Former Hawaii Islanders broadcaster and KHON sports anchor Ken Wilson called some of the biggest local and national sporting events. This month he looks back on his career.
Wilson was born in Detroit and earned his journalism degree from the University of Michigan. His broadcasting aspirations began as a student while working at the Michigan campus radio station.
"It was a great time, and I got a chance to do play-by-play there," he said.
After college, Wilson applied at graduate schools and was accepted at the University of Hawaii, arriving in June 1969.
"My second day in Honolulu I sold soda in the stands at an Islanders game at Honolulu Stadium," he said.
He soon landed a deejay position at KKUA and within a few months joined Al Michaels in the Islanders broadcasting booth for the 1970 season.
It was also in 1970 when Wilson was hired by KHON as sports anchor, working alongside news anchors Judd Hambrick and Bob Basso.
"Ken was always easygoing, unflappable and totally prepared," Basso said. "I never knew any on-air talent who loved what they were doing more and had all that supreme confidence without the ego you expect from a ‘big league sportscaster’ than Ken Wilson. He was born a pro."
In 1970 the Hawaii Islanders won their division, and Wilson broadcast the Pacific Coast League playoffs in Spokane, Wash., with Michaels. Wilson also did play-by-play for University of Hawaii men’s basketball during the "Fabulous Five" era. He was there for some of the biggest Rainbow Warrior basketball games, from the 1971 NIT tournament at Madison Square Garden to the 1972 NCAA Tournament in Pocatello, Idaho.
"The (local) TV audiences for all three of those games were record-breaking. So, I was in the middle of the greatest times for the Islanders and Rainbows basketball," Wilson said.
His next big break came in 1972, when he become play-by-play announcer for the Cincinnati Swords of the American Hockey League. During this time, Wilson continued to work Islanders games with Les Keiter for the 1971 and 1972 seasons.
In 1974, Wilson started the "Sports Huddle Show" on KGU radio, one of the first sports talk radio shows in the country. In 1976 he was voted Hawaii sportscaster of the year.
The following year, Wilson landed a dream job calling Seattle Mariners games during their inaugural season. He would spend six seasons with the Mariners before moving on to broadcast games in 1982 for the NHL’s Chicago Blackhawks.
Two years later he began broadcasting for the St. Louis Blues, an NHL team he would announce for two decades.
In 1985, Wilson called the most memorable game of his career with baseball’s Cincinnati Reds. "There’s no question the biggest game I ever called was the game Pete Rose broke Ty Cobb’s (career hits) record," Wilson said.
There were also baseball announcing gigs with the St. Louis Cardinals, Chicago White Sox, California Angels and Oakland A’s during the 1980s and 1990s. In total, Wilson has called more than 2,000 Major League Baseball games and 1,556 NHL games. He also called two no-hitters as well as baseball Hall of Famers Gaylord Perry’s 300th win and George Brett’s 3,000 hit.
Wilson returned to the islands and his former station, KHON, in 2004 to become a reporter. In 2005 he opened Mama’s Island Pizza with wife Marlene in Kailua.
He returned to his island broadcasting roots by calling Hawaii Winter League Baseball during the 2006 and 2007 seasons.
Wilson moved to Portland, Ore., in 2008 and became commissioner of the West Coast League, a summer league for top collegiate baseball prospects.
"No college summer league has ever had as many drafted student-athletes and alumni reaching the big leagues so early in its history," he said.
When longtime Seattle Mariners announcer Dave Niehaus died in 2010, the Mariners invited several former announcers, including Wilson, back to broadcast games during the 2011 and 2012 seasons.
"Broadcasting the two perfect games this past season at Safeco Field was pretty amazing," he said.
Though his broadcasting work over the years has taken him away from the islands, Hawaii will always remain home for Wilson.
"I’ve lived 11 years of my life in Hawaii and truly consider it home. Hardly a day goes by that my wife and I don’t talk about Hawaii. I think she misses the islands more than I do. As soon as our two children graduate from high school, we’re moving back to our home in Kailua," he said.
A.J. McWhorter, a collector of film and videotape cataloging Hawaii’s TV history, has worked as a producer, writer and researcher for both local and national media. Email him at flashback@hawaii.rr.com.
