Lon Simmons

Lonnie Alexander "Lon" Simmons (July 19, 1923 – April 5, 2015) was an American sports announcer, best known for his play-by-play broadcasts of San Francisco Giants baseball and San Francisco 49ers football.

He was born in Vancouver, Washington.

Simmons was a star pitcher at Burbank High School and Glendale College before enlisting in the U.S. Coast Guard.

After World War II, he signed with the Philadelphia Phillies and pitched briefly in their minor league system.

Simmons' radio career began in Elko, Nevada, calling Elko High School football and basketball games on KELK.

He first announced baseball for a semipro league in Marysville, California.

After spending three years broadcasting Fresno State sports on KMJ, Simmons came to San Francisco in 1957 as the sports director at KSFO.

That year, he was the color commentator for the San Francisco 49ers of the National Football League, teaming with play-by-play announcer Bob Fouts, the father of Pro Football Hall of Fame quarterback Dan Fouts.

In 1958, Simmons took over as play-by-play announcer on 49ers radio broadcasts, paired with former 49er Gordy Soltau.

Years later, he worked with KSFO disc-jockey Gene Nelson and then with former NFL player and KPIX-TV sports director Wayne Walker.

Also in 1958, Simmons became the second announcer for the newly relocated San Francisco Giants of Major League Baseball, teaming with lead announcer Russ Hodges, who moved with the team from New York.

To complement Hodges' "Bye Bye Baby!"

home run call, Simmons created his own, "Tell It Goodbye!"

Simmons' most famous call during his first stint with the 49ers came on October 25, 1964, when Minnesota Vikings defensive end Jim Marshall picked up a fumble by the 49ers' Billy Kilmer and ran it the wrong way, scoring a safety for the 49ers instead of a touchdown for the Vikings (who won, 27–22).

The transcript of his call, including his mid-sentence transition as the moment occurred, reads as:

"(George) Mira, straight back to pass ... looking, now stops, throws ... completes it to (Billy) Kilmer up at the 30-yard line, Kilmer driving for the first down, loses the football ... it is picked up by Jim Marshall who is running the wrong way! Marshall is running the wrong way! And he's running it into the end zone the wrong way, thinks he has scored a touchdown! He has scored a safety! His teammates were running along the far side of the field, Russ (Hodges), trying to tell him go back!"

When Hodges retired after the 1970 season (he died in April 1971), Simmons was promoted to lead announcer and teamed with Bill Thompson.

This pairing lasted through the 1973 season.

Simmons also served as the Warriors TV announcer on KTVU during the 1973–74 NBA season.

Al Michaels and Art Eckman became the Giants' radio announcers on KSFO in 1974.

Simmons returned to the Giants in 1976 as second announcer behind Michaels, then was the lead announcer again in 1977 and 1978, teaming with San Francisco native Joe Angel.

When KSFO lost the Giants radio rights to rival KNBR in 1979, Simmons and Angel were replaced by Lindsey Nelson and Hank Greenwald.

With the 49ers, he remained as play-by-play announcer through the 1980 season.

Three years later in 1981, KSFO acquired the Oakland Athletics' radio rights.

Simmons then became an A's announcer, along with longtime Oakland Raiders and San Francisco/Golden State Warriors voice Bill King and youngster Wayne Hagin.

In 1981, KSFO lost the 49ers radio rights to KCBS, who replaced him with its own sports director, longtime Stanford University play-by-play announcer Don Klein.

When KGO acquired the 49ers radio rights in 1987, Simmons returned as the play-by-play announcer and was reunited with long-time colleague, Wayne Walker.

He was replaced in the play-by-play spot by Joe Starkey, the long-time announcer for the University of California Golden Bears and sideline reporter on 49ers games in 1987 and 1988; Starkey had taken over play-by-play on several October games during the 1988 season.

During the 1988 regular season, Simmons' call of Steve Young's breathtaking game-winning 49-yard scramble against the Minnesota Vikings became as memorable as the play itself.

The following January, San Francisco won Super Bowl XXIII over the Cincinnati Bengals, 20–16.

Simmons' call of the 49ers' Super Bowl game-winning drive (punctuated by a Joe Montana-to-John Taylor TD pass) can be heard on the NFL Films highlights package of the game.

During the final two games of the 1989 World Series, Athletics lead announcer Bill King came down with laryngitis.

Simmons was thus able to announce to his radio audience that the A's had won the World Series over Simmons' former team, the Giants.

During Simmons' first tenure as 49ers play-by-play announcer, the team never won an NFL championship.

One year after his departure, San Francisco began a run of Super Bowl victories.

Simmons again departed from the 49ers — this time for good — during the 1989 preseason following a dispute with the KGO management.

Simmons remained part of the A's radio team through the 1995 season.

From 1996 to 2002, he called Giants games part-time on KNBR.

Starkey retired from the position following the 2008 NFL season.

Simmons served in the U.S. Coast Guard for 3 1⁄2 years during World War II.