Joe Starkey

Joe Starkey (born c. 1941) is an American sportscaster who has served as the radio play-by-play announcer of California Golden Bears football since 1975. He previously worked as the sports director of KGO radio in San Francisco, California and play-by-play announcer for the San Francisco 49ers for 20 seasons from 1989 to 2008. Starkey is most famous for his frenetic call of The Play in the 1982 Big Game between Cal and Stanford: "Oh, the band is out on the field!" Starkey nearly lost his voice during and after this event, which he hailed as "the most amazing, sensational, dramatic, heartrending, exciting, thrilling finish in the history of college football!"

Career

Starkey grew up in Chicago, and briefly played football at Thornton Junior College. He attended Loyola University Chicago, earning a bachelor's and master's degree in business.

He has broadcast for the NFL's Minnesota Vikings and Denver Broncos, the USFL's Oakland Invaders, and the first telecaster for the NHL's San Jose Sharks. Starkey was also the radio and television voice of the now defunct National Hockey League's Oakland (later California Golden) Seals and Colorado Rockies who later became the New Jersey Devils. His trademark call, whenever the Seals scored a goal, was "What a bonanza!" It was a trademark call he carried into his football broadcasts to describe outlandish catches, notably by Jerry Rice and Terrell Owens.