So there I was, at work, joking around with one of my co-workers and celebrating his high test score he received on one of his CBT's. I received a text from a good friend a Jazz fan that lives in Utah, the text said, "Hot Rod died". Immediately my heart sank. I sat there staring at my phone in disbelief. four more text's followed almost simultaneously, stating the same thing. My mind immediately took me back to my youth. Listening to Hot Rod while watching Stockton "hippity hop" down the court, passing the ball to Malone, "while the cow hide globe hit home!!!!!!!!". In later years Hot Rod went to radio only. Craig Bohlerjack replaced him on T.V. I would turn on the game and mute the T.V. while tuning into the radio so that I could still listen to Hot Rod Hundley announce the game. No one delivered the good or the bad news like he did.
I was fortunate enough to get his autograph 3 times as a child. Each time I recall nothing more than meeting a true gentleman who was passionate about his job. In 1992 the all star game came to Utah. I was a child and I badly badly wanted to go to the All-star game. My parents worked very hard but didn't make very much money. My dad worked 1 job and 65 hours a week, and my mother worked 1 full time job and 1 part time job, just to put food on the table. We had very little. My mother had won tickets to the All star practice (day before the game). It was very entertaining, and they had a game with the "ex-stars". Hot Rod was apart of this game. He was old then, and even though it was played with a light heart, you could see Hot Rod (being as old as he was) wanted to prove himself. He didn't do well, but his passion for the game wouldn't allow him to give nothing less than 100%, and his few minutes on the court he gave just that.
He approached the game just like he did every time the microphone was in his hand. He wanted to give no less than 100%. Hot Rod Hundley, for many of us, is the voice of the Jazz. Even though he is no longer announcing the game play by play, he is still (and will be forever) the one that we hear while watching the game. He has covered the Jazz when we were still the New Orleans Jazz with Pistol Pete Maravich, all the way to Salt Lake City Utah to the retirement years of John Stockton and Karl Malone.
There is no more famous, "Stockton to Malone"-(In Hot Rod's voice) or "Horny, with the pull up rainbow jumper". But for many there will never be a time that we can watch a Jazz game and be fully satisfied unless we envision the voice of Hot Rod Hundley calling at least a couple of the plays. I am a Jazz fan because of the love for the team that Larry H. Miller had. The dedication that Stockton and Malone played with and the love for the game that Hot Rod Hundley announced with. He is everything that the Utah Jazz represent.
