Wayne Messmer, M.Ed., Ph.D.
Entertains ~ Educates ~ Inspires
Wayne Messmer is a native Chicagoan who grew up on the City’s Southwest Side. A practitioner of “opportunity management,” he positioned himself in the right place at the right time for 99% of his life. As the P.A. Announcer for the Loyola University Hockey Team, the tape recording of the National Anthem broke before a game was about to start, so Wayne took the microphone and sang it himself. Messmer’s extraordinary singing career started that very day at a college hockey game… and a career began.
Wayne gained recognition as the celebrated National Anthem soloist with the Chicago Blackhawks at Chicago Stadium for 13 seasons in the NHL, including the unrivaled NHL All-Star Game performance of the Canadian and United States National Anthems. Subsequently, he furthered his status with the Chicago Wolves, Chicago Cubs and formerly the Chicago White Sox. Messmer became known nationally as, “Chicago’s Original Voice of the National Anthem.” His signature ending note on the word, “brave,” (on the 5th) has been recognized as his trademark since the 1980’s, and is frequently copied by other singers ever since.
