Ex-voice of Colts not silenced: Mike Jansen talks after being fired as stadium announcer

INDIANAPOLIS -- Was it the lingering sinus infection that caused a rattle in his voice? Or was it that he unknowingly "pissed off" a Colts executive? Was it something he said? Did he rub someone the wrong way? Mike Jansen has considered those theories over and over, along with a zillion others, and has no idea. Not even after playing and re-playing every moment that led up to the abrupt end of his 24-season career as the Indianapolis Colts' stadium announcer.

Jansen has had weeks to dwell on it. To talk to people. The answer from the Colts to Jansen since they fired him Sept. 6 has been the same. "We decided to go in a different direction," Jansen said executives tell him.

But that direction, that different direction, what caused the veer? Jansen has no idea.

All he knows is how it happened from his side. And after contemplating for nearly two months whether he wanted to publicly tell his story, Jansen agreed to talk to IndyStar last week.

Jansen is doing this not for him, but for the fans, all those thousands of fans who reached out to Jansen after he lost his announcing job with the Colts last month. Those who lamented his firing. Those who wondered what happened. Those who told him all the wonderful memories they had of his voice, the stadium voice of their Colts.

More on Colts QB Sam Ehlinger:'We can do something different': How the Colts will help Sam Ehlinger in first NFL start

"It's good you get to hear it now," Jansen's wife, Beth, told him as he read the messages to her, many bringing him to tears. "And not at your funeral."

But, in a way, it felt like a funeral, Jansen said of his Colts firing. Actually, it felt almost like an "execution."

'You have to finish the game. We don't have a backup'

The end of Jansen's illustrious career, one in which he never missed one second, one minute, one hour, one quarter, one half, one game of more than 200 contests in 24 seasons, began the week of Aug. 15.

Jansen always made sure he was at the stadium three hours before kickoff. He made sure he did "liquid management" so he never needed a restroom break. He made sure, he thought, he was the Colts' irreplaceable announcer.

Jansen was embarking on his 25th season as the Colts' public address announcer in August. It was a gig he won in 1998 during an open-call audition against more than 300 competitors, one that took him from the RCA Dome to Lucas Oil Stadium; one that took him through the Peyton Manning and Andrew Luck eras, two Colts Super Bowl appearances and one ring.

That week in August, Jansen was on the tail end of a sinus infection and had a lingering rattle in his voice. He was set to announce two high school games for the Colts' Horseshoe Classic on Friday and then the Colts-Lions preseason game on Saturday, Aug. 20.

When Jansen arrived at the stadium Friday, he could still feel the rattle in his voice. He went to a Colts' event staffer and told him he thought he should save his voice for the preseason game the next day. Jansen said that staffer agreed with him.

But a night off from calling football didn't stop the rattle in his voice. When Jansen got to Lucas Oil for the Lions' preseason game, the raspy trill was still there. Jansen said he wasn't overly concerned.

"I had a similar rattle at one time or another in my 24 seasons and got through a game fine," Jansen said. "I had no idea my voice would give out in the second quarter."

As Jansen tried to announce big calls like "first down" or "third down," his voice cracked. "I struggled through the second quarter not being able to fully announce," he said. "I pushed the button on the intercom and told the guys on the headsets I could not keep going."

Jansen said David Knickerbocker, the Colts' vice president of content and production, came to the booth and told Jansen, "You have to finish the game. I don't have a back up."

As the second quarter ran down, and as Jansen struggled announcing, Knickerbocker brought JJ Stankevitz, a writer for Colts.com, into the booth to finish the game. Jansen stayed with Stankevitz, coaching him on calls and proper phrasing for the final two quarters.

When they left Lucas Oil that Saturday afternoon, Jansen had no idea anything was amiss other than the Colts' 27-26 loss to the Lions. Not until that following Monday when he got a call.

'I didn't want to feel like I was going to my own execution'

Jansen was in Richmond, Ind., Aug. 22, on a shoot for Praxis Media Group, a video production company he founded in 2000. His phone rang and it was Knickerbocker. Jansen couldn't answer, but the first break he had, Jansen listened to Knickerbocker's voicemail, which asked Jansen to give him a call. He did.

"We are going to train JJ (Stankevich) as the backup at the Tampa game (the following Saturday)," Jansen said Knickerbocker told him. "You don't need to be there."

"I said, 'It doesn't make sense that the 24-year stadium announcer would not train a backup,'" Jansen said.

"We will take care of it," Jansen said Knickerbocker told him.

There's a new Colts punter in town:Colts add punter Nolan Cooney after Matt Haack's ugly day in Tennessee

Jansen was dumbfounded. He called Colts' chief operating officer Pete Ward to express his concern about not being at the Tampa game.

"And Pete said, 'Well, I think you pissed him off announcing the two high school games the night before,'" Jansen said.

