Last most every Bay Area sports fan over the age of 30, I thought, “Holy Toledo!” when legendary sports broadcaster Bill King died at the age of 78 in October of 2005.
King, who was famous for the aforementioned phrase, is still missed dearly to this day.
So why are thoughts still conjured up about King less than 12 years after his passing? For openers, he is getting some long overdue recognition. King will be honored posthumously Saturday at the baseball Hall of Fame with the presentation of the Ford C. Frick Award for broadcasting excellence. Kathleen Lowenthal (his step-daughter) will give the speech.
King was the radio voice of the Oakland Athletics for 25 years (1981–2005), the longest tenure of any A's announcer since the team's games were first broadcast in Philadelphia in 1938, as well as the longtime radio play-by-play announcer for the Oakland (later Los Angeles) Raiders and the San Francisco/Golden State Warriors. Earlier in his career, he had been a member of the San Francisco Giants with Russ Hodges and Simmons.
King’s moment of honor comes on the same day that Tim Raines, Jeff Bagwell and Ivan Rodriguez will be inducted as players. Former front office executive John Schuerholz and former MLB Bud Selig will also be inducted. The thought of the self-righteous Selig being inducted makes me vomit in my mouth but I digress.
The Bay Area has had many great sportscasters from Lon Simmons, Hank Greenwald, Jon Miller, Ted Robinson, Joe Starkey and Greg Papa to name more than a few. None, however, had a style that was comparable to King.
As one with a degree in broadcasting who later went on to an 18-year career as a sports writer, I have found that whether in writing or broadcasting, there are many different styles but one is not necessarily better than the other. Look no further than the pairing of John Madden and Pat Summerall as CBS and later FOX’s No. 1 tandem. You had a matter of fact play-by-play man in Summerall and a bombastic color commentator in Madden.
As for King, you would have to look long and hard to find a more all-encompassing broadcaster who personified Bay Area lifestyle and carried the unique vibe of King. Look no further than the handlebar mustache coupled with the Dick Van Dyke beard.
What made King unique as a broadcaster was that he was like an artist that needed a blank canvas because he painted a picture for those listening to a game that they couldn’t see. It made you feel like you were at the game. Most of all, it was his word usage that made the picture he painted so unique. When broadcasting Super Bowl XII in the Raiders 32-14 win over the Minnesota Vikings, King described a Ken Stabler to Dave Casper touchdown pass as, “Jasicha Heifetz never played a violin with more dexterity than Kenny Stabler is playing the Minnesota Vikings at Rose Bowl Stadium this afternoon in Pasadena.”
On the infamous Holy Roller that allowed the Raiders to beat the San Diego Chargers, “The ball, flipped forward, is loose! A wild scramble, two seconds on the clock...Casper grabbing the ball...it is ruled a fumble...Casper has recovered in the end zone!! The Oakland Raiders have scored on the most zany, unbelievable, absolutely impossible dream of a play! Madden is on the field. He wants to know if it's real. They said yes, get your big butt out of here! He does! There's nothing real in the world anymore! The Raiders have won the football game! The Chargers....they don't believe it. Fifty-two thousand people are stunned. This one will be relived forever!”
I could give endless examples but in the interest of space, I’ll decide otherwise. What is most impressive is that King broadcast three sports that required a much different style. Basketball is played at a frenetic pace, it’s like shifting between fourth and fifth gear. In football, though there are stoppages of play, the style of broadcast is still emotion driven. Though baseball has its moments that tend itself to conveying emotion, you have to be as much of a storyteller as you do describing how Carney Lansford charged a slow-hit ground ball, fielded it cleanly and fired a strike to Mark McGwire for the out.
In fact, if there is a football or basketball equivalent to the award King is posthumously receiving, he deserves that notoriety as well.
King is probably at a broadcast booth in the sky exclaiming, “Holy Toledo!” as we speak.
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