RIP Al Attles

[exmediahack]

Anyone here remember the annual NBA GUIDE from The Sporting News?

In the front would be a page for each team. With pictures of the owner, GM and head coach.

On the Golden State page, it was always just Attles - who was usually dressed like Superfly - and whatever coach who was about to get fired.

I loved Attles immediately.

 

[Liut]

Anyone here remember the annual NBA GUIDE from The Sporting News?

In the front would be a page for each team. With pictures of the owner, GM and head coach.

On the Golden State page, it was always just Attles - who was usually dressed like Superfly - and whatever coach who was about to get fired.

I loved Attles immediately.

John Bach immediately came to mind.

 

[HanSenSE]

The amazing thing, from a broadcasting angle, was that Bill King did PBP for both the Raiders AND Warriors (and later the A's), while the Warriors were simulcast on radio and TV some nights, mostly west coast road games. He was a notorious ref baiter and sitting right courtside, would yell his displeasure on air. I believe he got a technical foul call once because the ref had had enough.

I can't remember which UHF station carried them -- 36, 44 or 50 -- but the broadcasts were primitive, even by 1970s standards. He'd prop a camera up and do a one-man standup pregame courtside, then do the same thing at the half and after the game. I can't remember whether it was Seattle or Portland where the fan poured a pitcher of beer on King's head during one of his live shots. Suddenly King disappeared from camera view for several minutes. At some point, he finally returned, his trademark handlebar moustache and beard completely soaked, muttering about security and poor sportsmanship.

I have his biography but haven't finished it.

He was a massive Oakland homer, but he was excellent at what he did, unlike the incredible huckster Monte Moore, who was Charlie Finley's shill and clubhouse snoop.

You'll love the book. My copy is in tatters.

Found the 1975 Finals on YouTube and may watch it tonight after the convention. It'll be the first time I will have watched the series and heard Burnt Hamberder on the call, because in those days, everyone in the Bay Area muted their TVs to listen to Bill King. Dude was that good. It's nice he's in Cooperstown, but needs to be in Canton and Springfield as well.

 

[maumann]

You'll love the book. My copy is in tatters.

Found the 1975 Finals on YouTube and may watch it tonight after the convention. It'll be the first time I will have watched the series and heard Burnt Hamberder on the call, because in those days, everyone in the Bay Area muted their TVs to listen to Bill King. Dude was that good. It's nice he's in Cooperstown, but needs to be in Canton and Springfield as well.

Amazingly, he also did hockey! Back when the San Francisco Seals were in the (EDIT: Western) Hockey League, he and Roy Storey did play-by-play of either the 1962 or 1963 finals from the Cow Palace on KFRC. Roy told me that was before King grew the moustache and goatee.

 

[HanSenSE]

Anyone here remember the annual NBA GUIDE from The Sporting News?

In the front would be a page for each team. With pictures of the owner, GM and head coach.

On the Golden State page, it was always just Attles - who was usually dressed like Superfly - and whatever coach who was about to get fired.

I loved Attles immediately.

Recall until the mid-80s, the Warriors were owned by Franklin Mieuli, not exactly a face the NBA wanted to present to the public then.

 

[HanSenSE]

Amazingly, he also did hockey! Back when the San Francisco Seals were in the Pacific Coast Hockey League, he and Roy Storey did play-by-play of either the 1962 or 1963 finals from the Cow Palace on KFRC. Roy told me that was before King grew the moustache and goatee.

There's a recording on one game on the Bay Area Radio Hall of Fame page. But he did a little of everything: Bradley hoops (broadcasting against Chick Hearn), Cal football and basketball (during the Pete Newell era) and fill-in on the Giants when Lon Simmons was doing the 49ers. There's even recordings of him reading emergency instructions in the aftermath of the 1989 earthquake,

 

[qtlaw]

A true beacon of dignified sportsman not only for the NBA, the Bay Area, and the Warriors, but all of sports.

When he went after Riordan, that was awesome (I'm old enough I actually saw it on TV live).

 

[matt_garth]

Posting this (on a tape-delayed basis, of course):

 

[HanSenSE]

So I'm watching this. Good gawd. No score bug, on screen clock or shot clock. No 3-point line, of course. Center jump to start every quarter. Mussburger and Oscar Robertson sound like they hadn't seen a Warriors game all season, and the matching leisure suits are worse.

Crazier, Mussburger gave an update on the Indy 500, which would be shown on delay ... on ABC!

But ya gots print reporters covering the game from the floor, where they belong.

 

[DanOregon]

This is how Mieuli usually appeared in public. Like Sherlock Holmes turned hippie.

 

[da man]

A true beacon of dignified sportsman not only for the NBA, the Bay Area, and the Warriors, but all of sports.

When he went after Riordan, that was awesome (I'm old enough I actually saw it on TV live).

He went after Riordan and got Unseld. Not a great trade.

 

[da man]

Anyone here remember the annual NBA GUIDE from The Sporting News?

In the front would be a page for each team. With pictures of the owner, GM and head coach.

On the Golden State page, it was always just Attles - who was usually dressed like Superfly - and whatever coach who was about to get fired.

I loved Attles immediately.

What I remember about that book was the players' pages were in alphabetical order, and people (other than me) were often surprised to see who was first: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. Most people expected him to find him in the Js.