Jansen told Ward he hadn't announced those games. Ward told Jansen he would talk to Knickerbocker and get back with him.

A few hours later, Jansen decided to let the Tampa game go and sent Ward an email: "Don't worry about it. I will see you at the opener (the Colts' first regular season home game against the Chiefs)."

Jansen wouldn't make it to that opener. He didn't know it then but his career with the Colts was over.

On Labor Day, Ward sent an email asking Jansen to meet for coffee on Tuesday or Wednesday.  "And I go, 'Ohhh, here it comes. Here it comes," Jansen said. "I knew something was up since I have never been to coffee with Pete in 24 seasons."

Jansen told Ward he appreciated his wanting to meet in person, but Jansen knew what was coming. A phone call would be fine. "I didn't want to feel like I was going to my own execution," Jansen said.

His firing Sept. 6 was brief. "Pete said they want to make a change and it is what they want and he has to go with it," Jansen said. "He thanked me for my time with the Colts and the phone call ended."

Beth was at home with Jansen when he lost his Colts job. He texted his three children, his siblings and then posted the news to Facebook and Twitter.

"All good things must come to an end," wrote Jansen. "I was just notified by the Colts they are moving on to another stadium voice. It has been a great run and I have loved it all the way."

"And it just blew up," Jansen said. His posts received a quarter of a million impressions and thousands of responses.

The Colts declined to discuss Jansen's firing at the time, saying, "It's our organization’s policy not to disclose the reasoning for an employee’s departure." Stankevitz was named as Jansen's replacement for the remainder of the 2022 season.

IndyStar made another request to the Colts this week to discuss the reason Jansen was let go.

"As a company policy we don’t publicly discuss the reasons for a termination," Ward told IndyStar. "We have the utmost respect for Mike and truly appreciate his contributions through the years. But this is the entertainment business and difficult decisions need to be made at times."

'Hey, you should try out'

Jansen's 24 seasons as Colts announcer began on a crowded, hot, July night inside the RCA Dome in 1998. He had seen an article in the Indianapolis Star days before; the Colts were holding open auditions for their next PA guy.

Dave Wilson, who worked for WIBC-AM (1070), had been the Colts announcer. When the team changed radio stations to WFBQ-FM (94.7) for the upcoming season, it needed to change announcers.

After reading about the audition, Jansen said he "wasn't really interested." But then friends and colleagues started calling him. "Hey, you should try out for the Colts gig."

Already a voice-over talent and video producer, Jansen started entertaining the idea. He had, after all, been the public address announcer for the Indianapolis Ice during the 1992-93 season, calling hockey and doing impressions for timeout paid messages.

Calling football for the Colts might be something he could be really good at. Sure, Jansen told his friends, he would try out.

Former Colts coach speaks out:Chuck Pagano on Colts benching Matt Ryan, promoting Sam Ehlinger: 'Almost like a waste'

Jansen walked into the RCA Dome alongside 350 other people that July evening at 5 p.m. He sat there as person after person stepped forward to read the script, announcing sample football calls. Hours ticked by. Some people left. By 9 p.m., Jansen almost left, too.

"I was wondering when my turn would come," he said. "I was close to leaving when they called my name."

Jansen walked up and put on a performance that earned him a spot in the top 16. And then, after another tryout, it was down to two men: Jansen and Artie Widgery, a local stand-up comedian and disc jockey at the time.

As a final tryout, Jansen and Widgery alternated announcing quarters of the 1998 Colts-Chargers preseason game. It was a big game. Peyton Manning was the Colts' new quarterback and Ryan Leaf was quarterback of the Chargers. Many in the city thought the Colts should have taken Leaf over Manning.

Jansen brought energy to the stadium. He connected with the fans. The Colts decided then and there, they had found their man.

On the following Tuesday, Jansen got the call from Colts executive Ray Compton: "How would you like to come work for the Indianapolis Colts?"

"Mike won out. We all thought he was the best one," Ward said. "And so began a quarter of a century career as our stadium PA man. He was a solid PA announcer for us that entire time. More than that, he was a great ambassador for us, such a great guy and beloved by so many people."

'You can live a whole life in 24 seasons'

Growing up, the third of six children, Jansen had no idea he would one day be an NFL announcer. That wasn't in his dreams. But he was the kid who always did funny impressions and weird sound effects. Those who knew him back in the 1970s have told Jansen they are not surprised he went on to a career using his voice.

After graduating from Bishop Chatard High, where he played football, Jansen went to Ball State and majored in business. But as his freshman year of college ended, Jansen was out of money. He took a year and a half off and worked for General Cinema, taking tickets at the Glendale theater to replenish his bank account.

Once back at Ball State, Jansen says the theater had gotten into his blood and he switched his major to radio and TV with the goal of being an on-air radio personality. That wasn't in the cards.

