He was the Legendary Voice of the Chicago Bulls

He was the Legendary Voice of the Chicago Bulls

[Applause] oh bar P hey guys this is Dominique Wilkins he this is Sean ke this is Gary pton hey this is f NBA fans what’s up this is Vince Carter here hey what’s up this is Matt bars if you’re an old school NBA fan like I am make sure you check out

The basketball time machine with my man sea Davis and now for you from North Carolina 6 Michael Jordan hello and good day everyone welcome back to the basketball time machine my name is Shawn David thanks for tuning in today I got a very special guest in the house I already told him before we started this

Interview he is next to Michael Jackson and some of my favorite singers the voice of my childhood Ray clay former announcer of the Chicago Bulls the great voice how you doing man hey Sean good to see you how are you good good good man uh we already talked a

Little bit before the interview so I did all my my uh praising you and everything before the interview so don’t worry fans I already took care of that P did you already have that sty that you are known for today was that already right from the beginning like when when

You guys worked on your style was that how you entered in I think it was 1990 when when you uh when you had the regular job well I I actually started in 1980 and I I worked at the University of Illinois in Chicago and um I started doing PA announcing for their basketball

Team in 1980 so you know basically I had 10 years experience announcing college basketball and which closely resembles the NBA you know there’s some rule differences and things like that but uh you know when I announced College I said you know I I want the game to be fun so

I you know I I tried to do fun things with my announcing and things like that you know in mirroring the Bulls we we had an an an introduction song that we had so you know we played the music and you know I I don’t I don’t remember if I

Did the now I I would have to find an old tape or something to see if I did that but you know I introduced the visitors from the college that we were playing against and then I introduce our starters and that’s basically what I sent into them as an interview

Tape and that’s you know where things progressed from there interesting when was the point when you realized like oh okay people really really love my voice and people really really feel that I’m a big part of the bows mystery or bows I want I want to say uh Myster um

Hysteria well that that first year uh that I that I announced I I came in right before the playoffs and that was the year that we lost to Detroit in the Eastern Conference Finals and you know we got through that game and you know it was so close it

Could have went either way at the end that was the Migra game huh yeah we ended up losing that game and one of the bull staff said heyy you know what this is going to be a lot of fun next year he says I think we’ve got

All the pieces in place and I think we’re gonna you know have a good chance of winning the championship next year so you know the first year that I announced those playoffs ABC the American Broadcasting Company in Chicago announced those games and they really didn’t do the starting lineups they

Wanted to get to the game and go the next year NBC got the the bid to announce the games and Marv Albert uh and uh you know various different people Ahmad Rashad and you know those guys they thought that the introductions were special and they thought that that would

Be a great lead in because you know the Bulls had a good season you know the the Bulls were projected to win the championship and they just started featuring me with the starting lineups and it was like uh okay here go right place at the right time huh yeah you

Know Ray sit there until we quue you when we quue you then you start and you know it’s sometimes it’s hard because you know we had the music and there was a certain lead into the music before I started my announcement and it took a little bit to get a coordination between

NBC and the bull staff to make sure that we got the full effect of the starting lineup yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah oh man you know uh I was always wondering this this question comes from the the uh 12-year-old sha D Shawn David who of the players did you get

Along with or who of the players is is probably the one guy that you had the most uh contact suit well you know it it really was in contact with the players I my My Philosophy was you know the players have enough on their plate there’s enough people that want to get

Next to them and want to be their friend and their buddy and said you know I I’m I’m an employee I work for the Bulls I you know do the best I can you know i’ I’d see the players in the hall and you know they people would say hi and you

Know things like that um you know I announced Michael Jordan in the starting lineup more than anybody ever did in in Michael Jordan’s career so you know I would have to say you know Michael would be a guy but again I wasn’t somebody who hey Michael what are

We doing tonight you know go it’s like no okay but enough going on I’m 100% sure that Michael still appreciated how you um look M Michael Jordan was a cool cat anyways but coming in with your voice and and this uh um and uh from North Carolina 66 atar

Michael Jordan seriously how cool you got to feel as a Michael Jordan when you hear that voice that music the crowd is going loud like if I was Michael Jordan I would give you a huge hug after every single game man well you know the funny thing was

People said that the the folks in the stadium probably couldn’t hear me say Michael Jordan because it was so loud yes I can imagine you know the people on TV got the benefit of having a microphone and you know getting a direct feed that came out of my mouth where you

Know the people who were in the building was what did he say yeah I can’t imagine I can’t imagine uh it all it always on television at least in Germany when we saw the televised games uh it was also difficult to understand the Michael Jordan part because the crowd level from

