Fans mourn sportscaster Bill King

"Holy Toledo" will never sound the same.

Bill King, the distinctive and descriptive voice of Bay Area sports for nearly half a century, died early Tuesday at San Leandro Memorial Hospital from complications following hip surgery four days ago.

King, who refused to reveal his age, was believed to be 78 years old.

A versatile and tireless radio broadcaster, King spent 27 seasons with the Raiders, 22 with the Warriors and just completed his 25th year with the A's.

Ken Korach, his partner on A's broadcasts the past 10 years, called the loss "devastating" to Bay Area sports fans.

"He was a member of the family," Korach said. "So much of what he did is intertwined with the experiences of hundreds of thousands of people. He touched so many lives."

At spring training with the A's last March, King tripped over luggage in his Phoenix hotel room. The injury to his hipslowed King, who was forced to use crutches or a cane, and skipped several road trips.

Early indications were King came through last Friday's surgery well.

His staccato delivery and VanDyke beard were trademarks of a man who came to the Bay Area in 1958, helping with Giants broadcasts and working Cal football and basketball games.

"Bill was a great friend, a brilliant performer, and an exceptional man," said Raiders owner Al Davis. "I say this with great admiration and love that Bill becomes one of the people that I give the cloak of immortality. Time never stops for the great ones."

Greg Papa, who broadcasts Raiders and Giants games and previously worked for the Warriors and A's, said King belongs in a class by himself.

"I've given this a lot of thought," Papa said, "and I think Bill King is the finest radio sports broadcaster this nation has ever been privileged to listen to. I think he's the best broadcaster, period, this area has ever had.

"In a lot of ways, he was the perfect broadcaster for the Bay Area because he was a man of diversity, a man of extreme intellect. His interests were wide. I think that's what the Bay Area is."

Beyond sports, King was an accomplished self-taught painter, and enjoyed theater, ballet, opera and the symphony. He knew wines and loved to cook. He owned a 31-foot wooden boat at his home in Sausalito. He hated interleague baseball play.

"He threw himself into everything he was interested in," said former broadcast partner Hank Greenwald, who knew King for 44 years. "He never took a casual interest in things. Bill didn't like things, he loved them."

Born in Bloomington, Ill., King began his broadcasting career with the Armed Forces Radio Network while stationed in Guam at the end of World War II. He called Bradley University basketball games and Nebraska football and basketball before coming to the Bay Area in 1958.

King was preceded in death by his wife, Nancy Stephens, and is survived by stepdaughter Kathleen Lowenthal and her husband, Barry Lowenthal, of Woodacre, stepson Jon Stephens of Sausalito, and two grandchildren.

Memorial services are pending.

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