Longtime Southern Nevada sports broadcaster Blum dies at 91

In many ways, Southern Nevada sports fixture Bob Blum lived a remarkably charmed life, one that ended Sunday at age 91.

Before Blum became the longtime radio voice of UNLV women's basketball and a 51s broadcaster, he forged friendships with some of the 20th century's most influential sports figures, including John Wooden, Al Davis and Pete Rozelle.

"Bloomer," as countless friends called him, had the winning team in the first fantasy football league in 1963 and built an impressive resume - calling games for the Oakland Raiders, San Diego Chargers and San Francisco Giants, among others - before relocating to Las Vegas for good in 1973, when he began broadcasting UNLV football, men's and women's basketball and baseball.

Blum, who died of complications from hip surgery, was still calling Lady Rebels games last season - in his fourth decade with the team - when he was believed to be the oldest active sports broadcaster in the country.

"Sports in Vegas consumed his life," said 51s executive director Don Logan, who gave Blum his nickname and counted him as a close friend. "He was the epitome of a hard-working, generous, compassionate guy. He was very special to a lot of us.

"He meant as much to me personally as anybody I've ever known."

Blum was one of the first play-by-play men for Las Vegas' Triple-A baseball team and worked selected games for the Stars/51s from 1985 to 2010, after which he continued to work for the franchise.

"He refused to slow down," Logan said. "He was the first one at the office most days. He was something."

Born on Oct. 1, 1920, and raised in South Bend, Ind., Blum grew up a few doors down from legendary Notre Dame football coach Knute Rockne, who used to play catch on the street with Blum and other neighborhood kids when he returned home from practice each day.

Blum, who was in many of the same classes as some of Rockne's children, later attended Notre Dame and, though he didn't graduate, joked that he was the first Jewish graduate of the Catholic university.

While a student at Notre Dame, Blum visited the set of the 1940 film "Knute Rockne, All American," which starred future U.S. president Ronald Reagan as George "The Gipper" Gipp.

While Blum worked as a sports broadcaster for more than 70 years, he began his career as a writer. He learned most of his early skills from his English teacher at South Bend Central High School - a fellow by the name of Wooden, whom Blum later helped get hired at UCLA.

A reserve end on his high school football team and sports editor for the "South Bend News Times" high school page, Blum penned an editorial criticizing Wooden's plan to only pay players a $1 per diem after games they won.

When school principal P.D. Pointer saw Blum's column, he called him and Wooden into his office. Wooden conceded he was trying to save a few bucks because gasoline for bus trips was increasing to a whopping 15 cents a gallon. But the principal instructed him to pay the players, win or lose, and told Wooden and Blum to shake hands and remain friends. They did so until Wooden's death in 2010.

Wooden wrote the foreword to Blum's 2010 autobiography "Started Talking at 11 Months ... Still Talking."

"I have known Bob Blum for some 70 years as he was a student in my English class at South Bend Central High School," Wooden wrote. "He has been a friend of mine and my wife Nellie for all of those years and it's nice to know he learned enough in class to write a book."

Blum began his broadcasting career in 1940, when he did radio play-by-play of the Indiana high school basketball tournament.

He enlisted in the U.S. Air Force before completing his studies at Notre Dame and after World War II moved to California, where he wrote and produced Los Angeles sportscaster Bob Kelley's sports show on radio station KMPC.

When UCLA athletic director Wilbur Johns began searching for a new men's basketball coach for the Bruins, Blum and Kelley suggested he hire Wooden, then a promising young coach at Indiana State. Johns said he needed Wooden to fill out an application. But Wooden told Blum he had a policy not to apply for jobs when he had one.

But since Johns and Wooden were both expected to attend the same coaches convention that year, Blum asked Johns if a meeting would constitute as an application. Johns said it would, so Blum told Wooden to introduce himself at the event.

Two weeks later, Wooden left a note for Blum at the station: "Sorry I missed you, but will be seeing you soon ... please don't say anything."

Wooden soon was introduced as UCLA's coach and went on to guide the Bruins to a record 10 straight national titles as the "Wizard of Westwood."

When Blum was a producer on the Los Angeles Rams' radio broadcasts, he helped former NFL commissioner Rozelle land his first job with the league. He recommended Rozelle, then a public relations man for the University of San Francisco who used to stay at Blum's house on road trips to San Jose, for the same job with the Rams.

