to think about the level of commitment it takes to do those games for 45 years, and seeing that really took me back.”
A voice to remember
The booming voice that echoed from the speakers at Shuford Field, where Owen played its home games until moving into Warhorse Stadium in 2006, was one Ford had heard long before he would win 230 games as a head coach from 1985 - 2014.
“Carl’s one of my heroes,” Ford said. “He used to come into my father’s barber shop when I was a kid, and I sat there and listened to him and a lot of the other guys who used to come by. There were a lot of highly respected members of the community that spent time there, and I learned all kinds of things listening to those conversations back then.”
Bartlett’s cool demeanor and infectious laugh made him a perfect fit for his role as the Voice of the Warhorses, according to the former coach.
Supporters of Owen High School Athletics honor Carl Bartlett, who retired as the Voice of the Warhorses earlier this year, after 45 years in the press box. Standing from left to right: Meg Turner, Maggie Tuttle, Bill Mott, Larry Tuttle, Carl Bartlett, Kenny Ford, Joe Tyson, Wendell Begley and Anthony Lee. Photo by Fred McCormick
“He’s so knowledgeable and he has a great way of describing what’s going on down on the field,” Ford said. “He used to always use the kids’ nicknames, which is something we all loved, and you know he’s going to throw some jokes at you. I heard some good ones, and a few that just bombed.”
One of the toughest challenges Bartlett faced in the booth was learning to correctly pronounce the hundreds of names he called throughout the years.
“I’ve had more than a few mothers come right to the booth and tell me how to say their sons names so I would get it right the next time,” Bartlett laughed. “I put a lot of time into getting to know the names, but it’s not always easy.”
While Ford spent the majority of his time focused on the action on the field, one of his favorite memories involves something he heard Bartlett say before a game.
“The band was out there warming up, and they’re always really good, but that particular year they were even better than normal,” Ford said. “The mic in the booth was on, and somebody said: ‘the band looks really good this year.’ Carl said, ‘oh no, don’t say that because every time we have a good band the football team ain’t worth a s---.’”
The comment drew a laugh from the crowd, and is one of the many memories shared between the close-knit community that showed up in droves to support the Warhorse football team for generations.
“The years we were at Shuford Field, it was just like a big family getting together on Friday nights down there,” Bartlett said. “Of course, by that time the team had already had success in the 1960s and 1970s, and this community was really a football community.”
Bartlett can easily recall some of his favorite players to watch from that era.
“Ronnie Craig, who was running back in the 1960s, was the toughest player I ever saw,” he said. “Of course, you had Jim LeVine, who played at Black Mountain High School, and was a terrific coach in the 1970s. Then there were players like Porky Spencer, Al Ellis, Brad Johnson and Shawn Gibbs.
“Porky kicked a 35-yard game-winning field goal against East Henderson one year, and if you hear that story today it’s 51 yards,” Bartlett continued, adding Spencer was a tough defensive end and outstanding kicker. “Then you had Al, who had this incredibly physical style of running, and I think might have been the fastest running back ever at Owen.”
It’s Gibbs, however, who stands out as the best pure running back to ever carry the ball for Owen, according to Bartlett.
“He just had this way of making these beautiful runs,” he said of Gibbs, who is currently the running backs coach at N.C. Agricultural and Technical State University. “He was so good at dodging tackles and breaking into the open, and he was so much fun to watch.”
Many of those players brought the crowd to its feet, which could be felt in the old wooden press box at Shuford, which sits behind present-day Owen Middle School.
“That press box was built in 1956, and we had to climb two ladders to get up there,” he said. “There wasn’t much space inside, and when the stands got rowdy that thing would start to sway.”
A voice for the people
Bartlett was elected to his first of two terms on the Black Mountain Town Council in 1981, beginning a 17-year political career that spanned decades. After stepping away from the board in 1984, he was elected mayor in 1989. He won four elections and served eight years in the office until 1997. He was appointed to the office to fill an unexpired term in 2006 and won the next three elections. His final term as mayor ended in 2013.
Holding the office in Black Mountain for longer than any mayor other than Richard B. Stone, who served from 1957 - 1975, didn’t keep Bartlett from the Owen games. In fact, his accessibility to the community proved beneficial.
“I think it made people more comfortable approaching me to talk about things,” he said. “I really believe the government is supposed to be there for people who aren’t able to help themselves, and going out and interacting with the community like that made people feel at ease asking me for things they needed help with.”
The weekly events offered the public a unique perspective of its mayor.
“I hope people realized, ‘he’s not the jerk we thought he was in those board meetings,’” said Bartlett, who credits his role as The Voice of the Warhorses for helping him be a better mayor.
“It helped me be aware of everything that was going on in the community,” he said. “People would openly share things with me, and it helped me know how they felt about things. In general, the more you’re out engaging folks in the community, as a public official, the more you’ll understand what they’re thinking and the things they want.”
A beautiful place to watch football
There was a big smile on the face of Bartlett as he gave the home fans a thumbs up, marking the end of his career in the booth. It was one of contentment, rooted in the knowledge that he was stepping down at the right time.
“I’m 81 years old,” he said. “I don’t even know if Vin Scully did it this long. I will definitely miss it, but I do think it’s time.”
Carl Bartlett calls the first Owen football game at Warhorse Stadium in 2006, after the team moved from its former home, Shuford Field. Photo courtesy of Wendell Begley
Bartlett believes his replacement will do a “great job.”
“Roger does fantastic work with the booster club, and he has been a great support to everyone up in that press box,” he said. “He’s been filling in for me when I couldn’t make it to games for years, and he always does an excellent job.”
As Bartlett stood on the field and looked in the stands, he found himself humbled by the moment.
“I was truly honored to be recognized in that way,” he said. “It was beyond words for me, and I’m usually pretty mouthy.”
Carl Bartlett gives a thumbs up to the crowd at Warhorse Stadium, Aug. 27, as he receives a standing ovation for 45 years of service to the Owen Athletics program. Photo by Fred McCormick
He stepped off the field to do something he hasn’t done at Owen in decades — watch the game from the stands with his family. As he sat there, greeted by familiar faces, the setting recalled another of his countless stories from the 66 years of Warhorse football he’s witnessed.
“I remember when we moved into Warhorse Stadium, and we were all so excited to get into that nice new press box,” Bartlett said. “But, what ended up really standing out about it is that I’ve never seen a more beautiful setting for football than Warhorse Stadium in the fall. It takes my breath away every time I walk into that place.”