It seems as if every sports story always starts the same way. Boy meets game, boy plays game, boy loves game. But Wes Rapaport’s story takes a different path. While under the Friday night lights when the Paly football team storms the field or in the gym below the dim, buzzing lights, Rapaport is not in uniform. Rather, he is in the announcers’ box, at the scorers table or on the track filming and commentating on the action. For Rapaport, it has never been how well you play the game, it is how much you are willing to sacrifice for it.
Rapaport (’11) loves sports. His decision to discontinue his play was not only based on his priorities, but also on increasing his desire and ability to cover as many sports as possible.
“I wasn’t going to have time to go to practices,” Rapaport said. “To still stay involved I could go to every game, and support the team.”
Rapaport found announcing to be the equilibrium between maintaining his commitment to sports, and not being tied down by time-consuming team practices. Rapaport recalls his first inclination to announce, after noticing the lack of voice at the Paly basketball games.
“I realized that nobody was announcing Paly basketball, so [Vice Principal] Berkson introduced me to [Athletic Director] Hansen,” Rapaport said. “I distinctly remember Mr. Berkson telling him I was interested in announcing and Hansen’s response was, ‘Well we have a game tonight.'”
Rapaport has grown to enjoy his role in sports, and finds it advantageous.
“I love sports because sports are legit,” Rapaport said. “It’s cool to be on the inside track of things and meet people who are amazing through sports.”
Among the people Rapaport has met through his commitments to sports is Emilee Osagiede (’12), a member of the varsity girls’ basketball team.
“He [Rapaport] makes the team feel important,” Osagiede said. “In a way he has become a part of the team because he is so involved and helpful.”
Rapaport has brought a sense of fulfillment and importance to the basketball teams, and in doing so, boosted the confidence and energy of the teams.
Paly girls’ varsity basketball coach, Scott Peters, also attributes some of the attention the girls’ basketball team has received to the efforts of Rapaport’s announcing.
“Wes is a great addition to the basketball program,” Peters said. “He adds texture and a certain level of excitement to the game.”
According to Rapaport’s broadcast journalism teacher Mr. Mike McNulty, Rapaport does not only announce for the approval of the members of the basketball team, but also to satisfy his need for competition.
“He is great as a P.A. announcer,” McNulty said. “Most high school students in the same venue have a great tendency to overdo praise for their home team, but Wes already knows the proper restraints to sound professional and informative. It’s his way of competing, so to speak.”
Rapaport, on top of his dedication to announcing, is an active member of the In Focus broadcast journalism crew and the Palo Alto community Media Center, where he films and covers events in Palo Alto.
Rapaport’s father and Paly history teacher David Rapaport believes that Rapaport’s commitment to the Media Center and communications through journalism are beneficial to
his immersion into society.
“He is getting the training necessary to be an integral part of the community,” David said.
“He has found a niche in helping people improve perspectives, and being willing to undertake that task as a junior is a significant commitment.”
Media Center Studio Technician, and member of the Web Team Stan Ng, shares a similar view of Rapaport’s commitment and versatility.
“Wes is a great camera operator and editor,” Ng said. “He is a quick study and I wouldn’t, and I have not in the past, hesitate to call on him to work on any project of mine.”
McNulty has also taken notice of Rapaport’s dedication, and aptitude for communication and journalism.
“Wes has an insatiable desire for all things journalistic,” McNulty said. “He maintains incredible curiosity, which is most important for any journalist. In addition, his understanding of what is or isn’t informative goes way beyond the high school level.”
Rapaport has contributed a multitude of work and effort to In Focus as the programs producer, anchor and cameraman.
“I can see him both in front of the camera as a reporter, and behind it as a decision-making producer,” McNulty said. “I can’t even begin to calculate the number of hours he contributes not just to In Focus, but the Media Center as well. He is as driven with this interest as any athlete or entertainer is to theirs.”
However, despite Rapaport’s knack for journalism, his true interest is in sports. He is able to pursue both by constantly filming sporting events.
“As much as he likes the news side with all the intricacies, Wes’s true passion is sports,” McNulty said. “He will often shoot footage that we never use on the show [InFocus] because of time constraints, yet he wants to make sure we have it available.”
When Rapaport is off duty for filming, he also sporting events by keeping score umpiring or refereeing.
Rapaport began his sideline involvement in sports while in middle school.
“In seventh and eigth grade I was the scorekeeper coordinator for the volleyball, football and basketball games that were held at [Jane Lathrop Stanford Middle School] JLS,” Rapaport said. “The refs liked the way I ran things and I think they enjoyed coming to JLS because they knew the scorebook and scoreboard were always going to be done right.”
After coordinating the technicalities of the game in middle school, Rapaport became interested in refereeing and, because of his already impressive reputation, he was encouraged by other officials.
“[Coordinator of the refs] Tracy Gomez said I would be good for the middle school games to ref games since I had so much experience working the games, so I did a few games for the middle schools,” Rapaport said.
Rapaport thought it fitting to expand his repertoire after receiving his referee training and decided to pursue an officiating role in his favorite of all sports: baseball. He wanted to learn to be an umpire.
“I’ve known for a long time that I wanted to be an umpire,” Rapaport said. “I used to feel like I could do a better job then the other officials so I wanted to make the officiating world slightly better.”
Thus far, Rapaport loves his role, especially as a baseball official.
“Umpiring is very therapeutic,” Rapaport said. “It’s nice to feel a little power on the field but still be helping kids. It’s like therapy with benefits.”
According to classmate and ump-mate Will Glazier (’11), Rapaport’s passion for the game was evident through his umpiring.
“He was excellent,” Glazier said. “His strike zone was very consistent throughout the game, especially for someone who doesn’t still play baseball, and he was very attentive and was giving one-hundred percent.”
It is because of Rapaport’s love of baseball that he participates in the regulation of it.
“You can definitely tell Wes loves baseball when watching him umpire just by the way he carries himself on the field,” Glazier said. “He seemed very knowledgeable.”
With a positive motive behind all of his work, Rapaport gets great enjoyment out of being involved in sports, and has pursued them with a fervent passion.
“His most memorable characteristic is his enthusiasm for anything to which he’s assigned,” Ng said. “I think it’s that enthusiasm that feeds a natural curiosity which I think makes him stand out.”
