Girls and boys lacrosse gathered in a U shape on the field, cheering and holding up handmade signs decked out with glitter and colorful marker, April 8. The team recorded appreciative voice notes that were played over the stadium’s loudspeakers, the medal and flowers were bought by lacrosse parents, and athletic director Steve McLaughlin gave a speech thanking two specific members of the program for all that they have done for Westview lacrosse. 

The subject of all this celebration? Lonnie Pennington and his 9 year-old pug, Otis.

Lonnie Pennington has been announcing the boys lacrosse games for 15 years, and the girls games for four. The unpaid retiree and his pup both sit in the stadium box, emceeing and announcing the games: Lonnie in his chair and Otis on his dog bed. 

“He’s a very good boy,” Lonnie said. “He’ll sit there for four hours in the booth. I take him out between games and at halftime, where he wanders around the stands and socializes. Then he’ll come running back and sit right back down in the booth. And then at the end of the game, he just goes nuts. He runs all around saying hi to everyone. He’s just all happy, and loving life.” 

Otis has been attending the games his whole life, and Lonnie since his son Colin Pennington (’14) started playing for Westview in 2010. 

Lonnie originally got involved with lacrosse through his son’s  middle school club team — the PQ Tigers. He met many lifelong friends and lacrosse enthusiasts, like Dave Ketchum, who ran the club and helped establish the lacrosse team at Westview.

“My son started playing in sixth grade, so I’ve been involved with the sport for 17 years,” Lonnie said. “I never played [lacrosse], I did most everything else, but when my son came home and said he wanted to play lacrosse, I said, ‘Great, here’s one [sport] we can learn together.’ Through [the Tigers], I got to meet a lot of the instigators of the program at Westview.” 

As an announcer, Lonnie said he strives to help all players — no matter which side they’re on — feel good about the way that they played, and to encourage good conduct.

“Part of what I’m looking to do is to represent [the community],” Lonnie said. “I want the kids to be proud of their school, to be proud of the program, to be proud of themselves. I want them to be proud of how they played — whether they won or lost — [and know] that they played well, and they comported themselves well. Whenever I can, I’ll recognize sportsmanship, no matter the color of the jersey.” 

Lonnie said that he thinks the Westview lacrosse program is one of the best and he loves being able to encourage and recognize their strengths. 

“To me, [what’s great] is the community,” Lonnie said. “The stadium is beautiful, the games are well run, the people play together really well. The way that the kids play — they play hard, but they’re not getting penalties for being unnecessarily rough or cussing or unsportsmanlike conduct. We had a girl in one of the last games who reached down and helped somebody up from the other team and I said, ‘That’s number 33 reminding us all what sportsmanship looks like and making her parents proud.’”

He said that his main motivation to continue announcing the games is his love for the sport and Westview’s teams.  

“It’s not about me,” Lonnie said. “It’s about the program. I do my part, I try to contribute what I can, and the fact that I love it and I’m able to affect the game in a positive manner to me is just fabulous.”

Lonnie also uses his music choice to reflect and influence the mood of the crowd. 

“I have a very robust selection of music,” Lonnie said. “I have like 400 songs that I use during play, and then I have hundreds more that are situational.”

The songs are all color-coded — printed out onto a laminated sheet so Lonnie can check off which ones he’s already played and easily scan down the list for the next one. Yellow is for pre-2000’s songs, green is everything 2000’s and sooner, pink is for fast-paced songs meant to wake up a slow crowd and get them excited, and red is for when the game is getting intense and he wants to get the crowd on their feet and cheering. 

“I also have close to 20 [versions of the] National Anthem and another 20 halftime mixes that are mood-oriented,” he said. “I’ll sort of gauge where the crowd’s at, the vibe, whether people are being kind, considerate, or whether people are being a little nastier than they should be.” 

He also has themed songs for holiday games and welcome mixes to start games off with. Lonnie said that he likes to add personality and humor into his music choices. An example of this, he said, is when officials are taking too long to deliberate, he’ll play the Jeopardy theme song, which usually gets a laugh, and sometimes, a faster decision.

“Whenever I have the opportunity, I like to talk to the officials because a lot of what I do is a little off the wall, there’s a little irreverence involved here,” Lonnie said. “I’ll make fun of them, you know. And one of the officials told me, he said, ‘I loved it when you played that song’ because [the refs] are down there talking back and forth, and they hear that song and so they’ll say, ‘come on, come on.’ They’re laughing amongst themselves, but they’re also going, ‘You hear this? We need to get a move on!’” 

Lonnie had no previous experience with announcing or public speaking and has built up his  colorful style of emceeing by watching years of his son’s lacrosse games, and by learning from the previous Westview emcee, Ketchum. 

When announcing goals and referencing players, Lonnie said he strives to keep things fun. 

“I’ve always been a little irreverent, as you could say, where I will make comments that are maybe double entendres or things that people will chuckle at [because]  it’s unexpected,” he said. “I use humor a lot and I like to color the language.”

Another fan-favorite of the lacrosse games is Otis the pug, or rather Otis the ‘wolverine,’ as conceded by Athletic Director Steve McLaughlin.  

“When we first got a pug, my wife said she wanted a small dog, but I said I didn’t want a fufu dog,” Lonnie said. “I wanted a dog with some character and stuff, and I said ‘I’d like a pug.’ She said, ‘Why would you want a pug?’ I said, ‘I’ve never seen one that didn’t make me smile.’”

Juliana Joy Cruz (11), who helped organize Lonnie and Otis’s appreciation ceremony said that simply seeing Otis can cheer up the team after a hard loss. 

“Otis is there and he’s just this pug running down and you just see him every game,” she said. “We could lose by 10 and see this dog running down and everyone just can’t help but scream ‘Otis Otis!’ Lonnie is not Lonnie without Otis, and Otis isn’t Otis without Lonnie, they’re always together. They’re just so positive and we all love seeing them because it just brings light.”

Lonnie said that another reason he’s stayed so long is because of the community that he has witnessed and become a part of. At his son’s recent wedding, 12 of his former teammates attended. 

“That sense of that bond, that togetherness, is strong and it’s real,” Lonnie said. “I’ve seen it through the years as [the players] have come back and said hi and told me how they’re doing and stuff like that. They come to the games and they belong to that community, and they always will.”

Lonnie said that overall, he’s grateful to have this community and to be able to represent the teams. 

“I feel very fortunate to have moved here; I’ve lived here for 30-something years, [so I see that] it breeds people and families who are very caring and kind to each other,” Lonnie said. “It’s just a wonderful place to be, so what I try to do and what I’m able to do and what I think I do is represent the community, the ethos of the community. I can’t imagine they want me to do it any differently.”