Bill King

Bill King

Wilbur "Bill" King (October 6, 1927 – October 18, 2005) was one of the most prominent sports announcers in San Francisco Bay Area history, widely recognized by his distinctive handlebar mustache and beard and his broadcasting catchphrase "Holy Toledo!"

King was best known as the radio voice of the Oakland Athletics baseball team for twenty-five years (1981–2005), the longest tenure of any A's announcer since the team's games were first broadcast in Philadelphia in 1938. Earlier in his career, he had been a member of the San Francisco Giants' original broadcasting team (together with Russ Hodges and Lon Simmons) when the Giants moved west from New York in 1958, had called University of California football and basketball games, and had served as the longtime radio play-by-play announcer for the Oakland/Los Angeles Raiders football team and the San Francisco/Golden State Warriors basketball team.

Read more about Bill King:  Early Broadcasting Career, Renaissance Man, Famous Calls and Phrases, Death, Legacy

Famous quotes containing the words bill and/or king:

    It’s true I’ve got no shirts to wear;
    It’s true my butcher’s bill is due;
    It’s true my prospects all look blue—
    But don’t let that unsettle you:
    Sir William Schwenck Gilbert (1836–1911)

    The old Romans all wished to have a king over them because they had not yet tasted the sweetness of freedom.
    Titus Livius (Livy)