Kings Broadcaster Bob Miller To Get Lifetime Achievement Award

LOS ANGELES, CA — Retired Los Angeles Kings broadcaster Bob Miller will receive a lifetime achievement award from the Los Angeles Sports Council during the 13th annual L.A. Sports Awards ceremony in February, the organization announced Tuesday.

"In recognition of his Hall of Fame career, including more than four decades with the Kings, Bob was a unanimous choice for this year's Lifetime Achievement award," said David Simon, president of the council.

The L.A. Sports Awards ceremony will be held Feb. 6 at the Beverly Hilton.

Miller, 79, announced his retirement March 2, and in April, he called the 3,353rd and final game of his 44-season career with the Kings.

"Due to four separate health incidents the last year, quadruple bypass heart surgery, a transient ischemic attack, a mild stroke and a stent placed in my left carotid artery, and with doctor's advice to slow down, it's time for me to retire," Miller said when he announced his retirement.

Miller became a hockey announcer in 1968, when the program director at his radio station in Madison, Wisconsin, told him he would be announcing a University of Wisconsin game the following Friday because it was the school's only team to win consistently and draw standing-room-only crowds.

Miller first sought to be hired by the Kings in 1972, when the team's original announcer, Jiggs McDonald, left for the expansion Atlanta Flames.

Lakers broadcaster Chick Hearn recommended Miller for the job, but team owner Jack Kent Cooke hired California Golden Seals announcer Roy Storey.

When Storey was fired after one season, Hearn again recommended Miller, with Cooke going along that second time.

Miller's honors include the Foster Hewitt Memorial Award, given to members of the television and radio industries for outstanding contributions to their profession and hockey, a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and membership in the halls of fame of the Kings and Southern California Sports Broadcasters Association.

On Jan. 13, Miller will be immortalized with a statue outside Staples Center, where his likeness will join those of Wayne Gretzky, Hearn, Earvin "Magic" Johnson, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Shaquille O'Neal, Luc Robitaille, Jerry West and Oscar De La Hoya.

City News Service; (Photo by Sean M. Haffey/Getty Images)