Holy Toledo!

Driving home last night, I was saddened to hear about the passing of Bill King, the man behind the mic for the Oakland A's, Raiders and Warriors.

Let me first say, I'm not the most knowlegeable fan of Bill King, in fact, reading about him last night, I learned more than I ever knew. But I am and always have been a Raider and A's fan. Growing up on the East Bay through the 70's, were there any other teams??!

I mostly became familiar with Bill King as he called the A's games on all those afternoon games while working on the windmills on the Altamont Pass and all the nights while fishing for "stripers" on the Delta. "Holy Toledo" will forever be etched in my memories of all those games.

I am no longer in the Bay Area and am outside the normal radio waves of Raider and A's broadcasts but I actually thought of Bill while watching Albert Pujols' game winning homer the other night. The thought of "Holy Toledo" crossed my mind as the ball sailed into the rafters of Minute Maid Stadium and I wondered if Bill King was still at it. I got my answer.

The call of "Touch Down, Raiders!" is another sound bite that will always remind me of Bill King. I moved away from California his final year of Raider Broadcasts, so he IS the voice of the Raiders as far as I'm concerned.

A very nice summary of Mr. King's work can be found at: Mychael Urban's Article

Here's an excerpt:
"King's accounts of Raiders games, including the infamous "Heidi" game against the New York Jets in 1968, the "Sea of Hands" game against Miami in the 1974 AFC playoffs, Dave Casper's "Ghost to the Post" touchdown reception that gave the Raiders a 1977 playoff win at Baltimore, the memorable "Holy Roller" play against the San Diego Chargers in 1978 and "Old Man" Willie Brown's interception return for a touchdown in Super Bowl X are regularly replayed and will forever be a part of the game's lore." As they and he should be.

So long Bill. Thanks for your work you did so well.