DOUGLAS nWhen rodeo announcer Derek Barton found out he had Stage III cancer less than 90 days ago, surgery and chemotherapy loomed large.

Surgeons sliced out nine inches of his colon, hoping that would do the trick. But bad news kept coming. The sickness spread to Barton's lymph nodes, necessitating an intensive chemotherapy regimen.

But the 42-year-old Wheatland man simply decided to buck up and get well.

"Oh great," Barton remembers telling doctors and his wife, Jamie. "I'm going to have to re-arrange my rodeo schedule this summer."

They looked at him like the man was crazy. Doctors wanted to start him on chemo last week, beginning a program of treatments Barton would have to take every 14 days for the next six months.

"I told her, uh-uh," Barton said, shaking his head. "I want to go see my kids, my high school rodeo kids, at state finals. They selected me to announce the state finals. I've got to go do this for the kids."

And after all, what's a rodeo without a little noise?

The grandstands are full, and the dirt churns in dusty columns from the rodeo arena as horses shoot out of gates or around barrels.

But without the noise, the energy simply isn't there.

During the Wyoming State High School Rodeo Finals this weekend, Barton's voice blasts into the grandstands with as much gusto as the bulls blasting from the chutes. It mellows into an efficient, engaging staccato to move team roping along. And when the crowds stand to pay tribute to the American flag, his voice is full of all the awe such homage deserves.

Born in Wheatland and raised on a family ranch in Buffalo, Barton grew up with rodeo and competed in team roping, calf roping and steer wrestling. While living in Colorado in 1989, a local rodeo needed an announcer, and he seemed a good candidate.

"Before I knew it I was booked the rest of the summer," Barton said, grinning. "People must have liked what I was doing."

So, he kept on doing it -- well.

That's because he knows it takes more than just a voice for rodeo. First and foremost, Barton explained, fans need to know what's going on in the arena. Next, it's his job to make sure the rodeo maintains an orderly pace.

Barton arrives up to two hours before each performance, poring over stats, standings, rough stock histories, injury reports, whatever he can get his hands on.

"My job is to try and have as much information as I can to keep the rodeo audience informed," he said.

Fans know which kids play football and volleyball in the off-season, who serves as a local FFA president and which ones are following the lead of older siblings who previously left their mark on high school rodeo. Those little details add the depth that makes the cowboys and cowgirls real to the legions watching from the grandstands.

Mills rough stock rider RayTom Meiers settles into the chutes Friday night as Barton reveals he's a member of the Wrangler All-Star Team. Meiers hangs on tight, leaping off at the buzzer onto a pickup man's horse. It's Meiers' second point-scoring go of the finals.

"That's two cowboy, nice job!" Barton congratulates the rider. "Ladies and gentlemen, seven zero. Seventy points for RayTom Meiers. Ahh, I like it when a plan comes together!"

Good announcers avoid clichés, don't over-use the same jokes, and are skilled in filling up those empty spaces while pickup men corral bucking broncs back to the gates. Barton likes to give nicknames to the riders, some of which stick. He had to laugh during the College National Finals Rodeo, when a young cowboy he'd dubbed "String Bean" in high school was still bearing that moniker. On Friday night in Douglas, Thayne cowboy Kasey Braun became "The Braun Man," another handle that should have staying power.

Barton cheers the kids on out of the gate, relaying scores promptly to fans and handing out an "Atta boy" or consolations as the ride warrants.

The crowd gasps collectively as Lovell contestant Clint Griffis is dumped from a bareback bronc Friday night, bringing that event to a close without a scoring ride.

"Well, folks, that's three in a row with no pay as we see the yellow flag in the arena," Barton narrates. "He's not going to get a paycheck from us, but whadda ya say, can you give 'im one?" Fans erupt in whistles and applause.

Barton prepares himself for a performance in much the same way as an athlete does, making sure his equipment is rigged right, pumping himself up to a level where the adrenaline keeps flowing.

"I've got to be on top of my game just as much as the contestants. If I'm not having fun, the crowd will know it, and they won't have any fun," Barton elaborated. "The day it stops being fun, I'd better hang up my microphone."

"Let's go to Merritt Smith, a cowboy that's been sittin' in a pretty good position," Barton says, detailing the Gillette teen's progress during the season. "This young man has a lot of talent and he's gonna show some of that right now. Come on, Merritt, let's go!" The rider busts from the chutes atop a buckin' horse, giving it a good go that tops the night's saddle bronc event. As the cowboy dusts off his chaps and restores his hat, Barton's voice booms out. "Ni-i-i-ce job! It does my heart good to see what he's accomplished out there in the bronc riding . . . How 'bout 78 points! That's the way to get a rodeo started!"

Now in Wheatland, Barton is the voice of KYCN, an AM country station. As a side career, he announces about 50 rodeos a year, from PRCA's Mountain and Montana circuits to high school and college events, mostly in Wyoming.

"You name it, I've been everywhere," Barton said.

Ultimately, he'd like to top off a career announcing at one of the culminating events of rodeo n College National Finals, a PRCA Mountain Circuit finals, or national high school finals.

No matter where the ride takes him, high school rodeo in the Cowboy State holds a special place in Barton's heart.

"The Wyoming High School Rodeo Association was always good to my family," he explained, recalling his own days of roping and riding.

"For the most part, in high school rodeo, you still have those old-fashioned values, that respect for parents, and that family unity," Barton articulated, adding that the sense of family that can be fostered only with such values is the most important thing in the world.

"Sometimes, that's all you've got," he said. Never has that been more clear to the voice of rodeo than now, facing cancer.

"You stand back and re-evaluate your own mortality," Barton muttered. "But the outpouring of affection from the high school rodeo family, from pro rodeo, the community of Wheatland, it's been overwhelming.

"It's very humbling but it makes me very thankful for what I've done, becoming a rodeo announcer. Right now, I've got a real big rodeo family keeping a real close eye on me."