Lebanon man loved announcing, writing & broadcasting Hershey Bears games

Nearly all the jobs Don Scott had during his professional career placed him in the local spotlight. 

Which is not surprising considering how outgoing a person Scott – whose real name is Don Mowery – is.

“I like to talk to people,” said Scott, which is the name LebTown will use in this story since most readers know him by his adopted moniker. 

Scott, who is now in his late 80s, wore many hats simultaneously in a professional career spanning nearly 55 years.  

He was the executive director of the local chapter of the Easter Seals for two decades, the public address announcer at Hershey Bears home games for 27 years, and a sports correspondent for the Lebanon Daily News and Hummelstown Sun.

“Let me try and put it this way: I’ve never been out of work for a day since I graduated (Lebanon High School) in 1955. I’ve had a lot of different jobs, full-time jobs,” Scott said.

A career that began in radio

Before he worked in those fields, he first became involved in radio broadcasting. 

“1968 is when I started working at WAHT when they came to town. But prior to that work, I was with a radio station down in New Jersey, and I came back home to visit and I knew Bob Keller and everybody at WLBR. I grew up at Eighth and Cumberland streets (WLBR’s location), so I knew everybody. And I came back and Bob Keller said, ‘You want a job?’ I said, ‘Well, I have one.’ He said, ‘Well, Van’s going into sales, so we need somebody.’ That’s sort of how I got back to WLBR.” 

It was during his time at WAHT in 1968 that Scott began to cover Hershey Bears hockey games for the radio station and for the out-of-town newspapers of the visiting teams. 

“I got that (radio) job because my grandfather knew one of the investors in it and they were looking for somebody part-time. So I was just out there during weekends with Frankie D. on Sunday mornings,” Scott said of the gig that would lead to employment with the Bears.

Scott said he asked someone if he could cover the local hockey team for the area radio station.

“I did post-game interviews. While doing that over a 24-year period, also back then, the word computer existed in the dictionary, but not in use. So between periods, I would call Providence or Springfield or whatever newspaper and give them the first period, second period, and third period (highlights),” Scott said. “Then after the game I’d have to call up at the final and go back to the locker room and do my stuff (interviews).”

During that time, Scott established a track record of success. “But to simplify, over those 54 years, I missed 22 home regular season games. Half of those were because of COVID – not because I had it.” said Scott.

HIs foray into sports journalism began innocently enough.

“In 1960, Chuck Bednarik and the Eagles were in Hershey. I wasn’t doing sports, I just drove up one day with my little microphone, talked to Chuck Bednarik,” Scott said. “Now you know Chuck Bednarik was a huge animal. Are you familiar with him? ‘Concrete Charlie.’ He was about 6’4″, 240, and I’m 5’6″, 130.”

That first interview went well – even if Scott did have to reach the microphone to the sky to capture Bednarik’s words.

“We had a nice chat. I turned around, started to walk away. He said, ‘Hey, come back here.’ He says, ‘I never heard myself on tape. Let me hear it.’ So I played the tape for him, and that’s when I set up what I call my book. … So all my interviews from that time on, centered around interviewing individuals and what they said to me and the stories I got from guys.” 

Scott said those recordings from the many individuals he interviewed from the World of Sports are now in his computer and he’s formatting them into chapters. He said his daughter-in-law, also a writer, wants him to publish the stories in a book but he doubts he will.

“I’ve talked to a number of the Eagles over the years. Again, they’re in my book – the stuff that they talked about,” said Scott.

His list of sports interviewees ranks among some of the top names in their respective fields. 

“I can’t believe that here in Lebanon I talked to so many national athletes. My biggest disappointment is I had talked to 50% of the people who were on the front cover of Sports Illustrated in their first 20 years,” Scott said. “But I have no tapes of that because I kept reusing the tapes.”

Some notable interviewees include hockey players Bobby Orr and  Ron Hextall, race car driver Mario Andretti, and boxers Joe Frazier and Muhammad Ali. Autographed photos of people he’s interviewed or met hang on Scott’s office wall.

“I talked to Muhammad Ali and he was telling me these stories. Everybody’s heard of him by this time. The reason he did in the ring what he did was he had went to see Gorgeous George, the wrestler. ‘He’s out there throwing the sign. Everybody’s booing him.’ He says, ‘These people pay good money to come in here. Some of them booed him because they didn’t like him.’ He says, ‘That guy’s got a pretty good gig.’ And that’s why he (Ali) did what he did.” 

Public address announcer

Much like his sportswriting career, Scott fell into the role of announcer at Hershey Bears home games beginning in 1989 through 2016.

“I didn’t ask for that job. I got a letter in the mail one day saying you’re going to be one of the PA announcers at the start of this season,” said Scott. 

He said that job was at both the old Hersheypark Arena and the Giant Center, which opened in 2002. He said the two venues came with pluses and minuses, adding that he preferred the old arena because the PA announcer booth was on the ice. 

“At the old arena, you were on the ice right between the penalty boxes. That was the big difference. And then I was up(stairs),” Scott said, noting the Giant Center’s booth is high above the action, away from the ice. “At the old arena, either one of the players or the linesman was in my sight with the net. I knew they scored a goal because everybody yelled but I didn’t see it because of the bodies in front of me. You could see a play develop and all that (in Giant Center’s PA booth) but it was way more fun down there on the ice cuz you had to deal with the guys (players).”

His other “jobs”

Being a sports journalist opened doors for Scott in his primary job as executive director of the Lebanon County chapter of the Easter Seals. 

“When I retired at the age of 62, my work hours went from virtually 70 per week down to 40, 45. And Easter Seals was a seven-day job because my title was executive director, but my job was fundraising, which was always on the weekends,” Scott said. “I had Eagles (players) in, I had the Flyers in, I had the Bears playing softball, and various fundraisers for Easter Seals.”

Sportswriting for local newspapers was a way, at times, for Scott to relax following a long day at the office.

“I say this and I mean it. I never worked a day in my life,” Scott said. “Because if I had a bad day at my regular job, I’d go to a hockey game, a baseball game, a football game, because I covered all kinds of high school sports for the Lebanon Daily News. I also did work for the Hummelstown paper for several years.”

Of all his many jobs throughout his lifetime, there’s one he cherishes the most.

“The PA,” said Scott, although he said he doesn’t know why. “I was part of the game. I didn’t have any way of making the outcome happen, but I was part of the game. I was  a cheerleader. Obviously, when the Bears scored you were happier when you announced it. But yeah. I mean, let’s say it’s nice to be recognized as such, but to me it was just fun. I always said I wasn’t working. I was having fun.”