Frank Ellis: 'The voice' of Southeast Missourian Christmas Tournament

When people recognize Frank Ellis but can't recall how they know him, he goes down a list: Attends church at St. Mary's; works at St. Augustine School in Kelso, Missouri; retired after 29 years from public education with Cape Girardeau and Charleston, Missouri and Meridian, Illinois. He mentions his wife's name. And if none of the above connect, he'll add, "I announce the Christmas Tournament." That footnote makes a big connection -- and for all the right reasons.

The 2018 Southeast Missourian Christmas Tournament is Ellis' 26th year behind the mic during the week between Christmas and New Year's. It's a Southeast Missouri tradition that started when he started doing play-by-play for a game between teachers and students at Cape Girardeau Central Junior High School in the early '90s.

Then-tournament director Joey Hanes asked him how long he had been calling games. It was Ellis' first time. That conversation started a Christmas tradition.

Tyler Graef

"I hand wrote everything back then," Ellis shared with me Thursday afternoon. "I had no time in between games to eat or anything because I was rushing to get the starters done and things of that nature."

Now Ellis spends considerable time before the games preparing his notes and how to pronounce the players' names, giving him time to visit with friends along the way.

"It's like a family reunion," he said. "You see people you haven't seen for a year or two at the Christmas Tournament," adding that people tease him saying, "I got to get my Frank Ellis hug."

It's also four days to good basketball and providing memorable calls -- especially for the impressive three-pointers and crowd-pleasing slam dunks.

When a player scores from behind the three-point arc, he yells out with a high-pitched squeal, "Threeeee pointer."

On Thursday afternoon Cape Central played Chaffee in a second-round game. Central's Kinyon Hodges, a 6-foot-3 senior, provided four dunks as the Tigers won 85-30. Each time, Ellis said, "Slaaaaam, No. 23, Kinyon Hodges," echoing the player's last name a couple times for effect.

"Over the years I've had so many kids come to me and say, 'I hope you're still announcing when I get into high school. I want you to say my last name,'" Ellis said, adding that he also enjoys visiting with former players who remember his legendary calls when they played on the Show Me Center court.

"He is the voice of the Christmas Tournament," said Charleston athletic director Michael Minner. "You recall back in the days when we were in high school and Frank talking about saying, 'Threeeee' and with the little squeal and the jock jams. He is a big part that this is a success. It takes a lot of great people. He is the voice of the Christmas Tournament and we look forward to seeing him up here and know that he is a big part of it."

Ellis said there are two years that stand out when he looks back on 26 years of Christmas basketball. In 2005 he was there when Notre Dame won it all.

"My son was a senior at Notre Dame and they were not picked to win the Christmas Tournament and they won the Christmas Tournament that year," Ellis said. "My superintendent at that time said that I sounded like a professional NBA announcer when I said my son's name and that I was showing favoritism. I wasn't. I was calling everyone's name that way."

And in 2010, Ellis' nephew Trey Johnson teamed up at Scott County Central with Otto Porter Jr., who now plays in the NBA.

"The dunks that I got that year, just astronomical because of the alley oops. It was amazing," Ellis said.

Though Ellis considered retiring from his role in recent years, he's stayed with it at the encouragement of his wife.

"She wanted me to do it. I was ready to retire and give up everything and she said, 'That's not the way to do things.' It isn't, because you get kind of down. She realized that for me."

Will Ellis be back next year?

"Planning on it, if the Lord's will."

Bell City superintendent Matt Asher has been involved with the tournament for 18 years as a coach, fan and now-tournament director. He praised Ellis' passion for the games and the memories he's created for players.

"Frank just brings a uniqueness to the position. He says things and delivers the game to you in a way that enhances the atmosphere. He has a unique way of calling out threes. Kids talk about the way Frank announces over the PA. During practices when I was a coach, we'd have kids talk about the announcer and the way he talks. Frank does a lot to help with the overall atmosphere of the tournament."

That's all true, but for Frank it's pretty simple: "I just enjoy watching the game and calling the game."

And we enjoy hearing you call it, Frank.

Lucas Presson is assistant publisher of the Southeast Missourian.