Klimchak tells Monessen High students how to be extraordinary
Paul Paterra/Observer-Reporter
Joe Klimchak speaks Monday at Monessen High School.
Paul Paterra/Observer-Reporter
Joe Klimchak demonstrates how he practiced to land an announcing gig at PNC Park with Monessen senior Madison Popovich.
MONESSEN – Joe Klimchak has a fairly simple plan to realize one’s dreams and feel extraordinary.
“The best way for us to get to extraordinary is to be OK with being ordinary,” he told Monessen High School students Monday. “Ordinary is a powerful gift that makes the extraordinary possible.”
That was the message from the in-game host at PNC Park for Pittsburgh Pirate baseball games at two programs presented by the high school’s Leo Club. The first presentation was to Monessen Middle School students.
Klimchak shared his story of how a kid he described as having a speech impairment and “the most ordinary guy in the room” landed his dream job as an announcer in a major league ballpark.
He talked about the heroes of his youth who were not the typical idols for a young boy. Klimchak’s idols were men like Pirate public address announcer Art McKennan and the team’s radio and television announcer Lanny Frattare. He also spoke of Pat Falvo, a lector at St. Francis Cabrini Roman Catholic Parish in Aliquippa, who he said connected with the parishioners by not trying to be anything he wasn’t.
“My favorite day of the week when I was your age was Sunday, because on Sundays I got to watch my hero in action,” Klimchak said of Falvo. “The most common heroes are a parent, a teacher, an athlete, an actor or a musician. My heroes when I was your age were announcers.”
At a very young age, Klimchak decided that was the path he wanted to take.
“I was ordinary in every way,” Klimchak said. “There was nothing ordinary about my dream job. I wanted to be an announcer in a major league ballpark.”
His love for baseball came at a young age. He recalled being mesmerized as a 7-year-old after hearing McKennan’s voice over the public address system at Three Rivers Stadium.
“I was 7 and I heard that, and I said, ‘Whoa, I would love to do that someday,'” Klimchak said.
He told his story of all the small steps he had to take to reach his ultimate goal, which included overcoming a lisp.
“How did this ordinary Joe with a speech problem land his dream job of becoming an announcer at a major league ballpark?” Klimchak asked. “I accepted ordinary. I embraced being ordinary and I got my dream job and that’s how you can get your dream job. Every successful person has failed multiple times. That is good news for people who are ordinary. We’re not above failure. It’s part of the process.”
He said he had to fight off the sting of a couple of rejection letters from the Pirates as he sought to become the backup to the backup public address announcer. Once he was finally brought on board as a backup public address announcer, he got to fill the role just seven times in seven years.
Klimchak also had stints as a pierogi in the PNC Park pierogi race (which he said he won three of the four times he participated) and four seasons of pressing the button for smoke to come out of the Pepsi logo when the Pirates hit a home run.
But those were just some of the many steps he had to take to reach his ultimate destination – a broadcasting job at a major league ballpark, which he now holds as the in-game host at Pirate baseball games. In that role, Klimchak is the emcee for all between-inning features and pre-game ceremonies.
And he is still involved in the pierogi race.
“Now, I don’t run the pierogi race; I announce the pierogi race,” Klimchak said.
His is a simple plan to reach a person’s goals and become extraordinary.
“Everybody starts out as ordinary,” Klimchak said. “The ones who break through, the ones who land their dream job, they don’t see ordinary as not good enough – they see ordinary as not good enough yet.”