Rozelle accepted the position and soon was elevated to general manager before eventually becoming the most influential commissioner in NFL history. When Blum was part of the San Diego Chargers' broadcast team in 1967-68, Rozelle often would come on the air and tell the story of how Blum helped him get his first job with the league.

Blum also was one of only three employees retained by Davis when he became coach and general manager of the Raiders in 1963 and remained friends with Davis for the rest of his life. Davis died last year at age 82.

Davis, who became the Raiders' owner in 1966, taped a video message that was played for Blum, the franchise's first radio announcer from 1962 to 1968, at his 2007 induction into the Southern Nevada Sports Hall of Fame.

Davis recalled the time in 1964 when Blum was instrumental in bringing the Raiders and Houston Oilers to Southern Nevada to play the first preseason professional football game in Las Vegas.

"He always sold Nevada," Davis said. "He always sold Las Vegas."

Oakland Athletics broadcaster Ken Korach was on hand to present Blum, who broke up the room by thanking about a dozen doctors for keeping him healthy through the years.

"For those of us in the media, Bob has been a mentor," Korach said. "A kid from the Midwest, he goes to Notre Dame, serves in the Air Force and then he goes on to invent radio. Actually it only seems that way."

Blum worked 23 years in the Bay Area, where in addition to broadcasting Raiders, Chargers and Giants games, he called San Jose State and Santa Clara football and basketball, and the 1960 Olympics.

Blum and others linked to the Raiders organization also conducted the first-ever fantasy football draft in 1963, a fact verified in recent years by the staff of Fantasy Football Pro Forecast.

Led by Bart Starr and George Blanda, Blum's squad won the inaugural fantasy football league crown, along with $245.

Blum moved to Las Vegas in 1973 to purchase a percentage of KLAV Radio - where he served as the station's vice president and general manager - and he never left.

Last season, at 91, Blum still traveled to select Lady Rebels road games.

"That was incredible to me," coach Kathy Olivier said. "The guy just kept up."

When the team was in danger of losing its radio deal on KSHP-AM (1400) last season, Blum helped raise the funds to keep it on the air.

"It meant so much to him that the ladies got as much coverage as the guys," Olivier said. "He was such a huge advocate of our program. His life was the Lady Rebels and 51s."

Olivier, who starred for UNLV from 1979 to 1981, said Blum always looked out for the players.

"I remember when I was a player, he always wanted to know if I needed anything," she said. "He was very caring and a really, really nice guy."

Blum, who called his 1,000th UNLV ballgame in 2006, broadcast more Rebels sporting events than anybody and more than 3,500 in his lifetime.

"He was a true Rebel and a true gentleman. Bob put his heart and soul into our programs for many years. He will be missed by all of us," UNLV athletic director Jim Livengood said in a statement.

Along with several national honors and awards, Blum is a member of UNLV's Athletic Hall of Fame and was named Nevada Sportscaster of the Year as recently as 2002, when he was 82.

"He helped so many broadcasters," said longtime friend and colleague Dick Calvert, the public address announcer for UNLV men's basketball and football. "He taught me a lot about the broadcast industry in general and the radio business."

Regina Miller, who coached the Lady Rebels for 10 seasons (1998 to 2008), said Blum was one of the first people she met in Las Vegas and helped her find her home in Southern Highlands.

"He was so instrumental in helping me in my transition and being such a good friend," she said. "He was not just a friend of the program, but a friend of mine."

Like most of Blum's friends and colleagues, Miller enjoyed his sense of humor.

"I was impressed with how quick he was," she said.

Blum sent out amusing Christmas cards each year, which typically featured a photo of him smiling alongside women ranging from the Raiders' cheerleaders to Morganna the Kissing Bandit.

Miller was with him in Wyoming one winter when Blum literally stumbled upon another idea for one. While walking back to the team hotel after dinner during an icy evening, Blum tripped on a curb and fell, incurring a cut on his forehead. Finding humor in the incident, Blum had someone take his picture and used it for his next card, with the caption, "I got the best of Mike Tyson."

"He always had a joke," Logan said. "He was a character."

Blum, who was divorced, is survived by brother Jack Blum, sister Betty Lee Balsam and several nieces and nephews.

Funeral services will be private and plans for a public memorial are pending.

Contact reporter Todd Dewey at tdewey@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0354.