Mike Jay, the announcer for the Drake Relays and Iowa state meet, is Iowa’s biggest track fan

TIFFIN — There’s a strong case to be made that Mike Jay, the longtime announcer at both the Drake Relays and the Iowa state track and field meet, is the biggest track fan in Iowa.

All the supporting evidence covers the walls in his garage.

There are pictures of America’s finest track athletes, from Steve Prefontaine to Jenny Simpson to Ryan Crouser to Erik Sowinski, many of them signed. There are magazine covers of "Track and Field News." There are signs and posters from various meets.

There are also flags from the 1975 Drake Relays, the first Jay attended when he was just a sophomore at Columbus Junction high school. He snagged them and had them framed for his garage. Those are pretty special, he explains.

“In 1975, our coach said, ‘We’re taking some guys to the Drake Relays. I have an extra ticket if you want to go,’” Jay says on a rainy Wednesday morning. “So I asked, 'Do we have to go to school Friday?' ‘No.’ 'OK, I’m in.'

“I haven’t missed one since.”

That means this week’s Drake Relays, the 112th running of America’s Athletic Classic, will be Jay’s 46th as either a spectator, coach, or, as he’s done for the last 16 years, the official announcer.

“I joke all the time — the teachers who sat me out in the hall for talking too much in class would have a fit if they knew someone was paying me to talk now,” Jay, 62, says and laughs. “I love it. It really doesn’t feel like a job. This is my passion.”

That passion for track and field has manifested in many ways, most notably through Jay’s announcing prowess — he was the 2014 Scott Davis Memorial Award winner by the Track and Field Writers of America, an honor reserved for the nation’s best track announcer — but more recently through his Track Guy Foundation.

More: Tickets, parking and the Beautiful Bulldog Contest: What you need to know and do during Drake Relays

Through the Track Guy Foundation, Jay has gifted Iowa high school athletes brand new track and cross country shoes to those who may not have the financial support to get their own. Jay and his sons, Joseph and Jon, started Track Guy in 2018 by selling t-shirts to raise money for new shoes. They gave away 28 new pairs of shoes that year.

Since then, Track Guy has given away more than 450 pairs of new shoes to Iowa kids, as well as more than 20 $500 scholarships. Their 2022 goals are ambitious: provide 100 pairs of shoes (they’re closing in on 80 already) and 12 $500 scholarships, as well as sponsor 10 athletes at a cross country or track and field camps.

“Through my years of coaching, I knew there was a need,” Jay says. “So when I retired, my boys said, ‘Dad, we have to give back to the sport. Track and field has been so good to you and our family,’ and it just blew up.

“Our mission is to help kids that really need it, and to help Iowa kids get involved in track and field and cross country. You hate to see a kid not being involved in a sport they want to be in just because they don’t have the shoes to do it.”

Jay’s track and field life really began with that 1975 Drake Relays. He stood inside Drake Stadium and was captivated by Jim Duncan’s announcing. He heard Duncan tell the crowd to bring runners “around East side.” He was hooked.

It helped, Jay continues, that Columbus Junction had some good teams back then — the Wildcats took second at the 1975 Class B state meet — and that 1975 was a pretty strong year for Iowa high school track and field, as multiple state meet records were set that season (many of them in discontinued events, but still).

From then on, track and field became his passion, and he did whatever he could to stay around the sport.

More: See the top Iowa high school track and field event leaders ahead of the Drake Relays

Jay graduated from Columbus Junction in 1977 and earned his coaching certificate in 1983, allowing him to coach both track and cross country at Columbus Junction for the next 26 years.

In the 1980s, he began announcing Columbus Junction’s home meets, and did so well that nearby schools asked him to announce their home meets, too. He’s announced the Iowa high school state meet since 2005, and the Drake Relays since 2006.

Jay is now widely recognized as one of the nation’s top track and field announcers. He’s called the Olympic Trials, the NCAA Indoor and Outdoor meets, the U.S. Indoor and Outdoor Championships, plus high school and college meets around Iowa. In a 22-week period this year, he says, he’ll announce 30 meets in 10 different states.

“Kids have started coming up to the PA booth because they wanted a picture with me,” Jay says. “II tell you what, I’m just as excited to meet them as they are me. It’s like, wow, here comes a state champ and they want a picture with me? It’s pretty cool.

“People always ask, ‘What’s your favorite meet to announce?’ It’s always the state meet. Just being an Iowan that loves the sport, that’s at the top of the charts. As a high schooler, I dreamt about qualifying for the Drake Relays or the state meet.”

That recognition within the track community has allowed Jay to grow Track Guy in ways he didn’t initially expect.

A look back: 'I knew we could pull off the Drake Relays': How the track and field event returned for 2021

When they first started, his sons urged him to use his track connections to help get the word out. So Jay texted Jenny Simpson, told her about Track Guy and asked if she would wear a shirt. She did much, much more than that.

“I got a $500 check from her and her husband before she got the shirt,” Jay says. “She added a note that said, ‘Take care of the kids in Iowa.’ Moments like that are special.”

Over the years, Jay has continually championed Iowa track and field in other ways.

When the 2020 spring season was lost to the COVID-19 pandemic, he connected athletes with college coaches to help them get recruited. He also hosted his own track meet that July at BGM High School, where over 200 athletes from six different states came to compete. For some, it was their only competition that year.

Jay says many athletes they’ve helped over the years have gone on to perform exceptionally at the college level, at the state meet, and even at the Drake Relays. He expects a handful to put on a show this week in Des Moines.

“That takes that good feeling to another level,” Jay says. “Everything seems to have come full circle in a really good way.”

Photos: High school athletes compete at the 2021 Drake Relays

Perhaps he will snag a new piece of memorabilia for his garage this week. If nothing else, he’ll have his press pass to hang with all the others, as well as the memories of kids achieving their dreams.

He was once in their shoes, and because he understands how much these events mean to every track athlete around the state, he makes sure he brings his A-game each time he settles in behind the mic for every event he calls.

More than anything, he hopes his fandom for the sport, and the kids, shines through.

“I’ll have butterflies, go over my notes 100 times, get sweaty palms, everything,” Jay says. “I love the sport so much, and I expect those kids to do their best, so they deserve to have my best in return.

“Some kid is chasing a school record or a state record and they don’t need a joker announcer doing a half-ass job. So I always do my best to give my best effort. That’s extremely important to me.”

Cody Goodwin covers wrestling and high school sports for the Des Moines Register. Follow him on Twitter at @codygoodwin.

This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: How Drake Relays announcer Mike Jay helps Iowa track athletes