Jim Leahey was the golden voice of Hawaii sports

The “voice” was remembered for his heart.

“He was a great storyteller,” Honolulu Mayor Rick Blangiardi said of sportscaster Jim Leahey, “who had the ability to really connect with people and bring it all together and touch your heart.”

Leahey, who was considered the “voice of University of Hawaii sports” during a six-decade broadcasting career, died on Monday morning at The Queen’s Medical Center. He was 80.

“There will never be another Jim Leahey,” retired UH volleyball coach Dave Shoji said.

Leahey and Shoji shared a Dec. 4 birthday. “We’d always call each other and wish each other ‘happy birthday,’” Shoji said. “He was the voice of UH athletics. He just had a way of describing the game like no one else did. He always added a little local flavor, which made it interesting for me.”

Leahey was named Hawaii’s sportscaster of the year 17 times. His play-by-play calls were so rich with detail and emotion that after his victory in 1991 the category went on hiatus for 14 years. “He could have won it at least 25 times,” said Dave Goren, executive director of the National Sports Media Association.

Leahey was inducted into UH’s Circle of Honor in 2016.

In 2018, Leahey retired from a television and radio career that dated to 1957, when he was a 15-year-old Saint Louis School sophomore who filled in when an illness prevented his father, Chuck, from calling a boxing match at Schofield Barracks. Jim Leahey’s son Kanoa now is play-by-play announcer for Spectrum’s telecasts of UH sports.

“You can’t tell the story of Hawaii sports without the Leaheys,” said Larry Beil, a former Hawaii sportscaster who now works in the Bay Area. “They were that much a part of it. All of them. Three generations. But Jim, I think, was the one who really took it to great heights. At the time (in the 1980s), we didn’t have every single game on television. Once they started broadcasting everything, basically Jim was in our homes every night.”

Leahey was a teacher at Campbell High School when he received an offer to join KGMB as a sports anchor. “Jim was a great journalist,” said Gary Sprinkle, who worked with Leahey at KGMB. “He expected to break a story every day. He considered it a failed day if we didn’t get that done. If there ever was a pro’s pro, that was Jim.”

At the time, KGMB televised some UH sporting events. Beil recalled how Leahey wrote notes on Post-it-sized cards with different colored pens. “He put in hours and hours and hours of preparation,” Beil said. “I just asked him: ‘Do you really have to do all this?’ He said, ‘No, no, no. Only if you want to do it right.’ It stuck with me for many, many years.”

In 1984, Leahey joined KIKU, which began televising UH baseball and football games. Blangiardi, who ran KIKU, served as football analyst. They were best of friends who argued frequently off the air. “He loves to tell the story of how I fired him several times, and then hired him back the next day,” Blangiardi said. “I feel privileged to be more than colleagues. We shared so many incredible memories together. I got to be his boss at different times. But through it all, there was a deep and intense friendship and respect.”

KIKU became KHNL in 1989, and four years later KFVE was created as a mostly sports offshoot.

Leahey did play-by-play for several sports, including football, basketball, volleyball, baseball, soccer and swimming.

For several years, he teamed with Kanoa for the “Leahey &Leahey” show on PBS. On a set meant to recreate their kitchen, the Leaheys and guests would discuss sports topics and offer opinions.

“I grew up watching him and idolizing him,” said KHON-TV sports director Rob DeMello, who was producer for the talk show. “When I was a kid, it was a time when it wasn’t cool to learn new words. He made it cool. He made me want to expand my vocabulary. … He’s someone who celebrated the language and linguistics and found creative ways to say things that had been said a thousand times.”

Pal Eldredge, who was color analyst with Leahey on baseball telecasts for 33 seasons, praised his television partner’s love for books, music and words. “He was one of the most brilliant guys I ever met,” Eldredge said. “His vocabulary was really tops. His delivery. The guy was a consummate pro. He was a pain in the ass to everybody, but he was a perfectionist, right?”

Leahey often told cohorts: It’s better to do right than be right. He implored people to treat each other kindly. He stepped into rifts, encouraging a rapprochement.

When he first started calling games, he brought several Campbell students to events. “Jim really impressed me with his humanity with those kids,” said Don Robbs, the radio announcer for UH baseball games for 40 seasons. “They loved him. I was told he was the best teacher they ever had.”

After recovering from leukemia in the 1990s, he continued to send gift baskets to the nurses.

He ended every meal at Jack’s Restaurant by thanking the cook and waitress, then often picking up the check for a random diner.

As a believer in diversity, Leahey once joined the Asian American Journalists Association. He served as commissioner of AAJA’s media basketball league, providing the bottles of water for each game

At what was once known as the Reno Hilton, Leahey saw some bikers in a restaurant. He approached them and asked about their stories. They rode Harleys and served in Vietnam. Leahey also had a stint in Vietnam. Leahey thanked them for their service, then paid for all their breakfast orders.

“He was a good guy,” former UH football coach June Jones said.

On Sundays after a home game, Leahey joined Jones and friends for motorcycle rides. “We went all around the island,” Jones said. “We were probably five, six hours on our bikes. He told me I was crazy, that I went too fast. I probably did. But we had a great time. That was the best thing on Sundays.”

Leahey is survived by his wife Toni, three children and a grand-daughter.