Hot Rod Hundley: The Gem Of My Youth

Some three hours and 170 miles southwest of Salt Lake City a handful of young men took turns holding aloft a battery-powered transistor radio with aluminum foil, intended to wrap foil dinners, instead twisted tightly to extend the antenna another foot beyond it’s stock capability. It was Memorial Day weekend 1997 and they were listening to Hot Rod Hundley call Game 3 of the Western Conference Finals.

I’d grown up listening to Rodney Clark Hundley call Utah Jazz games. Back when the Jazz weren’t often on TV, Hot Rod Hundley could always be heard dropping his famous lines on a radio nearby. “Leapin’ leaners” made “from an angle left yo-yo” became the verbal paint drawing the picture. You could see a game Hot Rod was calling, even when you couldn’t.

One could close their eyes and listen to the squeak of sneakers on hardwood while Hundley belted out play-by-play with more emotion than anyone else could muster. You could close your eyes and it was almost as if you were right there next to him in the Salt Palace.

Having moved to neighboring Colorado some five years prior, I was ecstatic to hear Hot Rod Hundley’s voice again every time I visited Utah. My friends and I were avid Jazz fans and rockhounds, searching for gems, crystals and minerals every weekend we could spare.

Hot Rod Hundley was truly a gem – Topaz photo credit, Chris Johnson

A few of us that had grown up together had moved away from Utah, but those of us that had still came back to get together every Memorial Day weekend at Topaz Mountain, Utah where there were many rare museum quality minerals to be found in a short distance. Some of the finest gem-quality topaz in the world is found here.

We met up in northern Utah on Friday afternoon, May 23, 1997, and while we packed up our gear we chattered excitedly about the Utah Jazz who were up 2-0 over Hakeem Olajuwon, Charles Barkley and the Houston Rockets.

“Man, did you see that cheap shot Barkley laid on John Stockton? He should be suspended!”

“I know, right? Bet Karl Malone lets an elbow get loose tonight.”

A few hours later we had camp set up in a narrow valley on the west side of the Thomas Range with a great view of Topaz Mountain to our east above the bluffs, junipers and dusty desert floor. As the sun set to the west, we settled in with a cold beer to listen to Hot Rod Hundley call Game 3 from Houston. Only there was a problem. Nothing but static.

With several mountain ranges and a 100 miles of nothing between us and the nearest smattering of civilization, the distance was too great. It was panic. We couldn’t miss a game of this magnitude!

Someone hopped in their truck and tried that radio. Nothing. I grabbed the transistor and started climbing the bluffs around camp. What was that? Did you guys hear that? I thought I could detect the faint growl of Hot Rod Hundley and Ron Boone.

I cranked the volume all the way up, but the sound of static took over. Someone else grabbed a sheet of aluminum foil and hollered at me to come down for a minute. He stood the antenna up and began wrapping upward, extending it. Just maybe enough.

With our MacGyver’d radio ready, I again began searching for a signal. About 20 feet south and 15 feet up on a rocky outcrop overlooking camp we heard it. We heard Hot Rod.

If I stood in just the right place and held the radio over my head at just the right angle we could hear Hot Rod Hundley calling out frozen ropes and rainbow jumpers. Of course, you could only do that for so long before your arm turned to jelly, so we handful of Jazz fanatics and gem hunters took turns for the next three hours.

Standing like statues on a rocky bluff in a deserted desert, we listened to the dulcet tones and emotional outbursts of Hot Rod Hundley as he called a game we’d talk about all day the next day on the mountain as we hunted for precious gems.

Looking back now, I realize that we’d already found a gem while we’d hunted the night before.

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Less than a week later, John Stockton would sink a dagger sending the Utah Jazz to the Finals for the first time. Here’s how Hot Rod Hundley called it:

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A few months ago I had a chance to chat with the Deseret News’s Brad “The Rockmonster” Rock about Hot Rod.

"PnB: Tell us about who Rod Hundley the man was — we all know and love the legend.BR: Just a really good guy.I used to tease him about being famous. I’d say, “Don’t I know you? Weren’t you on that Green Bay Packers team that won the first Super Bowl?”Or I’d walk into the press room and he would say, “Weren’t you in the 1976 Summer Olympics?” and I’d say, “How nice of you to remember. Yes, I was on the archery team.” Or I’d say, “Didn’t you used to sing backup to Buddy Holly?”He’d always laugh and say something in return. He has a good heart. He was always good with the fans, signing autographs, talking with them. I don’t ever remember him refusing an autograph.And believe me, he was pretty famous. Jack Nicholson would talk to him before Los Angeles Lakers games.–The J Notes, October 18, 2104, Hot Rod Hundley Q&A With Rockmonster"

To this day I’ll still dial up the radio voice when I watch a game. Guys like David Locke, Alan Horton, Jason Kosmicki, Al McCoy and Steve Holman have to paint a picture for listeners, enhancing the experience.

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