Voice actor and radio personality Scott Innes, a Poplar Bluff native, visited Junior High on Monday, Nov. 4, to inspire a team of students named in his honor.
“You can be anything you want to be in life, you just gotta put your foot in there,” Innes told over 100 students during a special assembly in the gymnasium. “It comes down to how bad you want something.”
A graduate of the PBHS Class of 1986 (or perhaps it was 1987 when he earned his diploma, he noted), Innes got his start broadcasting on KLID Radio in Poplar Bluff. At age 13, he said he held the distinction of being the youngest disc jockey in America for the time, as he hosted an evening program.
At Poplar Bluff Schools, Innes was known as a class clown, he said, and enjoyed “recreating cartoon scenes” by “learning impressions” in order to make people laugh. During an on the air interview, he made a connection with Don Messick, the original voice of Scooby-Doo, and went on to successfully audition for the role after the voice actor’s passing in 1997.
With his unique talent, Innes says he did voices for about 1,000 talking toys, video games and television commercials over the years playing characters that included Scooby-Doo, Shaggy, Scrappy-Doo and others. Most recently he voiced a 2019 Super Bowl commercial advertising Walmart's grocery pickup service with an appearance of the “mystery machine.”
His favorite role, he said, was in the 1998 film, “Scooby-Doo on Zombie Island,” because it was the first movie that Warner Bros. produced in which the supernatural creatures were made to be “real,” as opposed to people in costumes.
Innes also has song writing credits to his name, including Kenny Rogers’ “Handprints on the Wall,” and Shenandoah’s recent Lynyrd Skynyrd tribute, “Freebird in the Wind,” featuring Charlie Daniels. Today, Innes resides with his wife Cindy in Baton Rouge, where he hosts a classic hits radio show on 103.3 FM.
He had already planned to visit his hometown to host a fundraiser for the Christian-based recovery program, Recycling Grace Women’s Center, when he linked up with Junior High Math Department head Chris Wheat, who informed him about House Innes. Each of the teams in Junior High’s house system, based on the Ron Clark Academy model, are named after famous living Poplar Bluffians. In September, former NFL player Eddie Moss also visited his alma mater.
“Dreams are nothing more than reality waiting to happen,” Innes said in a video message posted on the PBJHS Facebook. During the assembly, he took the opportunity to deliver a series of positive messages, including encouraging students to “keep away from substances,” not to bully one another, and to always help those in need.
Designed to create a sense of camaraderie, each of the pods at Junior High have additionally adopted a service project this school year. Team Innes has chosen to make their donation to Recycling Grace as well as St. Vincent de Paul Food Pantry, according to Wheat.
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Cutline: Poplar Bluff native Scott Innes, a voice actor, sings the “Scooby-Doo” theme song.