The Play Announcers

Two articles from the Oakland Tribune this morning, one about Joe Starkey and the other about the Stanford announcer Ron Barr:

Twenty-five years later, Starkey hasn't used his riches to build a mansion high atop the Berkeley hills. Rather, he's happy if Cal's athletic program has benefited in some small way.

"There are some situations where I have to sell (the tape) to them. It's required by law," he said of people who plan to use the call in an advertisement or on a CD that's sold with a book. "But for the most part, I have never charged anybody anything. "A lot of people try to make (the $1 acquisition) into a big deal. But, really, it isn't."

At one point, the Cal Alumni Association decided to sell a tie with the words from Starkey's call on it. They offered to cut the announcer in on the proceeds.

"I never got a penny," he assured. "I told them, 'Just give the money to the athletic department.'"

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Oh, how many times has Ron Barr heard Joe Starkey scream: "Oh, the band is out on the field!"?

"Enough times that if I was neurotic, I'd be on heavy doses of medicine," Barr joked.

Barr, a longtime Mill Valley resident, was the "other" radio announcer opposite Starkey when The Play, Cal's infamous last-second, five-lateral, game-winning kickoff return unfolded 25 years ago in the 85th Big Game. Barr was calling play-by-play for Stanford on KSFO, but his restrained account of the last play is rarely ever aired.

Instead, television audiences have heard Starkey's interpretation: "And the Bears have won! The Bears have won! The Bears have won! Oh, my God. The most amazing, sensational, dramatic, heart-rending, exciting, thrilling finish in the history of college football! "

Barr rolls his eyes and smiles whenever he hears Starkey's call.