Bob
               Blackburn:
               
               
Sports
               Broadcaster
               
               
 
               
               
 
               
               
Bob
                  Blackburn (1924 – January 8, 2010)
                  
                  
Bob
                  Blackburn was the original play-by-play voice of
                  the Seattle SuperSonics of the National Basketball
                  Association. He called games for the team on KOMO
                  radio and KOMO-TV, and later on KJR radio. His
                  tenure with the SuperSonics included the team's
                  first season in 1967-68 and its NBA Championship
                  run in 1979, when the SuperSonics beat the
                  Washington Bullets four games to one in a
                  best-of-seven series.
                  
                  
In
                  the 1940s through the late 1960s, Blackburn
                  broadcast a variety of sports teams in Oregon, from
                  the Portland Beavers Pacific Coast League baseball
                  team, to the University of Oregon and Oregon State
                  University (OSU) football games.
                  
                  
Bob
                  Blackburn was hired as the new SuperSonics on-air
                  play-by-playbroadcaster when the team joined the
                  NBA in the 1967-1968 season. Blackburn called most
                  SuperSonics games as the single broadcaster during
                  his first 20 years with the Sonics. During the
                  1987-1988 season, KJR radio added Kevin Calabro to
                  the broadcast team and the two basketball experts
                  shared play-by-play responsibilities. In the early
                  1990s, Blackburn left in what he described as a
                  "forced retirement". At that time, Calabro became
                  the sole play-by-play voice after Blackburn's
                  departure.
                  
                  
 
                  
                  
In
                  his 60 years on the air, Blackburn called over
                  7,000 sports events and 2,359 of those were NBA
                  games; the vast majority with the Seattle
                  SuperSonics. When Blackburn did retire, the Sonics
                  treated him like a veteran star ball player, and,
                  since he didn't actually have a "number" to be
                  retired, the SuperSonics retired his microphone
                  instead.
                  
                  
 
                  
                  
Bob
                  Blackburn made his home in Issaquah, Washington,
                  until his death on January 8, 2010.
                  
                  
 
                  
                  
 
                  
                  
Resources:
                  
                  
Longtime
                  Sonics broadcaster Bob Blackburn
                  dies,
                  The Seattle Times, January 10, 2010
                  
                  
Bob
                  Blackburn, former voice of Sonics,
                  dies,
                  The Seattle Post-Intelligencer, January 10,
                  2010
                  
                  
Where
                  Are They Now? Blackburn gave Sonics a
                  voice,
                  The Seattle Post-Intelligencer, February 15,
                  2006
                  
                  
Famed
                  Sports Announcer Blackburn Remembers His FUHS
                  Roots,
                  Fullerton News