Yonkers stays on the mic

Two documents that mean a lot to Keith Yonkers are framed on the wall of his office building on the Lido Peninsula.

One is his bachelor’s degree from USC, where he graduated in 1980. The other, above that, is much more recent.

It’s the letter letting Yonkers know that he had been selected to announce water polo at the 2012 Olympic Games in London.

But there’s also the framed photo sitting on his desk that Yonkers makes sure to mention. It’s of him and his wife of 24 years, Jennie.

After all, Jennie ultimately is the one who has to sign off on Yonkers’ burgeoning career as a water polo announcer.

“It’s hard,” Yonkers said of often being away from home. “My wife supports it most of the time. I need to thank her.”

And what a ride it has been for Yonkers, who flies out of John Wayne Airport on Saturday morning for his next adventure.

On the Fourth of July, Yonkers is headed to Toronto, Canada. The 56-year-old Newport Beach resident is the English venue announcer for men’s and women’s water polo at the Pan American Games, which begin Tuesday. He’s also calling the medal rounds in sailing, and he’s looking forward to it.

“It’s such a thrill to be able to be around the world-class athletes like that, and to feel like you kind of make a difference out there, make a more exciting venue for the athletes, the families and the fans,” Yonkers said.

The games are important, particularly for the American men, for which Corona del Mar High graduate John Mann and Newport Harbor alumnus Luca Cupido are playing. Win the tournament, and Team USA earns an automatic berth to the 2016 Olympics in Brazil.

Yonkers hopes to go to Rio as well, as an announcer. He hopes to call bigger matches after he was an alternate announcer in London, though he did more extensive work in the “London Prepares” trial series.

For now, he is calling the action in Toronto. All of it, on both the men’s and women’s water polo sides. It’s a total of 40 matches.

Yonkers’ announcing career admittedly had modest beginnings. It was 2009 when Yonkers called his first Mater Dei High girls’ water polo game. He thought he was just there to watch his oldest child, Molly, in action, but the announcer didn’t show up and Coach Chris Segesman asked Yonkers to call the game.

“He gave me rosters, and it went pretty well,” Yonkers said. “Then he asked me the next week.”

Yonkers shared time with another Mater Dei announcer, Mark Gaughan, whose kids eventually graduated.

That’s also true now for Yonkers. Molly graduated from the Mater Dei water polo program, as has Yonkers’ middle child, Carter, who was a backup goalie to McQuin Baron on the Monarch boys’ CIF Southern Section Division 1 title team of 2011. The youngest Yonkers, Lacy, is a soccer player who recently graduated from Mater Dei as well and is headed to DePaul University in Chicago.

But Yonkers still is a presence at nearly all of Mater Dei’s big games. Before the season, Segesman will give him a list of several big games he’d like for Yonkers to call.

There’s a reason why Segesman calls him, “the voice of the Monarchs.” And, as Yonkers noted with pride, Mater Dei will have a big presence at the Pan American Games, with 2012 graduate Bret Bonanni and Baron in the pool and Yonkers on the microphone.

“What separates Keith from the rest is that he’s very professional and he takes it seriously,” said Segesman, a three-time All-American at Long Beach State and 2004 Olympian in water polo. “He’s always asking for feedback on his craft, and I think he takes criticism extremely well. He’s developed respect from the water polo world ... My kids know that when Keith Yonkers is there to announce, it’s a big game and it’s going to be a fun environment.”

Yonkers said that Harvard-Westlake asked him to come up and call the big Harvard-Westlake vs. Mater Dei boys’ water polo nonleague game last year, despite his Mater Dei ties. And he has also called several CIF championship games.

Yonkers, who played football and ran track at Newport Harbor before graduating in 1976, maintains his day job as an investment banker. Yet he prepares extensively for his announcing duties, in terms of both researching the teams and players involved as well as the technical aspects. He has worked closely with his mentor, the local actor and voice-over artist Mike Villani.

The exciting assignments keep coming in for Yonkers. He was the English announcer for the 2013 FINA World Championships in Barcelona, Spain. This past school year, 2014-15, he called both the men’s and women’s Mountain Pacific Sports Federation water polo championships, at Long Beach State and Arizona State, respectively.

Greg Mescall, the USA Water Polo director of communications, has certainly seen Yonkers around. Mescall also does a different sort of announcing, typically for television or webcasts, and has called games for ESPNU and Pac-12 Networks.

“There’s not a lot of people doing it, and he pursues it aggressively,” Mescall said. “He reaches out, he pursues it and he finds the right people. So much of sports media is networking ... he’s been able to carve out a nice little niche here.”

Yonkers was never a professional athlete himself, but he still stays active and in good shape. He has done more than 65 triathlons, he said, as well as run in 13 marathons.

Yet, to him, some of the biggest thrills with his announcing have been when the athletes in the water have offered feedback.

“At this level of water polo, a lot of people have never been to a game before,” he said. “You’re trying to educate, you’re trying to keep them engaged with the game and really give them a feel of the play ... I like when you feel like you make a difference in an experience, especially a championship experience, for the athlete or the student-athlete. The high school games are as much of a thrill as any game. I called a 10-and-under [Junior Olympics] game a couple of years ago, and that was a blast.

“I think I’ve improved, but I still have a long ways to go. You always can improve, I think.”

Like the water polo player who stays after practice to take more shots, Yonkers is working to get better at his craft all the time. He prides himself on his ability to stay impartial during the heat of the action.

“You’re calling the game,” he said. “You don’t have time to hope someone is ahead or someone is going to make a penalty shot. I never, ever felt that. I mean, I called Mater Dei vs. Harvard-Westlake [at Harvard-Westlake].”

Water polo fans from around Southern California, and internationally as well, are taking notice.