Blazers PA announcer will never forget the night he handed the mic to Damian Lillard

PORTLAND - Few things are subtle when Mark Mason walks into a room.

The 6-foot-9 frame of the Blazers public address announcer stands out even in a place where people are tall for a living. As he sits down to eat less than two hours before his starting introductions for a preseason game, the jovial Mason's legendary voice reverberates off the press room walls.

Mark Mason wants to stand out - just not too much.

"I'm just the tour guide of the event," he said.

That is how Mason has characterized his role since he became the team's public address announcer in 1996. The KEX disc jockey won the audition to replace Mike Stone, who had held the position for six years.

Mason was brought in to provide energy to the public address calls beyond the traditional monotone announcements. He was hired on a year-to-year basis but told The Oregonian he was not worried about a lack of job security in an interview that year.

Eighteen years later, Mason has become the most recognizable voice echoing around the arena for an entire generation of Blazers fans.

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