Cal Sports Report

Dick Callahan, Former PA Announcer for Cal Football and A's, dies

The man with the deep voice was a fixture at Bears home games for 12 years

Jake Curtis

Dick Callahan, Former PA Announcer for Cal Football and A's, dies
Dick Callahan, Former PA Announcer for Cal Football and A's, dies /

Dick Callahan, a former public address announcer for Cal football and the Oakland A’s, died Friday morning, the A’s announced. He was 80.

He was the public address announcer for Cal home football games for 12 years, starting in 2000.

“He had a great voice,” Ken Korach, the longtime A’s broadcaster, told the San Francisco Chronicle Friday. “It was deep and it was resonant and he spoke with authority. … He had a tough assignment to come in after Roy Steele; those were huge shoes to fill, and yet he did it in his own way — he didn’t try to be Roy. He just did a great job and he did it with enthusiasm.”

Callahan worked as the PA announcer for more than 1,000 home A’s games. He announced in July 2020, at age 79, that he would sit out the 2020 season because of a health scare.

He also worked 19 seasons as the Warriors’ public-address announcer and St. Mary’s College, where his Bay Area career began in 1975.

“He had a great voice,” Ken Korach, the longtime A’s broadcaster, told the San Francisco Chronicle Friday. “It was deep and it was resonant and he spoke with authority. … He had a tough assignment to come in after Roy Steele; those were huge shoes to fill, and yet he did it in his own way — he didn’t try to be Roy. He just did a great job and he did it with enthusiasm.”

Callahan was a graduate of Scranton (Pa.) Prep in 1958, and he attended St. Jerome’s University in Waterloo, Ontario. He played college until injuring both his ankles, according to a 2016 Scranton Times-Tribune story.

Here are excerpts from Cal’s May 2000 announcement that Callahan had been appointed to be the public address announcer for Cal football:

The Cal Athletic Department announced Wednesday it has appointed Dick Callahan to serve as public address announcer for Golden Bear football games. Cal also said it has reached agreement with Ed Kleinhans to serve as public address announcer for Cal's men's basketball games. John Atkinson will continue to serve as public address announcer for Cal's women's basketball games and volleyball matches.

The new appointments were made following recommendations from an advisory committee comprised of administrative staff, alumni and coaches that were present for auditions for the positions in mid-May.

Cal has hired a pro's pro in Dick Callahan, who has served as the Golden State Warriors public address announcer for the past 18 seasons. During his nearly 750 NBA games, Callahan has missed only 13 games in his long career, seven of those while he recovered from heart surgery five years ago.

He has also been the PA announcer for St. Mary's football games since 1975. His long announcing resume also includes some interesting stints. He was the play-by-play voice of the San Francisco Pioneers in the now defunct women's pro basketball league in 1980-81. His color man for those broadcasts was current San Francisco Giant Vice President Larry Baer.

"Dick has an unmatched reputation on both the local and national level," said Cal Athletic Director John Kasser. "We feel very fortunate to have him join us in this important role. His voice has a great texture and we think our Cal fans will quickly appreciate his talents behind the mike."

Callahan is a partner in the insurance firm of Kosich and Callahan, with two offices in the East Bay. He and his wife, Patricia, reside in Moraga. Callahan has three daughters: Colleen, a Cal graduate who serves as a Vice President in the insurance firm, and Kelly and Katie, who both are working as actresses in New York.

Both Callahan and Kleinhans were offered but declined payment for their public address duties and have instead elected to donate their services

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Jake Curtis
JAKE CURTIS

Jake Curtis worked in the San Francisco Chronicle sports department for 27 years, covering virtually every sport, including numerous Final Fours, several college football national championship games, an NBA Finals, world championship boxing matches and a World Cup. He was a Cal beat writer for many of those years, and won awards for his feature stories.

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