Doyon won't let Tourette's get in way of dream job

HARTFORD, CONN. -- Jared Doyon, PA announcer for the Hartford Yard Goats, describes his style on the mic as clear and concise. So, too, is his message for those who may take inspiration from his career path:

“Don’t let Tourette’s stop you from doing what you love.”

Doyon, 28, was diagnosed with Tourette’s syndrome nearly two decades ago. This neurological disorder results in uncontrollable physical and vocal outbursts, symptoms that seem wholly incompatible with a job that requires flawless live reads broadcast directly to an in-house audience of thousands.

“I have tics so I make these noises, and say things. And I have these movements and stuff,” said Doyon. “But when you’re PA announcing the mic’s only on for a few seconds, 10 to 20 seconds, so during those 10 to 20 seconds I’m so locked in I don’t have any tics…. It’s like I don’t have Tourette’s when I’m announcing.”

Doyon, originally from Meriden, Conn., has always been a sports fanatic. He showed interest in PA announcing from a young age, paying special attention to the men on the microphone while attending local hockey and baseball games. Soon, he began to hone his skills in more informal settings.

“In high school, when we were on the bus going to golf matches, I always used to read the signs of the businesses we’d see. Like, ‘U-Haul! Next up is The Marketplace,’” he recalled. “And then in high school I did the PA for our powder puff football game…. That was my first-ever gig. Not a real one, technically.”

Doyon’s first "real" gig came in 2014, two years after graduating high school, when he won a contest to be PA for a game for the Hartford Wolf Pack hockey team. He still works for the Wolf Pack as a backup PA, part of a sprawling resume that now includes Quinnipiac University hockey, Central Connecticut State University basketball and, of course, the Yard Goats. His time with the Double-A Colorado Rockies affiliate dates back to the franchise’s previous incarnation, the New Britain Rock Cats.

“I started in 2012, did some community relations appearances, worked at the ticket window and then for one season I was the community relations assistant,” said Doyon. “They moved to Hartford [in 2017] and I started in the ticket window.”

“He was just a young kid who helped out when we were in New Britain, who had a lifelong dream of being a PA announcer,” said Yard Goats general manager Mike Abramson. “We were doing open [PA announcer] tryouts in 2018 and he started to do some fill-in dates. I think going into 2019 it became increasingly clear that he was the guy. He wanted to be here every day. He had the voice, and he had the dedication.”

Jared Doyon, PA announcer for the Hartford Yard Goats, has Tourette’s Syndrome.

“You can’t let it stop you from doing something you love,” he told me. pic.twitter.com/KWnzJCHEBk

— Benjamin Hill (@bensbiz) June 10, 2022

Abramson said that, from the Yard Goats' perspective, it was no issue whatsoever that Doyon has Tourette’s syndrome.

“I’d already heard him be able to do it well,” he said. “I don’t know enough about Tourette’s syndrome to speak on it authoritatively, but my experience with him is that being in that controlled state actually helps him control it more than anything else.”

Doyon hopes to partner with the Yard Goats on a Tourette’s Syndrome Awareness Night, because “it’s a condition a lot of people don’t know about.”

“If I were to give a message about Tourette’s, I would say it’s real. People have real tics. It’s hard for people with Tourette’s to hold these things in.”

Abramson said the team would love to support him in such an endeavor.

“I hope so, I think that’d be great,” he said. “I really love him and I love his ambition and I hope he ends up getting to be a PA announcer in the Major Leagues.”

That, of course, is the ultimate goal.

“This is definitely my career, the job I want to do. Maybe one day I can do it in MLB or the NHL,” said Doyon. “Everyone I know says positive things, like ‘You can do it, you’re doing great.’ So, no, I haven’t let the Tourette’s stop me and I don’t plan on letting it stop me at all.”