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Charles Henderson High School student Ethan Prendergast has been the Voice of the Charles Henderson Middle School Trojans for the past two years, but one day he very well could become the Voice of the Troy Trojans.

Prendergast started working on the idea of broadcasting CHMS football games way back as a fifth grader.

“I wanted to do something with the football team and I asked Coach Fred (Burden) if there was anything I could do to help out,” Prendergast remembered. “He said that the middle school had never broadcasted its games before and if I wanted to be the first middle school broadcaster we could find a crew and all the technology and everything.

“Starting out it was pretty difficult, just because of trying to get together all the technology and being able to figure out a committed crew and contacting all the middle schools we played to work all that out.”

Prendergast’s father is Adam Prendergast, the longtime Senior Associate Director of Athletics Communications and Creative Content at Troy University. Since Ethan Prendergast was a toddler, he could be seen at Troy Football games, helping pass out stats or other various jobs.

“My dad being in sports has kind of shown me about the environment in sports, especially behind the scenes,” he said. “Most people don’t really get to do what I’ve been able to do just because of their mom or dad not being in sports like my dad is. It’s really fun and I try to get some of my friends to come and see the behind-the-scenes of it all.”

That connection to Troy University also helped him out when he was able to call on legendary Troy Athletics commentator Barry McKnight for help.

“I had never even thought about doing broadcasting – or commentating – until Coach brought it up. So, I started talking to Barry (McKnight) and talking to some of the other broadcasters I knew,” Prendergast remembered. “Our very first game, we came up here and sat down and Barry gave me some papers and talked me through every single play.”

Prendergast’s broadcasting career expanded when he and some friends launched the “Wake Up Trojans” newscast at CHMS. Prendergast served as director of the broadcast, which provided lunch menus, weather, jokes, interviews and more to the CHMS student body. This fall, Prendergast and friends brought the show over to Charles Henderson High School. He also started almost teaching some of the other CHMS students.

“Last year I tried to teach some of the other students,” he said. “I would sit down with them and we would kind of do a Newscast 101.”

Prendergast has also worked in the control room of Troy Baseball games and served as the spotter for Troy’s ESPN+ crew during football season, as well. He did such a good job at that, he even got called on to be a spotter at another university’s game this year.

“It’s been really cool,” said Prendergast. “It was really unexpected when UAB called me to do one of their games but that was really, really cool.”

Last year, he even got to call some action on the MLB Network for a Toronto Blue Jays game as a part of their Fan Cam.

“It was really cool, especially to see myself on the MLB Network and on a game calling the action,” he said with a smile.

This past season was Prendergast’s final as the Voice of CHMS Football, as he plans to begin broadcasting Charles Henderson High School football and basketball games next season. While Prendergast said that he’s torn between pursuing a career in broadcasting or teaching at the moment, he said that one day becoming the Voice of the Troy Trojans after McKnight retires is certainly a goal he has. For now, though, he wants to inspire others his age to jump into broadcasting.

“My goal really is just to inspire more broadcasters, at the middle school and the high school,” he said. “Let your personality out and show how fun broadcasting can be. I just want others to be able to enjoy something and may even if they don’t enjoy sports, broadcasting could help them enjoy it more.”