[nfbwatlk] OT - Bob Blackburn, former voice of Sonics, dies

[Mike Freeman]

I'll try to find a link to it.

Mike

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Albert Sanchez" <albertsanchez at suddenlink.net>
To: "NFB of Washington Talk Mailing List" <nfbwatlk at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Saturday, January 09, 2010 12:11 PM
Subject: Re: [nfbwatlk] OT - Bob Blackburn, former voice of Sonics, dies


> Thanks for the article about Bob B. Sure would like to hear the recording 
> referred to in the article.
> A.S.
>
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "Mike Freeman" <k7uij at panix.com>
> To: "NFB of Washington Talk Mailing List" <nfbwatlk at nfbnet.org>
> Sent: Saturday, January 09, 2010 11:11 AM
> Subject: [nfbwatlk] OT - Bob Blackburn, former voice of Sonics, dies
>
>
>> Bob Blackburn, former voice of Sonics, dies.
>>
>> By CASEY MCNERTHNEY SEATTLEPI.COM STAFF.
>>
>> Bob Blackburn, the announcer who spent a quarter century calling Seattle 
>> SuperSonics games and announced their 1979 championship win over the 
>> Washington Bullets, died Friday. He was 86.
>>
>> He arrived in Seattle when the Sonics did in 1967, beating out more than 
>> 100 other candidates who auditioned for the play-by-play job.
>>
>> It was hard for me to believe I was that important," he told P- I 
>> reporter Dan Raley in 2006. I hate the word 'celebrity. I just had a 
>> wonderful job connected to the public. Scott Eklund/P-I Bob Blackburn
>>
>> He was Seattle's first professional sports voice, arriving before Pete 
>> Gross for the Seahawks and Dave Niehaus for the Mariners. For the first 
>> 16 years, Blackburn was the play-by-play announcer, color man and 
>> engineer.
>>
>> After the Sonics beat the Bullets in Andover, Md., Blackburn received a 
>> championship ring with a large diamond in the middle and his name 
>> engraved on the side.
>>
>> He survived open-heart surgery in 1983, and returned to the air with 
>> three of his five major arteries unclogged. He was replaced by Kevin 
>> Calabro in 1992.
>>
>> Blackburn grew up in the Los Angeles area, listening to Pacific Coast 
>> Conference football broadcasts as an 8-year-old kid bedridden with 
>> tuberculosis. It was there he imagined himself behind the microphone.
>>
>> He landed a series of jobs in California, playing music, reporting news, 
>> calling games and building a r?sum? He worked his way north, handling 
>> play-by-play duties for the Portland Beavers baseball team for 18 years, 
>> doing college football on the side and meeting every celebrity 
>> imaginable, with a photo of him and Elvis Presley together still a prized 
>> possession.
>>
>> After leaving his job as the Sonics' voice, Blackburn became a 
>> professional auctioneer. He also led worldwide vacation tours, talking 
>> people through 85 countries. When interviewed by the P-I in 2006, he was 
>> the spokesman for a retirement community.
>>
>> Blackburn married the former Pat Hardin in 1948, and they raised six 
>> children.In the past few years, he'd made periodic appearances as a 
>> Sonics legend.
>>
>> At this age, most of my friends have had a voice change," Blackburn told 
>> Raley in 2006. I probably would not be able to broadcast all the games. 
>> But after 50 years, I think it still sounds the same.
>>
>> ANNIVERSARY BROADCAST
>>
>> On the 25th anniversary of the championship Blackburn, forward John "J.J. 
>> Johnson and retired Seattle Times reporter Greg Heberlein were members of 
>> a panel discussion about the Sonics at the Museum of History and 
>> Industry.
>>
>> The discussion was produced, moderated and recorded by Feliks Banel, who 
>> provided this recording.
>>
>> Information from the seattlepi.com archive is included in this report and 
>> seattlepi.com reporter Greg Johns contributed. Casey McNerthney can be 
>> reached at 206-448-8220 or caseymcnerthney at seattlepi.com . .
>>
>>
>>
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