Sports ice hockey | Name Bob Miller | |
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Full Name Robert James Miller Born October 12, 1938 (age 85) ( 1938-10-12 ) Chicago, Illinois, U.S. Team(s) Los Angeles Kings (1973–present) Genre(s) play-by-play (television) | ||
Robert James "Bob" Miller (born October 12, 1938) is an American sportscaster, best known as the play-by-play announcer for the Los Angeles Kings team of the National Hockey League on Fox Sports West/Prime Ticket. Miller has held that post with the team since 1973 and has been partnered with Jim Fox since 1990.
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Early life and career
Miller received his degree in communication studies from the University of Iowa. While there, he began his broadcasting career, covering the school's football and basketball games for campus station KRUI-FM.
After his graduation in 1960, Miller began working in television sports journalism in Wisconsin. He later would add announcing duties for the football and hockey teams at the University of Wisconsin–Madison.
Los Angeles Kings
In 1972, Jiggs McDonald was the Kings' original play-by-play announcer, Kings owner Jack Kent Cooke, who was also the owner of the Los Angeles Lakers basketball team, decided to hire long-time San Francisco Bay Area announcer Roy Storey.
When Storey left the team after one season, the Kings turned their attention back to Miller, who was then hired in 1973, and has been their play-by-play announcer ever since.
Due to the NHL's exclusive national broadcast contract with NBC that prevented local television announcers to call playoff games beyond the first round, Miller and broadcast partner Jim Fox were not allowed to call the Kings' Stanley Cup Finals games on television. But due to their overwhelming popularity among fans, Kings management had Miller and Fox record their call of the potential clinching games for later distribution.
Miller's broadcast partners have included Dan Avey, Rich Marotta, current Kings radio voice Nick Nickson and Pete Weber, the voice of the Nashville Predators. Miller's current broadcast partner is former Los Angeles Kings player Jim Fox.
Miller's first book, Tales From the Los Angeles Kings, was published in October 2006.
Miller's second book, Tales From The Los Angeles Kings Locker Room: A Collection Of The Greatest Kings Stories Ever Told, was published in April 2013.
On March 2, 2017, citing recent health issues Bob announced his retirement as Announcer for the Kings. He will call the final 2 games of the Kings 2017 season.
Other appearances
He has performed voice over and on-camera work for television shows and movies in scenes which included a hockey announcer. Among his credits are an episode of Cheers and the films Rollerball, Miracle on Ice, The Mighty Ducks, and D2: The Mighty Ducks. Nationally, he has worked for ESPN and FOX. He also called some games for FX during the 1996 World Cup of Hockey.
Honors
Miller was honored by the Hockey Hall of Fame as the 2000 recipient of the Foster Hewitt Memorial Award, and was inducted into the Los Angeles Kings Hall of Fame, into the Wisconsin Hockey Hall of Fame, and into the Southern California Sports Broadcasters Hall of Fame. The press box at Staples Center, the Kings' home arena, is named in his honor.
He received the 2,319th star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on October 2, 2006. At the ceremony he noted, "My greatest fear is that I retire and the Kings win a Stanley Cup the next year." Those fears would never come to be as on June 11, 2012, the Kings finally won the Stanley Cup.
In 2014, Miller was honored by the Big Ten Club as their Person of the Year. In December 2014, the Southern California Radio & TV News Association announced that Miller will receive a Lifetime Achievement Award at the 65th annual Golden Mike Awards banquet in January 2015.
Personal
Miller is married. He and his wife Judy have two children.