(Jim Barnett, the Arizona Interscholastic Association's championship game public address announcer, calls one of his firsts AIA playoff games in 1993. Photo courtesy of Barnett.) 

The Arizona Interscholastic Association’s public address announcer now also is the Arizona Cardinals No. 1 man behind that pro football team’s microphone.

But Jim Barnett isn’t leaving his AIA post, not after a 20-year relationship that helped introduce his distinctive voice to Valley sports fans. Barnett has worked for every major pro team in the Valley except for the Arizona Diamondbacks.

He wants to continue to repay the AIA for the loyalty it’s shown in keeping the amicable 40 year old as its first chair behind the microphone. Plus, giving up a gig doesn’t sit well with him.

Prying Barnett away from a job, however big or small, is as tough as stealing Fort Knox’s gold reserves.   

“The one thing that I won’t ever give up is the AIA,” Barnett said. “I’ll be 80 years old and still be there I hope.”

The very first place that allowed Barnett to begin to ply one of his two trades (Barnett is a licensed mortgage officer during the day.) was Moon Valley High, Barnett’s alma mater.

Moon Valley gave the OK to let Barnett announce its boys basketball games after the public address announcer bug bit him during one of Barnett’s first ever trips to watch a pro game. Once the then 17 year old heard Jeff Munn’s voice, the then public address announcer for the Phoenix Suns, Barnett’s attention was fixated on the voice that rang out throughout the Veterans Memorial Coliseum.

Munn is currently a radio personality, calling games for the Arizona Diamondbacks.

“I was enamored with the sound,” said Barnett about listening to Munn’s voice during his first trip inside the former home of the Suns. “I thought that was a cool job.”

After that trip, Barnett told himself that he’d like to become the voice of the Suns.

But he had to first make a name for himself at Moon Valley, where he eventually ran into a basketball player who also used Moon Valley to catapult him into the limelight, Richard Jefferson, who recently signed with the Utah Jazz. Barnett sat in the front row, calling games, during Jefferson’s high school career.

Barnett’s announcing career would come full circle when he and Jefferson reached the NBA. Besides moving on to call local college games, Barnett stuck with Moon Valley basketball until 1999.

“Remember, I don’t like to give up gigs,” Barnett said.

At Moon Valley, Barnett also met the man who helped launch his career as the AIA’s state championship voice, Zig Kwiatkowski, Moon Valley’s former athletic director.

When Witkowski eventually joined the AIA, he pushed for Barnett to announce high school playoff basketball games in 1993, when Barnett was 20.

“I was very excited,” Barnett said. “I felt I had made it.”

Announcing high school games at the big arenas also helped Barnett expose his youthfully booming voice to the local pro teams’ officials, and in 2002 he got the call he was waiting for.

The Phoenix Suns were on the other line.

“I almost dropped the phone,” said Barnett about being offered his dream job. “I was just thrilled. There were tears of joy.”

During his one-plus season with the Suns, Barnett crossed paths with a familiar face, Jefferson, who was playing at the time with the New Jersey Nets.

Jefferson walked up to Barnett during the pregame warm up.

“This is awesome that you are sitting here,” Jefferson told Barnett.

           (Moon Valley grads Richard Jefferson and Jim Barnett reached the NBA. Photo courtesy of Barnett.) 

But the awesome-ness didn’t last as much as Barnett thought it would.

After new ownership took over the Suns, the team and Barnett parted ways. But talented, hard-working people such as Barnett tend to land on their feet.

Barnett also has worked for the Phoenix Coyotes, Arizona Rattlers, Phoenix Mercury, Arizona State, Phoenix College and the Sting, the short-lived local professional indoor lacrosse team. Barnett’s pitch-perfect cadences compliment the flow of games he covers, and he does some of his best work when he doesn’t say a word, allowing the action to speak for itself.

When a Chaparral High baseball player hit a walk off home run in the a 2012 state championship game, the only thing that blared from the stadium’s speakers was the soundtrack of a baseball movie, “The Natural,” as the player rounded the bases. Barnett picked the music. 

The greatest game Barnett has called so far was a miracle playoff win by the Rattlers in 2002, when quarterback Sherdrick Bonner heaved a final second pass that hit the net first before landing in the hands of receiver Chris Horn.

“The energy level was crazy in that game,” he said.

The 99-yard winning touchdown drive by Brophy in the 2005 state title game against Hamilton and 1996 state title basketball showdown between Shadow Mountain and Corona del Sol also stand out, Barnett said.

Former pro Mike Bibby and his Shadow Mountain team beat Lamont Long’s Corona del Sol’s squad in front of 16,010 at America West Arena in that title game. Barnett estimates that he’s called about 2,300 games in his career so far.

The flexibility of his day job and summer AIA break allows Barnett to spend as much time as he can with his wife of 16 years, Jennifer, and daughter, Alexandra, 10. The Great Recession didn’t really negatively affect the day job of the successful Barnett, one of the top producers for a national mortgage company.

             (Jim Barnett with his wife Jennifer and daughter Alexandra. Photo courtesy of Barnett.)

Barnett was introduced to the mortgage industry while working in sales for a local television station. In the future, Barnett, who has an agent, wants to continue doing voice overs and expand his career as a voice actor.

But in the meanwhile, Barnett is looking forward to his first season as the Cardinals’ public address announcer. He filled in during preseason games in the past three seasons.

“I want to retire in that chair,” he said. “I want to become synonymous with the Arizona Cardinals.”

But he also can’t wait for the high school football season to start.

Barnett was planning on calling the two Sollenberger Classic football games in Las Vegas in August for the AIA, but the Cardinals are playing one of their preseason home games during the Sollenberger Classic. Not wanting to give up his seat, Barnett has agreed to call Friday’s Sollenberger game in Las Vegas before returning home the next morning to call the preseason game for the Cardinals on Saturday Aug. 24. 

“I owe a lot to them (AIA) for the opportunities they have opened up for me,” said Barnett about wanting to still go to Las Vegas despite his new job with the Cardinals. “They (AIA) opened the door to the different arenas I’ve worked in.”

                                                  (The man behind the voice of the AIA's championship games for the past 20 seasons, Jim Barnett. Photo courtesy of Barnett.)