Aug 12, 2019
Before embarking on his incredible 29-year (and counting) run as play-by-play lead for NHL hockey’s San Jose Sharks, NBC Sports California sportscaster Randy Hahn was first known to 1980s pro soccer audiences as the versatile radio and TV voice behind the short-lived Edmonton Drillers of the North American Soccer League as well as the dynastic San Diego Sockers of both the NASL and the Major Indoor Soccer League.
We descend deep into the Good Seats audio archives to revisit some of the more memorable (and sometimes downright forgettable) moments from Hahn’s North American indoor and outdoor soccer broadcasting exploits, including:
- Covering the original NASL Vancouver Whitecaps at a commercial station while still a college student at the University of British Columbia;
- Answering the call for a last-minute/first-ever radio play-by-play assignment for a Drillers “outdoor” game in Houston;
- Learning the differences between calling slower-building outdoor matches vs. the faster-moving indoor game;
- Winning “One for the Thumb” – and then some - with the indoor Sockers;
- The coaching genius and indelible legacy of Sockers head coach Ron Newman; AND
- How Hahn found his “way to San Jose” with the return of pro hockey to the Bay Area.
PLUS: We dig up the long-forgotten San Diego Sockers official theme song!
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