Stu Nahan: 1926-2007

Stu Nahan, a former minor-league hockey goalie and children's show host who became one of most-recognized sportscasters and a pop culture figure in Los Angeles, died Wednesday morning in his Studio City home.

He was 81 and had been battling lymphoma.

Nahan, who last worked as a Dodgers radio reporter and commentator at KFWB-AM (980) in 2004, had long stints on TV at KABC-Channel 7 (1968-'77), KNBC-Channel 4 ('77-'87) and KTLA-Channel 5 ('88-'99).

Bob Miller, who had known Nahan since starting as the Kings' play-by-play voice in 1973, said he last saw Nahan at a Kings game about a month ago. Nahan's wife, Sandy, contacted him on Christmas Eve to say her husband was not in good health. Miller left him a message on Christmas Day and had hoped to visit him soon.

"I don't know if I've known any other announcer who knew so many other people in all different sports," said Miller prior to Wednesday's Kings' telecast. "He was a great friend of the Kings, and of hockey. He always loved it when he could kid you about something on the air, and he was always great when you could kid him back."

Nahan parlayed his sportscasting fame into several TV and movie roles, starting with "Brian's Song" and continuing in the "Rocky" films, as well as playing himself in "Fast Times at Ridgemont High."

That 1982 movie had Nahan in a cameo interviewing surfer Jeff Spicolo (Sean Penn) in a dream sequence, with Spicoli asking him where he got his jacket. Nahan said every time he saw Hall of Famer Tony Gwynn, the San Diego Padres star would repeat the line: "Hey dude, nice jacket."

Actually, the line didn't quite go that way:

Nahan was known as "Skipper Stu" while doing a children's TV show in Sacramento in the 1950s, and then as "Captain Philadelphia" when he did a show in Philadelphia, where he was also the play-by-play man for the Philadelphia Flyers at WTAF-TV.

His minor-league hockey career with the Toronto Maple Leafs organization in the late '40s led to him playing for the Los Angeles Monarchs in the early '50s. Bob Kelley, the long-time voice of the Los Angeles Rams, helped Nahan get work in the sportscasting business.

On May 25, Nahan was given the 2,339th star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. One of Nahan's last appearances on TV came shortly thereafter when KTLA had him appear on its Sunday night sportscast:

Nahan is survived by his wife, children Kathy, Mark and Kevin from a previous marriage; five grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren. Services are pending.