Bill Schonely
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| Bill Schonely | |
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| Born | June 1, 1929 Norristown, Pennsylvania |
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| Nationality | USA |
Bill Schonely (b. June 1, 1929 in Norristown, Pennsylvania) was the first play-by-play announcer for the Portland Trail Blazers of the National Basketball Association. He began in the team's inaugural season in 1970. Schonely coined phrases that became synonymous with the Blazermania phenomenon in Oregon, including "Rip City", "Bingo Bango Bongo", "Climb the golden ladder", "Lickety brindle up the middle", and "You've got to make your free throws." His specialty was giving listeners a visual of where the players were on the court, ex. "Moving left to right on your radio dial", "through the cyclops at mid court", and "ocean to ocean".
Schonely called the play-by-play on 2,522 Blazers radio and television broadcasts, from Portland’s very first preseason outing (September 24, 1970) to the team's appearance in the 1998 NBA Playoffs (April 30, 1998). Before coming to Portland in 1970, he was an announcer for the MLB Seattle Pilots (1969-70) and the voice of the old Western Hockey League's Seattle Totems (1958-1969.) He also was the radio announcer for the Portland Beavers AAA baseball team in the early '00s.
Schonely can currently be found in television advertisements for Standard TV and Appliance and on current Blazers' games on KGW in the pregame show segment Blazers Memorable Moments, as well as public appearances throughout the Portland metro area.
Schonely was inducted into the Oregon Sports Hall of Fame in 1999 for Broadcasting.
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