By Mike Pound
Globe columnist
mpound@joplinglobe.com
Larry Sanborn has more guts than I do.
Here’s an example: I would rather step up to the plate in front of thousands of baseball fans and face a Bob Gibson fastball than step up to the plate and sing the national anthem before thousands of baseball fans. Larry, on the other note, has no problem singing the national anthem in front of thousands of people.
Good thing, because that’s what Larry did Monday night before a Kansas City Royals game at Kauffman Stadium.
“I really didn’t have much time to be nervous,” Larry said. “I was just excited to get to do it.”
Larry sounded like he was still excited Tuesday afternoon when I talked with him. I swear I could hear him grinning through the phone.
Globe sports writer Rich Brown wrote a nice story in Monday’s paper about Larry’s impending stadium solo. When I read Rich’s story, I knew I had to talk to Larry about his experience. I mean, singing “The Star-Spangled Banner” is not exactly like singing “Happy Birthday.” It’s your basic tough sing.
Fortunately, Larry is and was up to the challenge. The longtime Joplin High School band and choir director has been around music most of his life. He’s also not exactly a stranger to singing the national anthem. A few years ago, Larry — along with his son, Barry, and three friends — sang “The Star-Spangled Banner” in front of 8,000 fans at a Lady Bears basketball game at Missouri State University in Springfield.
Larry loves music and he loves to sing, which is nice. Even nicer is the fact that he loves baseball as much as he loves music. So basically what Larry got to do Monday night was combine two of his greatest loves, which is nicer still. Making things even better was that Larry’s greatest love — his wife, Gloria — was there to watch him sing.
Gloria, who freely acknowledges that she doesn’t share his passion for baseball, said the enormity of what Larry was doing didn’t completely hit her until she saw him on the stadium’s JumboTron scoreboard.
“I was standing there watching him sing and it was beautiful, and then I looked at the crowd, and then I saw him on the JumboTron and I went, ‘Oh my God.’ It was absolutely perfect. That’s when I had a lump in my throat,” Gloria said.
Larry auditioned for the Royals at the team’s FanFest last winter. He was one of 10 or so folks picked out of more than 60 singers to perform at Kauffman Stadium. But the thing is, the audition was one of those “oh, what the heck” deals. Larry planned to go to FanFest regardless of the audition. He wanted a chance to meet some of the players and pick up some things to add to his baseball memorabilia collection.
“The audition was on a whim,” he said. “I just wanted to go to the FanFest.”
If there was a drawback to the whole experience, it was that Larry didn’t have a chance to grab any autographs while he was on the field Monday night.
“Although after I sang and was walking off, Dave Owen (the Royals bench coach) said ‘good job’ to me,” Larry said.
Singing “The Star-Spangled Banner” is tough. There is no doubt about that. And singing it in front of sports fans can be even tougher. Mess up the anthem and you’ll know it pretty quickly, because sports fans aren’t exactly shy when it comes to expressing their feelings. Larry, who said he probably goes to more than 20 baseball games a year, was aware of that but said he wasn’t too worried.
The key is the key to singing “The Star-Spangled Banner,” Larry said. If you start at a key low enough yet comfortable enough for you, it makes it much easier, he said, to hit that “land of the free” high note.
“I just made sure I found my range so the high note wouldn’t break,” he said.
Apparently, the high note didn’t break. Larry got rave reviews from the large contingent of family and friends who drove up to Kansas City to watch him sing. He even got accolades from strangers in the stands.
“After I sang, I got to my seat and just relaxed for a minute,” he said. “Then I went and got something to eat.”
And then, Larry said, he sat back and watched the game.
With, I’m guessing, a big grin on his face.
Local News
Related Photos
Discussion
Mike Pound: Royals game a ‘Banner’ event for music lover
- Local News
-
-
City wants to buy weather radios for those without
Phil Jones had been working on a construction project outside his house all day on May 22 and was unaware that a tornado watch had been issued. Once he was inside, though, his weather radio went off, and he learned that a warning had been issued.
-
Architects present preliminary JHS plans at community meeting
Reaction appeared mostly supportive Thursday night among the roughly 50 people who attended a community meeting at which architects presented their preliminary site plans for the future combined Joplin High School and Franklin Technology Center.
-
Confessed shooter testifies against co-defendants in Pittsburg murder case
Rickey Smith testified Thursday that as he came in the back door of Ryan Bailey’s home in Pittsburg with a 9 mm pistol in his hand, Bailey looked up from the couch in his living room.
-
School district’s proposed street-closing plan questioned
Plans to close some streets near the proposed Joplin High School drew questions, including a challenge from a former Joplin mayor, during a public hearing this week.
-
Neosho council approves new golf cart contract
The purchase of golf carts was back on the agenda this week for the Neosho City Council. City Attorney Steve Hays said there were errors in the financing terms that were part of a bid approved last month for the purchase of 55 gas-powered carts from E-Z-Go for $144,195, so the purchase of a new fleet was rebid.
-
Mike Pound: Spirit of competition evident during double-overtime game
When I played basketball in high school, I played in several very close games.
Now, some people who may have known me in high school are probably laughing right now and saying, “What Mike meant to say is that when he was in high school, he came very close to playing in some games.” -
Mo. optometrist filed $40 million refund claim
A southwest Missouri optometrist who filed a tax return claiming a $40 million refund has been sentenced to four years and three months in federal prison.
-
Okla. receives waiver from No Child Left Behind
Oklahoma’s top education official reacted with glee Thursday with the announcement that the state is one of 10 states being granted a waiver from the federal No Child Left Behind law that requires students be proficient in reading and math by 2014 — but focused on getting students to “just pass the tests.”
-
Kan. House approves bipartisan redistricting bill
Power in the Kansas House is likely to shift next year from rural parts of the state to the Kansas City area after members overwhelmingly approved a bipartisan bill Thursday for redrawing their districts.
-
Fugitive in 1993 British heist arrested in Ozark
A man suspected of stealing about $1.5 million from a security van in England in 1993 has been arrested in southwest Missouri.
- More Local News Headlines
-
Denver's Largest-Ever Drug Bust Nets Dozens
Marines: No Punishment for Nazi-like Flag
Vets Look to Translate Military Skills Into Jobs
Expert: Removing LA School's Staff 'Appropriate'
Raw Video: School Bus Burst Into Flames
LA School Reopens Amid Sex Abuse Scandal
$25B Settlement Reached Over Foreclosure Abuses
Pentagon: Allow Women Closer to Front Lines
Obama Gives Education Waivers to 10 States
Giffords Aide to Run for Her Seat
LA School in Sex Abuse Scandal Reopens
Winter Slamming North Asia, Parts of Europe
Syrian Forces Renew Bombardment of Homs
States, Banks Reach Foreclosure-abuse Settlement
Raw Video: Italy's Mount Etna Bursts Into Life
Greeks March; Angry Despite Debt Deal
Raw Video: U.S. Pullout Celebration
Raw Video: Annual Empire State Building Run-Up
Man Killed in Courthouse Shootout
Air Force Airlines: Leaders Get Polished Service
