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

Sun Jan 10 00:12:46 UTC 2010

Thanks for this.  Many on this list know that bob Blackburn was a hero to 
me.  When he worked in Portland, oh those many years ago, my brother and I 
went to the press box and Bob and Raleigh Truitt interviewed us.  We were 
about eight years old at the time.  Ever after, I kept track of him, and 
even had tape recording of his football broadcasts of Oregon State football, 
including the years when Terry Baker was QB and hysmann trofee winner.  He 
also broadcast the Portland Pilots basketball team, as well as OSU 
basketball.

Mary Morman and I were cohosts on a Evergreen Radio Reading Service Talk 
show, a couple of years ago and we interviewed him.  He was right, his voice 
hadn't changed, and he talked about that on the show with us.  I got a 
chance to look at the ring he got, as he brought it to the studio to show 
us.  It was *biiiiiig*.  (That means really big.)  (grin.)

We were about to have a second chance last spring to interview him, but a 
week or so before the broadcast, he had another heart attack. The interview 
*may* sbe on the archieved broadcasts portion of the WTBBL web site.  don't 
know.

Anyway, I really enjoyed all his broadcasting. Mike, remember his broadcasts 
of the Portland buckeroos hockey team?  He once broadcast a game when they 
scored four goals in 45 seconds.  That was amazing.

Bob Blackburn will be missed by this listener.

/s/

Bennett Prows
----- 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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>
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