The Villages - January 2018 - 40

Before They Were Villagers
Joe Flake
Scoreboard operator
Attending any sort of professional sporting event
is good fun - eating hot dogs, enjoying the stadium
atmosphere and supporting your favorite team. What
you may not realize, however, is there are a host of
people making sure things run smoothly behind the
scenes.
One such person was Joe Flake, a former
scoreboard operator at San Diego County Credit
Union Stadium - formerly Qualcomm Stadium -
and Petco Park in San Diego.
Flake, a Village of Winifred resident, worked
the scoreboard for San Diego Padres baseball, San
Diego Chargers football, San Diego State University
football, international soccer games, supercross motorcycle
racing, monster truck events and San Diego high school
football championships. He also ran the scoreboard for
three NFL Super Bowls, two MLB World Series and two MLB
All-Star Games.
After landing a part-time job working
for the grounds crew at the stadium,
Flake began filling in for one of the
people running the scoreboard.
Once that person eventually left,
Flake moved up to the scoreboard
booth permanently - a job he
held for more than 30 years.

JANUARY 2018

"That was a lot better than being down there on the
ground crew," Flake recalled with a laugh.
While the scoreboard operator job officially was only
part-time, Flake said he would put in a full day's work on
game days. There was plenty of setup before each game
or event, including compiling stats, practicing for halftime
shows and other preparatory tasks.
Being there for more than 30 years meant Flake saw
plenty of technology upgrades in the scoreboard booth,
including many that automated processes that formerly
were completed by an employee.
"For out-of-town games when we first started out, we had
to read a ticker and then we would punch in the game scores
ourselves and send it out," Flake said. "After a while, the
ticker would go into the computer, and the computer would
send it out. Changes like that - it became a lot easier."
During his tenure as scoreboard operator, Flake won
multiple awards and accolades, including the "Team
Member of the Year" award for the Padres in 2004. The
award came with a plaque and a photo opportunity
with Padres legend and Baseball Hall of Fame
member Dave Winfield, the Padres executive vice
president and senior adviser at the time.
Even though scoreboard operator was only a parttime job, Flake found fulfillment during his time running
the booth.
"I did it more because I enjoyed it," Flake said. "I was a
physical education major, I taught physical education for
20 years, I coached baseball - I've always been around
sports, but I wasn't good enough to play at a higher level
so (being scoreboard operator) got me involved with it."
- By Mark Anderson

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of The Villages - January 2018