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Bill King | |
|---|---|
 King in 1994 prior to an Athletics game at Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum. | |
| Born | October 6, 1927 Bloomington, Illinois, U.S. |
| Died | October 18, 2005 (aged 78) San Leandro, California, U.S. |
| Sports commentary career | |
| Team(s) | San Francisco Giants(1958–62) San Francisco/Golden State Warriors (1962–83) Oakland/Los Angeles Raiders (1966–92) Oakland Athletics (1981–2005) |
| Genre | Play-by-play |
| Sport(s) | Major League Baseball National Basketball Association National Football League |
Wilbur "Bill" King (October 6, 1927 – October 18, 2005) was an American sports announcer. In 2016, the National Baseball Hall of Fame named King recipient of the 2017 Ford C. Frick Award, the highest honor for American baseball broadcasters.
King was the radio voice of the Oakland Athletics baseball team for 25 years (1981–2005), the longest tenure of any A's announcer since the team's games were first broadcast in Philadelphia in 1938, as well 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. 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, and had called University of California football and basketball games.
King was widely recognized by his distinctive handlebar moustache and Van Dyke beard, as well as his broadcasting catchphrase, "Holy Toledo!"