Longtime A's public address announcer Dick Callahan, who spent 15 years with the club and whose booming voice was a fixture in the Bay Area, passed away on Friday morning, the club announced.
"The Oakland A's are heartbroken to learn that Dick Callahan passed away this morning," the club said in a statement. "He lent his warm and welcoming voice to the Oakland faithful as our public address announcer for 15 seasons and more than 1,000 games at the Oakland Coliseum. We have lost a beloved member of our family who was a great friend to all who knew him. His passion and love for the A's was like no other and his impact will never be forgotten. We extend our condolences to Dick's family and friends during this time."
Callahan had an unforgettable voice, and it was a familiar one to those in the East Bay. Callahan got his start in 1975 doing basketball games for St. Mary’s College of California, his alma mater after graduating from Scranton (Pa.) Prep High. He also spent 19 years as the PA announcer for the NBA's Golden State Warriors and 12 years announcing Cal football games, with stops along the way at Northern California colleges like the University of the Pacific, Santa Clara University and the University of San Francisco.
With the A’s, Callahan had the difficult task of replacing Roy Steele, to whom fans referred as “the Voice of God,” but Callahan became beloved in his own right. In his role as PA announcer with the club, he witnessed Dallas Braden’s perfect game and no-hitters by Sean Manaea and Mike Fiers.
Fittingly, Fiers’ no-hitter came on May 7, 2019, which was Callahan’s 1,000th game as the club’s PA announcer. Callahan spoke about the importance of reaching 1,000 games with the franchise in a video produced by the A’s in ‘19. He also noted in that video that he had served as a PA announcer in more than 2,700 games across all sports.
"The 1,000th means a tremendous amount to me, because of the fact that it comprises the ability to be able to do the games and to stay with it and have the organization stay with me long enough to be able to accomplish that,” Callahan said. “The two biggest games were Dallas Braden's perfect game and Sean Manaea's no-hitter. If you can do this job for 16 years, and I'm going to be going into my 16th season, to be able to call a perfect game and a no-hitter -- a lot of interesting things happened in other games -- but I don't think anything means as much as doing both a perfect game and a no-hitter."
Callahan was set to begin his 16th season in 2020, but he missed the season due to health concerns. Amelia Schimmel filled in as PA announcer for home games last season in his place. Callahan said before the '20 season that he had planned to be back in ’21.