A youthful looking Rod Johnson started working as the
Minnesota Timberwolves public address announcer in the fall of 1996.
A fan's dream come true!
While driving his 12 year old son Cory home from little league practice back in 1996, Rod Johnson of Cannon Falls heard this announcement on the radio... “Your chance to be the Public Address announcer for the Timberwolves!” And young Cory enthusiastically encouraged, “Dad, you gotta go for it!”
Rod had previously left a career in radio broadcasting because it kept him away from home so much and he couldn’t take part in a lot of activities with his family, wife Bernie and four boys, Jesse, Bobby, Nathan and Cory.
But he still missed broadcasting and volunteered his time announcing high school football, basketball and baseball games.
Take a shot!
So the next morning Rod called the Timberwolves and asked what he should do to apply? Well, they needed a tape of him announcing and it had to be in by the end of that day!
At the time Rod was working at his lumber business, Northern Hardwood. He took time to go home for lunch to cut the tape. Bernie drove up to Timberwolves headquarters in Minneapolis and hand delivered it.
Decision time...
Rod was told over 250 tapes had been submitted. He was one of eight finalists.
In the final decision making process he was asked to announce half of the NBA Summer Showcase event held at Target Center. The next day the Timberwolves called and asked him to announce an entire game the following day.
Subsequently he was told they had narrowed the selection to him and one other person. But because the vice president of the ‘Wolves was out of town they needed time to make the final decision and would let him know within two weeks.
Then Rod asked, “By the way, who was the other finalist?” They responded, Jesse Ventura! Rod explained, “He went on to become Governor, but I think I had more fun with my job!”
And Rod believed there were no hard feelings because after his election, Ventura asked Rod to emcee his inaugural ball.
“Like a kid in a candy shop!”
For the first few years in his job Rod couldn’t believe he was announcing in the NBA... “watching the greatest basketball players in the world and sitting courtside!”
But, he chuckled, trying to pronounce their names could be nerve wracking. Like center Stoijko Vrankovic!
“The season went extremely well,” Rod recalled, “not just for me but for the team. That year, we made the playoffs for the first time in franchise history!”
He continued, “I will never forget that first ever playoff game against the Houston Rockets. It was so loud in Target Center that I could not even hear myself do the starting lineups!
“I also remember after the lineups, Jesse Ventura repelled from the ceiling of Target Center and taunted the Rockets.
“The team had a great run of making the playoffs for eight consecutive years and even advancing to the Western Conference Finals. I of course announced all of those games and enjoyed every minute of it.”
Twenty-one years - only two misses!
In his 21 years of announcing games, Rod missed only two. One was due to an injury he received before the game when he took part in a Cannon Falls Alumni Tournament and unknowingly tore his calf muscle.
Getting ready to announce the Timberwolves game that night, Rod was checked out by the team doctor who told him he was not doing it! The torn muscle had caused internal bleeding and was quite serious. Rod was going to the hospital.
No back-up announcer!
But they didn’t have a back-up announcer. Their TV announcer had the night off because it was nationally broadcast and they couldn’t get hold of him. But five minutes before the game started he came walking into the arena - just to watch the game! Or so he thought!
The only other game Rod missed was when the air conditioning in the stadium in Mexico City malfunctioned causing smoke to pour into the building and the game was postponed. But it was rescheduled when Rod had previously committed to be the auctioneer at a huge benefit auction in Chicago for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.
His reasons for leaving his beloved job...
It was his other job as an auctioneer and missing family activities that were the main reasons Rod gave up announcing the Timberwolves games after 21 years. He explained that Bernie “...sacrificed a lot so I could do what I loved... Now it’s time for me to spend a little more time with family.”
For example, When son Bobby got married, Rod was announcing and missed the groom’s dinner. He got up at 3:30 a.m. to drive to the wedding and by the following 2:30 a.m. he was driving back to announce game two of the Western Conference finals... and so it went!
Some other memorable moments:
* Back In 2004 when the Wolves’ defeated the Sacramento Kings in game seven, to advance to the Western Conference Finals.
* Seeing his son, Cory (who had coached in the college ranks for seven years) go to work full time for the Timberwolves in 2013 in basketball operations.
* The return of Kevin Garnett to the Target Center and when Garnett stopped at Rod’s announcer’s table at courtside and asked Rod: “How the hell old are we?”
* And the time Rod was asked to be in the movie “Joe Somebody,” starring Tim Allen. Rod recalled, “What an experience as I played myself, the Timberwolves’ announcer.”
At the end...
Rod reflects: “So, that was it…after 21 years I was done. I’ve always said, the year I give it up is the year the Wolves will go all the way, so if that happens, remember to thank me! If that does happen, I hope they’ll let me be involved somehow.
“I’ve always been very passionate about the Minnesota Timberwolves and definitely see that continuing as I’ll now be at Target Center cheering them on as a fan.”
Rod added, “Not only have I been the voice of the Timberwolves the past 21 years... I’ve been a season ticket holder for 25 years!”
It was a fan’s dream come true... for Rod Johnson of Cannon Falls.
Rod and his wife Bernie with his old microphone
received as a token of appreciation from the Minnesota Timberwolves.
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