For Flyers P.A. announcer Lou Nolan, Sunday’s return of fans will be special

Lou Nolan, the legendary Flyers’ public-address announcer, has a voice so familiar and welcoming that some fans have asked him if he could record his famous PECO power-play declaration for them, while others have implored him to introduce their wedding party at their reception.

He’s obliged to both requests, and many others. Countless times.

Since the early days at the venerable Spectrum, Nolan has given Flyers home games an added personality. Somehow, he even has made it sound exciting when he announces the attendance figures.

With gusto, of course.

He remembers telling fans there were 14,646 at numerous games before the Spectrum’s third level was built, remembers when it later increased to 17,007 and then 17,077, remembers when it reached 20,237 at a building then known as the Wachovia Center for the decisive game in the 2010 Stanley Cup Final.

At some point in the third period of Sunday night’s game at the Wells Fargo Center, Nolan hopes to announce that the attendance for the Flyers game against Washington is 3,100. A “sellout.”

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Never mind that it would be the lowest crowd for a home game in franchise history.

Nolan will never be so excited to announce an attendance figure.

“I will be absolutely thrilled to do that,” Nolan said the other day. “That would be absolutely outstanding. I’ve announced a lot of crowds over the years, from the non-sellouts at the Spectrum (in the team’s early days) to huge sellouts at the playoff games, where you couldn’t shoehorn any more people in there, and this will be up there with anything that was ever a thrill for me.”

Because of the pandemic, fans have not been in the Wells Fargo Center for a Flyers game since March 10, 2020, against Boston. The state and city recently lifted restrictions, allowing 15% of capacity in the arena, starting Sunday.

When the Penguins had fans for the first time in almost a year Tuesday, their P.A. announcer welcomed spectators back with an enthusiastic greeting. Players from both the Penguins and Flyers tapped their sticks in appreciation, and some waved them toward the crowd.

Nolan isn’t sure yet what he’ll say, but he is just thankful to have some fans in the building. Thankful to charge them up with his trademark proclamation: “The Flyers are going on the PEEEEEEEEEEEEEECO POWER PLAY,” which is sometimes more exciting than the team’s two minutes with an extra attacker.

In the first 10 home games this season, Nolan has been perched on the press level, high in the fan-less Wells Fargo Center instead of his usual ice-level seat.

“I’m as far away from the rink as you can possibly be,” he said.

He wasn’t complaining. In the COVID-19 era, everybody is adjusting on the fly. Without gripes.

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Nolan makes game-related announcements -- including goal scorers and penalties -- with the same professionalism that has marked his amazing tenure. If you closed your eyes, you would think he was announcing to a full house, not just the players, staffers, arena workers, media members, and four people from a front-line-worker family.

He admits it has been strange talking to a virtually empty arena, but not difficult.

“No matter what the circumstances, you have to be there to perform,” he said. “On the PECO power play, I just sort of close my eyes and do it. I just dream there are fans in the stands.”

Nolan began working in the Flyers’ public-relations department as Joe Kadlec’s sidekick when the franchise started in 1967. Five years later, he became the team’s P.A. man, a position he has held longer than anyone on the other 30 NHL teams.

By the way, for those curious, as best Brian Smith can figure, the lowest home attendance in the Flyers’ history was for the Nov. 30, 1967 game against Oakland. A crowd of 3,167 watched the Flyers lose to the Seals, 3-1.

There were five inches of snow in Philadelphia that day, and the team itself didn’t get to the Spectrum until 90 minutes before game time after having played the night before in Chicago, said Smith, the Flyers’ manager of broadcasting and media services.

Smith said there were about 2,000 people in the Spectrum the night a window was knocked out by a blizzard on March 14, 1993, but the game was postponed and replayed two weeks later, so there was never an official attendance figure.

There were just 5,148 in the stands the day after the blizzard of 1978, said Smith, adding that a 2003 blizzard appears to have kept most people away from a February game, but it did not affect the official attendance count.

Nolan was at all those games. Like always.

This game, though, will be more emotional because of how the pandemic has changed the world in the last year, and how (fingers crossed) it is the start of a return to normalcy.

“I’m so looking forward to it,” Nolan said. “It’s been a crazy year, not only in hockey, not only in sports, but in all our lives.”

We are all ready for normalcy.