The Brooklyn Nets are showing that they’re serious about their first name.
The team just announced that Bushwick resident and Fort Greene cigar bar owner David Diamante will be the new public address announcer at the soon-to-be-completed Barclays Center — a move that puts a deep Brooklyn voice on the borough’s biggest stage.
“My family is all Brooklyn,” said Diamante, whose roots go back to a great-great-grandfather, who owned a store in Fort Greene in 1868. “This borough is such a great city, it’s a travesty we haven’t had a team for so long.”
Diamante skipped the Nets’ much-ballyhooed “open call” for a new voice back in October, thanks to a 10-year PA career that has included announcing professional boxing matches at Madison Square Garden
But team officials said that his deep and energetic delivery would have separated him from the crowd of 300 wannabes who showed up that day.
“He has this really cool and strong voice,” said Petra Pope, a team vice president. “When I first saw [him audition], I knew he was the one right away.”
The team will get a side benefit from hiring Diamante, who is active in charities in his spare time, most recently including holding an auction that raised more than $18,000 for Treasure Island Pre-school in Bay Ridge.
“I try to live my life like that,” Diamante said. “You have to be a good neighbor.”
The Nets have been struggling to be just that as the controversial Barclays Center nears completion. But Diamante thinks that any lingering hard feelings will disappear once the team hits the hard wood.
“Come 2012, the roof is going to come off that arena,” Diamante said. “There’s going to be so much energy.”
Reach reporter Eli Rosenberg at erosenberg@cnglocal.com or by calling (718) 260-2531. And follow his Tweets at @from_where_isit.