Instead, Jansen left Ball State in 1987, a few hours short of a diploma. He needed to find an internship to graduate but couldn't find one in his field. A friend working in sales for a long distance telephone service company encouraged Jansen to join him.

As Jansen sold phone services, he landed a gig doing voiceovers. That gig led to more voiceover work and then television commercials. Eventually, he was getting enough work in voice talent to quit his sales job.

Around that time in 1998, Jansen saw the callout for open tryouts for the Colts announcer. He walked into the RCA Dome having no idea he would be the voice of Indy's NFL team for nearly a quarter of a century.

Looking back on those years, those 24 years, Jansen gets emotional. "You can live a whole life in 24 seasons," Jansen said, his voice cracking again. "I didn't know I would do this."

He didn't know he would cry.

Jansen is fighting back tears because, as hard as it was losing the Colts job, there have been many times in his life that were worse. "With all the ups and downs I've had, losing the Colts games was almost easy," he said. "I've had a lot tougher things in my life than losing a stadium announcing job that was part time."

There were the times, after all, when alcohol consumed him.

'I haven't really told a lot of people this'

There were two or three Sundays 14 years ago when Jansen showed up to announce Colts games after a morning binge of vodka. The Colts, as far as he knows, never knew about that.

"I haven't really told a lot of people this," he said. "But it was ... it was tough."

It was 2007 and Jansen's alcohol problem was ramping up, progressing as alcoholism does. By late 2008, he was drinking in the morning.

"So I drank before two or three Colts games in late 2008. I was drinking all day. I was at the point where I was shaking. I had the shakes," he said. "So I drank vodka before I headed down to the stadium."

He wasn't "drunk" Jansen said. But he had alcohol in his system. The adrenaline of game day got him through the shakiness. But when he left the stadium and went home, he drank more. He drank sometimes until he passed out.

In early 2009, Jansen hit rock bottom, after plenty of "mini rock bottoms." Jansen declined to talk about his lowest point.

"I'll just say some things happened and really made me face it," he said. "And my sobriety date is Feb. 13, 2009. I'll have 14 years sober this coming February."

That is a victory. One sweeter than any Colts game he ever announced.

So when Jansen lost his job, he was devastated, shocked and he hated it. But 14 years sober trumps all of that, he said, especially when he heard from his fans.

'From the start, he had magic'

Most people, most Colts fans, didn't know who Jansen was, at least what he looked like. They only knew his voice.

He would go into the booth hours before kickoff, then when the game started he would push a button and talk -- his voice going out to 70,000 people in Lucas Oil. After the game, Jansen would stream out of the stadium alongside fans.

"And nobody knows who I am," he said. "It was kind of surreal to be in that role."

But when he was fired, Jansen felt like the fans did know who he was. They spoke loud and clear. Their messages flooded his texts, voicemail, Twitter and Facebook. They were going to miss him.

"He was really one of them at the end of the day," said Derek Wolfe, who worked with Jansen as Colts executive producer before leaving the team six months ago to start his own screen printing business Good Game Products. "Mike gets our fan base. He knows the people and what they want. He talked to them, he involved them, he told them stories."

Wolfe started working closely with Jansen a decade ago when Wolfe moved from his role with the Colts as graphic designer to executive producer. "I knew from the very start that he had magic," Wolfe said. "There is just something about him. He's got a way of communicating. He's got a way of storytelling and he's got a great voice on top of it."

That voice. That Jansen voice is unmistakable. As he walked the streets of downtown with IndyStar, a boisterous Jansen talked about his career and, at times, broke into his announcer voice. People stopped and stared and pointed.

"Hey, you're famous," a woman said, walking up to Jansen, asking to have her picture taken with him. She couldn't put her finger on it, but she knew that voice from somewhere. "You are famous."

Well, Jansen used to be famous. Kind of. Now, his voice has been silenced inside Lucas Oil.

"For the most part I'm 100% OK with it," Jansen said. "But sometimes, I'll get a little angst when I get these great comments and really try to rationalize why it happened and how it happened. And I can't."

What might be the saddest part of Jansen's story is his feeling for the Colts. It's crazy to think, but he's not sure if he's a Colts fan anymore.

"I'm still sorting through my feelings about all that," he said. "How I feel about being a Colts fan."

There have been tweets, many tweets calling on the Colts to "bring Jansen back." He doesn't have too much pride to admit he'd probably come running back. Not for the money. This job, one that paid $100 a game in 1998 and $400 a game in 2022, wasn't about money.

"It was connecting with the fans," Jansen said. "Bringing that energy to the stadium, making memories with them."

Yes, he would return if the Colts asked him.

"But I don't think they would do it," Jansen said. "I would take it back, but they're not going to do it. My days as Colts announcer are over. That's what it is."

Follow IndyStar sports reporter Dana Benbow on Twitter: @DanaBenbow. Reach her via email: dbenbow@indystar.com.

This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Colts: Mike Jansen talks after being fired as stadium announcer