ROUSES_Fall2023_Magazine

The Romig

Empire

By Sarah Baird

Photo by Jeff Strout courtesy NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune | The Advocate

M ary Beth Romig was sitting across the table from her brother Mark in a recent meeting when an extraordinary thought struck her: There’s always been a member of the Romig family working inside the Superdome — which is quickly approaching its 50th anniversary — in some capacity or other since it was constructed. The very first NFL game was played in the Superdome on August 6, 1975. The Houston Oilers defeated the New Orleans Saints, 13-7, in a preseason game. The siblings — who both work high-profile “day jobs” as senior vice president of communications and public relations (Mary Beth) and senior vice president and chief marketing officer (Mark) for New Orleans & Company, the city’s destination marketing organization — are carrying on a long-standing family legacy of working for the New Orleans Saints started by their father, legendary stadium public address announcer Jerry Romig; their family tree reads like a who’s who of integral pieces of the Saints’ organization. For starters, the senior Romig, who retired in 2013 before passing away in 2015 at the age of 86, never missed a game throughout his 44-year and 446-consecutive-game career as the voice of the Saints. Since 2013, Mark has assumed the same chair at the Superdome as his dad (metaphorically) by following in his father’s footsteps as the booming voice of the Saints for what will be his 11th season. (“If I can come close to matching Dad’s tenure of 43 regular seasons plus one preseason, I will be 110 years old when I am done,” he jokes.) Not to be outdone, Mary Beth has worked as a spotter with the team for over 30 — yes, 30 — seasons. Oh, and did I mention their other brother Jerry “Jay” Romig Jr. is currently the longest tenured employee for the New Orleans Saints in his role as administrative director? “We call him the ‘vice president of doing things nobody else is willing to do’ because Jay just does anything you ask him,” laughs Mary Beth. “He is the go-to guy for the team. He’s like his own department. When you look at a roster, I swear, under his department, it’s him.” All combined, the family has tallied that at least one member of the family has worked with the New Orleans Saints for over 50 years, with no signs of slowing down the family tradition. “Dad started out as a sportswriter. So, in our family, when you came to the dinner table, even as a kid, you had to know current events and you had to know sports,” says Mary Beth. “That was just what we talked about at the dinner table because we were raised by a sports guy and a news hound.” “Mom and Dad always made sure that we had an evening meal

together. We would sit around the table, and since Dad was doing [announcing for] Tulane football and basketball before he did the Saints, there was always a discussion about sports,” says Mark. “Then, of course, when he started working with the Saints in 1968, there was always the anticipation for the season, or during the season we would be chatting about what happened at Tulane Stadium — and then the Superdome. It was always terrific, and we were all so close in age that, for the most part, we all were always together.” The groundwork for the closeness of the Romig siblings’ working relationship and passion for the Saints within such a tight-knit, familial fan base was laid by their father, who was deeply committed to providing a sense of community and ease for Saints fans, no matter the obstacles or where their seats might be in the stadium. Even when the Saints played in San Antonio, Texas after Hurricane Katrina, Mary Beth recalls how her mom and dad would drive to the city for Jerry to announce because the Saints were considered the “home field” at the San Antonio stadium. “The players even commented that it made them feel like they had a touch of home, even though they weren’t in New Orleans, to hear his voice,” says Mary Beth. When the senior Romig fell ill and began having back issues that made it too painful to sit through the games as stadium announcer, the Saints broadcast his decision to retire while softening the loss with a relief-filled notice that his son, Mark, would be stepping in. “I’m blessed to have a similar-sounding voice to his, a same tone,” says Mark, while Mary Beth points out that there are some subtle differences. “Dad was a little bit more emotional in general than Mark. Sometimes, Dad would be too exuberant and there were strict rules about exuberance. For a while there, you couldn’t even be partial at all. We’d have to say, ‘Dad, calm down, calm down!’ And then they loosened the rules again.” “I think speaking for the Saints, if I may, I think they saw that the sound that would come out of my mouth and my throat was similar to what my dad had done for all those years, and so they tried to keep it as consis tent as possible for the fans, because it’s really all about the fans and making sure that they have a good game day experience,” says Mark. “Being tapped to do that was an honor — and also a huge responsi bility — to try to build at least a piece of what Dad left. He’s left such a mark on the game and on the fans. I’ve never really researched this to the point where we can claim it, but I think that he was one of the longest-serving stadium announcers in the NFL.” Of course, stepping in for his dad ensured there were a few changes to Mark’s game day ritual, all while creating new fan-favorite catch phrases of his own. “Mark had season tickets before he became the

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