The player before Jordan to Jordan it it it rise So High um but hey that that made it even more special now I told you before uh the interview that I just found out in preparing for the interview that in um that when uh you had to leave the Bulls

The reason why you had to leave what or let’s say the uh situation was that Jordan was playing for the for uh the Wizards and at least correct me if I’m wrong that’s what I that’s what I um the internet that uh you wanted to announce Michael Jordan the usual

Way which you should do and the Bulls front office said no we don’t like that idea just announce him as any other player and at that it attention and was basically like the last the last um what you call English the last move that got everything into motion well you

Know I think that you know with with my my leaving the Bulls I think you know we had talked a little bit about the celebrity that I had developed you know not intentionally but it just you know it came from my job and what I did and I think that the Bulls

Management was angry that a sports writer would come up to me and say hey Ray you know Michael Jordan’s coming U you know such and such a day you got a game how are how are you gonna announce Michael Jordan you know so uh so you know there’s

There’s how do I answer that you know I my my answer was well you know nobody’s told me um Michael Jordan was the best player that’s ever played in Chicago the guy’s got a statue out front yes I said so I would think that we’re going to give Michael Jordan the introduction

That we’ve always given Michael Jordan and all of a sudden the sports writer who I spoke with went back and talked to somebody the pr staff and and they said oh so we hear that you know you’re going to announce Michael Jordan like you always announce Michael Jordan and somebody said well you

Know we haven’t decided what we’re going to do yet so somebody comes up to me and says you know why why did you answer that question I said you know as a person who does the announcing nope you didn’t tell me what you were G what you

Wanted to do so I assumed that we were going to announce Michael Jordan like we always announce Michael Jordan and they said no Michael Jordan’s visitor we’re going to announce Michael Jordan like we announce every other visitor so you know we announced the Washington Wizards and

You know had aard from North Carolina 66 Michael Jordan and Michael Jordan came out you know he he got a a two and a half minute standing ovation you know even within with an introduction like that so we had to hold off we had to hold off start ing the Bulls

Introduction music until the crowd quieted down enough so that you know we could go into the home team’s introductions yeah but what were they expecting I mean it’s logical I I just think it was you know here’s here’s Ray clay he had no business saying that which I agree with

Them I didn’t have any business I should have chose my words a little bit better but but you know you’re getting ready to start the game and somebody comes up to you and you know says hey you know Michael Jordan’s coming next week how you can introduce him and I’m going I

Don’t know you know I said I would I would assume we’re going to give him the regular Michael Jordan so they said you know we don’t want you talking to any press well you know all of a sudden the story gets out that you know that I did

That and I get a phone call from another sports writer the next day and he says Ray you know what’s all of this dust upu about you know the introduction of Michael Jordan and they go you know can’t say anything I was told that I

That I don’t need to comment on it you know and this sports writer who was a little bit under the skin of some of the people on the on the Bulls just kept pressing and pressing you know did they tell you not to say anything you know I

Said you know I I can’t comment you know tell me you know do you really want I can’t comment you know so all of a sudden I I get another phone call you know later that day what are you doing talking to so and so I go he called me

You know what do you want me to do I my all my answers were hit to him where I can’t comment you know so the season ended uh I went out for lunch with one of the staff guys and you know he broke the news to me that they were

Gonna not have me back the following year and I go you know okay life goes on but the funny thing was the next year when Michael Jordan came to the Bulls as a Washington Wizard they gave him the full Michael Jordan and he got he got like a five minute standing

Ovation you know with with the full from North Carolina thing so oh wow you know that’s that’s the way it goes but you know luckily for me you know when Michael Jordan was ready to play his last game Philadelphia called me and they said you know we really feel bad

That you didn’t have a chance to you know give Michael Jordan His due this is his last game you know we think that it would be perfect for you to come and give Michael Jordan his Farewell so flew me out to Philly and uh you know the

Fifth guy all of a sudden you know from North Carolina and you know it was fantastic Michael came over gave me a big hug he said thanks man I really appreciate it you know and that was that was the cherry on top of the Sunday yeah

Nice nice nice nice well Ray I told you before I’m to tell you on air again uh we as fans appreciate a lot what you have done you were a big part of the event which was the Chicago Bulls and if it wasn’t for your voice I’m 100% sure

If it was another guy who would have done your job it it still would have been special once the game started but believe me I never would have rushed to the television to make sure I never missed the introduction so thank you very much for all the fine memories I

Appreciate it oh glad to do it Sean glad to have memories out there

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In this video we take a look at the legendary chicago bulls
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