His name is Herman Streeter. He hails from Riverside, California. He grew up in a city where a street called ‘Streeter Ave’ was named after his grandfather. Streeter is one of seven children with three brothers and three sisters. He was part of the North Riverside High School Huskies graduating class of 1976 before moving on to Huston Tillotson University in Austin, Texas where he earned a degree in Business. All of this is pretty All-American stuff and would be accomplishments enough in themselves.

However, Herman Streeter is far more than that.

Herman Streeter’s everyday life is incredibly varied, diverse and above all else, busy! Streeter’s full-time vocation is being a Minister in the Jehovah’s Witness faith. When you speak with Streeter, you can immediately tell that he is a deeply spiritual man. His prose combines his love of life, man and his faith.

As Streeter puts it, "My religious training keeps me calm and allows me to handle difficult situations and people easier. Someone needs to be the calm in the eye of the storm."

Part of that ability comes in handy when he steps between the white lines. One of Herman Streeter’s avocations is that of being an Umpire. According to Streeter, his umpiring career has spanned nearly three full decades. He started calling balls and strikes when he was sixteen years old. He’s done baseball for little leagues, high schools and college level ball. He got out of baseball umpiring because "I was tired of getting dinged up by that hardball being missed by the catcher or fouled off by the batter."

After baseball, Streeter easily moved over to umpiring softball. He umpires for Al Acosta’s A & V Tournaments, is a member of the Desert Valley Association and runs his own business assigning umpires. Streeter started ‘Sports Officials Unlimited’ in 2001. His company supplies referees, umpires and officials for youth organizations and YMCA clubs that require the services of him or his group.

Al Acosta, owner and tournament director of A&V Tournaments, is one of Streeter’s biggest supporters.

"When I started A&V, Herman was the first umpire I wanted to work my tournaments. Herman makes the game fun." Acosta went on say, "Herman Streeter
is an original, unique in every sense of the word. The best thing is that he’s a crowd pleaser. People always ask me where’s the ‘Boom Man’ if they don’t see him on the field at one of my tournaments."

Like most officials, Streeter works more than just the sport of softball. Streeter spreads himself over several sports including volleyball, football and basketball.

With all that on his plate, (which would overload most of us) Streeter also finds the time to work as a part-time loan consultant. So, as you can see, the normal forty-hour workweek is not part of the Herman Streeter existence.

During his time in umpiring Streeter has acquired a fascinating moniker ---‘The Boom Man’. When asked how he has become known in this fashion, Streeter puts it this way, " Well when you look at the reality of the game, when any one goes to a professional baseball game and you hit a home run there are fireworks so as a result I figured that if you spend your day of choice to play the game on your weekend, should you not have a fun day? So as an added attraction, I give the sound of a shotgun for every runner on the bases to let me know how many runners are out there. Then a little song and dance with the ‘Booooom’ and as a result it inspires the players to want to hit home runs."

Streeter goes on to add, "Another thing I do is the sound effect of the ‘SportsCenter’ theme (da-da-da, da-da-da) for the great defensive play which we all appreciate as players, spectators, coaches and officials. So the conclusion of the ‘Boom Man’ nickname is summed up in this_if you are at the game with me we should all be having a good day on the playground. And may the ‘Booooom’ inspire all to enjoy every moment of life that your creator or parents have given you, and thanks to Al Acosta with A&V for not being so narrow minded and jealous as to allow someone like me to enjoy the life that my God has given me to share this gift of life with others with love."

Like most people, Herman Streeter is a varied, complex and full-lived individual and it’s impossible to convey the entire sense of the man is this small space, but to be sure ‘The Boom Man’ is one of those true pieces of Americana.