Cal Football: Joe Starkey Recalls His Afternoon With the Rolling Stones and The Hulk

A random moment 20 years ago reinforces the power of his call of `The Play.'

Joe Starkey, who announced his decision to retire as radio play-by-play voice of Cal football after this season, says he’s always surprised when approached by eager fans.

“I’m blown away sometimes where out of nowhere somebody knows who I am and talks about Cal football,” Starkey said on Thursday at Memorial Stadium.

“It’s not because they’re excited to see me. I’m kind of a conduit for them to be able to talk about the team and tell stories and to relate to them as fans. I love that enormously.”

Joe Starkey

Starkey’s most unexpected interaction came more than 20 years ago while poolside at the posh Cavalieri Hotel in Rome while on vacation with his family.

It was a hot August afternoon and neither his wife or son wanted to leave their air-conditioned room to spend time at the hotel pool, so Joe grabbed a book and went by himself.

“In five minutes, the entire Rolling Stones band joins me at the pool,” Starkey says in the video at the top of this story.

The late Charlie Watts, drummer for the Stones, sat down next to Starkey and the two began a conversation. Watts asked Starkey to join him in the pool and the two stood in the shallow end, cooling off and continuing to chat.

Starkey said he cannot believe he failed to ask for tickets to the concert the Stones were performing that night in Rome.

Then, minutes later, actor Lou Ferrigno, star of the TV program “The Incredible Hulk,” joined them.

“So I’ve got Lou Ferrigno on my left and a Rolling Stone on my right,” Starkey said. “And a guy jumps into the pool at the other end. He looks us over and Charlie says, `You know, they’ll bother you everywhere, won’t they.’ “

Sure enough, Starkey said, the star-struck fan couldn’t resist.

“The guy comes up to the three of us and looks us over and says, `Aren’t you the Cal football announcer?’ “

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Starkey talks in the video above about his debut season with Cal in 1975 and the welcome he received from coach Mike White. That team, featuring Joe Roth, Chuck Muncie and Wesley Walker, posted an 8-3 record and led the nation in total offense.

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In the video above, Starkey shares how excited he is about this season, and especially a Sept. 17 trip to Notre Dame to see his boyhood favorite. But he is bittersweet about the future of the Pac-12 without long-tie rivals USC and UCLA, who will leave for the Big Ten Conference in 2024.

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Justin Wilcox shares his thoughts in the video above on Starkey, whose first season calling games for the Bears in 1975 was the same year the Cal head coach was born.

Cover photo of Cal radio play-by-play man Joe Starkey

Follow Jeff Faraudo of Cal Sports Report on Twitter: @jefffaraudo