Hot Rod Hundley waves to the crowd during the half time retirement ceremony honoring him at the Energy Solutions Arena in Salt Lake City on Friday, January 29, 2010. The Utah Jazz are playing the Sacramento Kings. Kristin Murphy, Deseret News
Kristin Murphy, Deseret News
SALT LAKE CITY — The longtime, legendary voice of the Utah Jazz has been silenced.
"Hot Rod" Hundley, whose colorful sayings and home-spun humor served him and Jazz fans so well as the franchise's lead broadcaster for more than three decades, passed away Friday at his home in Phoenix while surrounded by his family.
The cause of death was not immediately made available, though he had been battling Alzheimer's disease.
Hundley, who was a former collegiate basketball star at West Virginia and the No. 1 pick in the 1957 NBA draft, was 80 years old.
“West Virginia lost a dear friend today as Hot Rod Hundley has passed away,” current West Virginia coach Bob Huggins tweeted Friday. “He will be dearly missed. Rod was not only a friend of WVU, but a dear friend to our basketball program. I will miss him very much. RIP Hot Rod.”
Known for his signature catch-phrase, "You gotta love it, baby!" Hundley was the broadcast voice of the organization beginning back in 1974, when the franchise was located in New Orleans, then followed the team to Salt Lake City in 1979 and continued his play-by-play duties until retiring following the 2008-09 season.
“Hot Rod was the voice of the Utah Jazz for 35 years, and his voice was synonymous with Jazz radio,” Jazz franchise owner Gail Miller said in a press release. “The expressions he used throughout the game broadcasts are legendary. He had the unique ability to make the game come to life so that you felt as though you could see what was happening on the floor when listening to him call the games.
"Rod was a very special talent and will be missed by our family as well as Jazz fans everywhere. Our thoughts and condolences are with the Hundley family.”
In all, Hundley broadcast 3,051 Jazz games during his career, including many of the signature moments in franchise history. He served as the team's play-by-play announcer for the Jazz’s simulcast television and radio broadcasts for 31 years, then spent his final four years at the microphone for the team's radio broadcasts.
After his retirement, the Jazz honored the ever-popular Hundley by hanging a banner, emblazoned with his name and a microphone, from the rafters of EnergySolutions Arena. And in 2010, the team’s media center at the arena was dedicated in Hot Rod's name and includes numerous photographs of Hundley and a montage of his most famous sayings.
In January 2014, it was announced that Hundley had been diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease. Then in December of last year, Deseret News columnist Doug Robinson wrote a story about Hundley's worsening health condition, sadly noting that the longtime broadcaster was having trouble just stringing complete sentences together.
Hundley's passing was felt Friday around the NBA, particularly by members of the Jazz franchise.
“Rod was a true professional, a great personal friend and remains a legend in the NBA broadcast industry,” Jazz team president Randy Rigby said in the press release. “From his start with the franchise in New Orleans in 1974 when the Jazz were an expansion team, Hot Rod built a fan base that remains unmatchable.
"With his signature ‘You gotta love it, baby!’ to ‘With a gentle push and a mild arc, the old cowhide globe hit home,’ Rod will be remembered as a true scholar of the game and will always remain a member of the Jazz family.”
"I am saddened by the news of the passing of my longtime friend, Rod Hundley,'' Hall of Famer Jerry West said in a statement reported by the Associated Press. ''I first met Rod when I was 18 and he encouraged me to attend West Virginia University. We were Laker teammates and never lost contact.
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