MOSES LAKE — The lights go down, with just a spotlight shown on the court in the Peter DeVries Activity Center. Fans and student-athletes know what’s coming as the music kicks on. From between a pair of dancing skeletons a voice booms out: the voice of the Vikings.

As an announcer for 20 years, Dale Casebolt has been building a unique atmosphere for the student-athletes at Big Bend. A former student-athlete himself, Casebolt said he cherishes the opportunity to stay around athletics.

A basketball player in high school and college, Casebolt said he was always drawn to the unity of being part of a team. Casebolt spent 18 years as a referee in Montana, looking for a way to stay in the game. Soon after joining the staff at Big Bend, Casebolt was approached by the volleyball coach at the time, Ed Spooner.

“I’m not sure why, but he came up and asked me if I’d come up and announce the next volleyball game,” Casebolt said. “I said, ‘Sure, I’ll do it,’ and it’s stuck ever since.”

Through the years, the Big Bend announcer has transformed the show he puts on for each game. Early on, Casebolt said he relied on an outdated sound system that people couldn’t understand and no music.

“It was like playing on a neutral basketball court when I used to play,” Casebolt said. “I wanted an atmosphere, I wanted something these guys and gals were gonna remember when they left here.”

The Big Bend sound man wanted the games to be like an NBA game, with the lights and the introductions. The goal was giving the student-athletes something they’d remember, something fans would want to come and see.

In that, the voice of the Vikings said he feels he’s been successful.

The Vikings now have a laser light show for the introductions, a new sound system, and even dancing skeletons. Casebolt said he has a lot of people come up to inform him the skeletons “freak them out,” but said he hears plenty of positive feedback as well, particularly from younger fans.

Big Bend Athletic Director Mark Poth said he has always maintained a good friendship with Casebolt since they became associates at the college. Poth said Casebolt has blossomed in his role as the voice of the Vikings, and said he has been instrumental in creating the collegiate atmosphere at Big Bend.

“I think if you go around and look at a lot of basketball games, it’s hard to beat what we’re doing at Big Bend with our introductions and our laser light shows,” Poth said. “And we’ve gotta give Dale credit in that. It was his vision and his insight, and he does a great job.”

Poth said Casebolt covers everything, from baseball to volleyball, and really helps promote the school and its athletic programs in the community. “Country” Chuck Boyk, the former voice of the Vikings, is a Big Bend Hall of Fame member. Poth said Casebolt shares a lot of the same energy as his predecessor, and said he’ll probably be the second voice of the Vikings inducted into the Hall of Fame.

When not calling athletics, Casebolt is running the shipping and receiving department for the college. The voice of the Vikings has also operated an animal sanctuary, Daze of Camelot, with his wife, Sandi Kean-Casebolt.

“We deal with the elderly, abused and handicapped animals of all kinds,” Casebolt said. “I’ve done that for 24 years. We have a little farm out there for these guys, we’re kind of a hospice. We’re the last stop for these animals.”

When he’s not working somewhere, Casebolt said he’s squeezing in sporting events whenever he can.

Casebolt faced some difficulty in his personal life a few years ago, with brain surgeries that forced him to miss a season and a half.

The Big Bend announcer said his wife is more of an academic and really isn’t very interested in sports. Volunteering his time, Casebolt said his wife has told him he should be paid for all he does. He assured her his relationships with the athletes were payment enough.

After his surgeries, Casebolt said members of the basketball and baseball teams would come out to the farm, help him handle chores or simply spend time in the yard visiting. After about the third visit, Casebolt said he looked over to see his wife in tears. Asked why she was crying, she simply responded, “Now I understand.”

“It was very touching and rewarding to know that I’ve touched these guys and gals that way,” Casebolt said. “I don’t do much up there, but evidently, they like what they hear.”

The voice of the Vikings has had the honor of calling a number of all-star games and other events, including an NWAC Tournament in his tenth season. Casebolt said he was able to call four games a day, both championship games, and every consolation game,

Casebolt said he joked with the executive director about being thrown into the fire as a new guy, but felt it went very well after everything was over. The Big Bend announcer said he even went off-script for the championship games, liking to fly by the seat of his pants anyway, and received compliments from fans on the way out.

Casebolt said it’s been fun being able to announce for the Vikings, and added that he never thought it would get this crazy. He joked there’s not anyone else crazy enough to do this at Big Bend, so he’s stuck with it.

“Who would dance with a bunch of skeletons?” Casebolt asked.

The voice of the Vikings said he’ll be up between his skeletons at the DeVries Activity Center until he gets tired of it, or his health won’t permit him.

“And I’m not tired of it,” Casebolt said.