Butch Liput is a Burrell legend as 'voice of the Bucs'

Editor’s note: This is part of an occasional series that features Alle-Kiski Valley residents and the notable things that they do.

John “Butch” Liput Jr. has one of the most recognizable voices in Lower Burrell sports history, and his impact on athletes and teams around the area is immeasurable.

Known as “the Voice of the Bucs,” Liput arrives two hours early to every football game.

He meets with coaches and officials from both schools to make sure he has all the information on the players as the public address announcer at Buccaneer Stadium for Burrell High School football games. He has maintained the routine for nearly four decades.

“I think they like what I’m doing,” he said. “The fact that I’m around 38 years, I must be doing something right. I hope that I can continue. It keeps me feeling younger and keeps me in contact with the kids.”

Liput said his career in announcing football games started by chance.

“I did a little bit of announcing with the Lower Burrell Flyers, (a youth football organization), so I had some experience,” he said. “I had kids playing at the high school, so I went there to watch the game. The previous announcer wasn’t going to announce anymore.”

John Kristoff assisted Liput in his first game. Liput has kept the same enthusiasm from that day.

His spotters, people feeding information to the announcer, included his late son Jim and longtime friend Jay Manga.

“When you have good spotters, it makes you look good,” Liput said.

Liput, 84, was born and raised in Arnold. He graduated from St. Joseph High School in Natrona, where he was a standout basketball player in 1952.

Liput went on to study engineering for a year at Ohio State before taking a job as a researcher at Alcoa.

It’s during his time at ALCOA that Liput would make Little League history. The company was testing aluminum bats for various companies. Liput supervised the project.

He obtained one from his employer and his son, Jim, tested it out for the first time in a game in July 15, 1971. The boy hit four home runs in that Lower Burrell Little League game.

“Everybody saw him and thought it was magic,” Liput said.

Other organizations were quick to replace more wooden bats with aluminum.

By the end of the 1970s, young players across the county were swinging aluminum. Organizations were saving money by not having to replace as many bats.

The proud dad still has that bat at his Idaho Drive home in what could be described as a family Hall of Fame.

Photos of his children and grandchildren, their sports teams, and even one of his late father performing a gymnastics feat are framed and decorate a large room. It also features awards from Alcoa.

Liput coached Lower Burrell Little League for a few years.

He retired as an Alcoa researcher after more than 43 years. He received recognition from the company for never missing a day of work.

“I come from a hard-working family of Polish decent. My parents always told me, ‘When people pay you, work hard for them.’ I always took that to heart,” Liput said of his parents, John and Betty Liput. “I put in a good day’s work for my pay.”

Liput’s been involved with the Lower Burrell Flyers, the youth football organization where he got his start announcing, and ran a co-ed youth intramural basketball program for the school district for 30 years.

His involvement has spanned seven different Burrell athletic directors.

“I’m a Burrell person through and through” Liput said. “I bleed blue.”

He also announces the starting lineups and senior nights for the district’s boys and girls basketball games. He occasionally makes it a huge highlight like legendary 1990s Chicago Bulls announcer Ray Clay.

“I get carried away a little bit every once in awhile,” he said. “A few weeks ago when Burrell went to overtime with Freeport, I got a little excited.”

This school year marks the sixth straight in which a Burrell student-athlete will be awarded a $1,000 Liput scholarship.

He was inspired to start the scholarship by Sam Huey, a local basketball aficionado who has awarded scholarships on his own over the years.

Liput said he and Huey were WPIAL basketball referees for decades, and Huey gave him the first $1,000.

Liput was inducted into the Allegheny-Kiski Valley Hall of Fame in 2009 for his efforts in youth sports.

He was the team captain and played third base for the Hobby’s USSSA World Slow Pitch Softball champs in 1969. But he said his greatest call was marrying Joann Steffanini.

They moved to Lower Burrell and have been together for 64 years.

They have six children and 19 grandchildren, including 9-year-old identical triplet granddaughters, with many having played Burrell sports.

“I’ve been very fortunate,” said Liput.