Cal Sports Report

Joe Starkey Retiring as Voice of Cal Football after 2022 Season

His call of "The Play" in the 1982 Big Game is what he is most remembered for

Jake Curtis

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Joe Starkey, who has been the radio voice of Cal football since 1975, will retire from that position following the 2022 season, it was announced Thursday.

Starkey became famous for his frantic call of "The Play" in 1982, the five-lateral play on a kickoff return that gave the Golden Bears a 25-20 victory in the Big Game against Stanford.

"Oh, the band is out on the field!" Starkey nearly lost his voice during and after this event, and he concluded the call by saying it was "the most amazing, sensational, dramatic, heartrending, exciting, thrilling finish in the history of college football!"

Starkey will turn 81 years old in October.

*** Joe Starkey relives his chance encounter with the Rolling Stones

In Starkey's 48th and final season on the mic, the 2022 Golden Bears will travel to Notre Dame to face the Fighting Irish for the first time in 55 years, celebrate the 125th Big Game and 40th anniversary of The Play in Berkeley, and host "Joe Starkey Day" for the regular-season finale in Strawberry Canyon against UCLA.

"It has been an incredible privilege to have the best seat in the house to watch Cal football since 1975," Starkey said in a statement provided by Cal. "My first position in sportscasting was in 1972, and I have had some truly special assignments. But of all the places I have worked, the one constant has been Cal football.

" I can't begin to thank all of the Cal players, coaches, staff and professors who have made this fairy tale journey so incredibly satisfying. The University of California is a very special place and I couldn't be prouder to have made at least a small contribution of joy to this iconic academic institution."

In addition to producing one of the most memorable calls in all of sports history for what is widely considered college football's most famous play ever, Starkey also coined the phrase "What A Bonanza!" to describe other exciting plays he has witnessed since the beginning of his broadcasting career in 1972 as the radio and television voice of the NHL's California Golden Seals. 

Starkey, who will celebrate his 81st birthday this October 19, began his tenure at Cal in 1975 and has been on the microphone for 538 of the 545 Cal football contests since. He celebrated his 500th Cal game against Oregon on Sept. 29, 2018.

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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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