Boulder Daily Camera

February 27, 2012

Alan Cass has written many letters of support for past Pacesetter Award recipients, but he says he never imagined he would be on the other side as a recipient.

Cass is receiving the 2012 Pacesetter Lifetime Achievement Award, and honor that he says makes him feel deeply flattered and humbled.

With strong familial roots in Boulder, Cass moved west from Lake Placid, Fla., when he was 7 years old. His great-grandfather first emigrated from Scotland to Boulder in 1859, and his great-grandmother was among the first female graduates of the University of Colorado in 1891. It's no wonder Cass become an active and influential member of the Boulder community, too.

Fifty-three years ago when Cass was a CU student, he began helping his father, an employee of the university, do lighting and technical work backstage at events at the Macky Auditorium. It was there he met his soon-to-be mentor Rev. A.B. Patterson, or "Father Pat," the Episcopalian chaplain on campus and sports announcer. Whenever "Father Pat" couldn't make a sports game, his understudy jumped at the opportunity to announce. The rest is history.

For 50 years, Cass volunteered his time as the voice of the Buffaloes, announcing for football, men's and women's basketball, track and field and much more -- at roughly 2,000 CU sporting events. Additionally, he was the announcer for the Denver Broncos for 20 years at the old Invesco Field at Mile High Stadium.

In 1954, a small display case was introduced to the University Memorial Center about Glenn Miller, the famous CU alumnus and big-band leader. Cass, not satisfied with the single case, began to collect photographs, artifacts and memorabilia for the campus Heritage Center, which opened in 1985.

"By making presentations about Miller in Japan, in Clarinda, Iowa, in Fort Morgan and other venues, he has been a wonderful ambassador for the university," says his friend and award nominator Norris Hermsmeyer, a local real estate agent.

To this day, Cass is still giving presentations about Glenn Miller throughout the community and remains the Glenn Miller archives curator.

Cass has been more than an influential member of the community. He has been Boulder's voice and its historical recorder, who will continue to collect, preserve and display Boulder's colorful history.