David Courtney, 1958-2012

David Courtney has died. Born in New York but grew up in Los Angeles, moving there when his father got a job with MGM Television, he got his first job in sports in 1971, when he became a 14-year-old public relations assistant for the NHL's Los Angeles Kings. Soon, he was the public-address announcer for football and basketball games at Beverly Hills High School, and became the backup PA announcer at the Forum, to Lakers and Kings announcer John Ramsay.

In 1978, the Houston Aeros of the World Hockey Association hired im as their PR Director. But the team folded, and he got a job in radio in Houston, eventually manning the PA microphone for the Astros, the Rockets, and the USFL's Houston Gamblers.

He returned to Los Angeles as the Kings's PA man in 1988, and began doing the Angels' games in 1993 and the Clippers' games in 2008. He also subbed for the regular announcers of the Dodgers and, while they were in L.A., the Raiders.

Like Joe Nolan of WABC-Channel 7 here in New York, who is also the PA announcer for Rutgers football, Courtney doubled as a traffic reporter, for three L.A. radio stations, most notably KABC, AM 790.

Courtney was the voice of the Los Angeles Kings starting in 1988, the Angels (under whatever name) since 1993, and the Los Angeles Clippers starting in 2008. Previously, he had been the PA announcer for another NBA team, the Houston Rockets.

Among the athletes he introduced as P.A. announcer were:

Astros: Joe Morgan, Nolan Ryan, Joe Niekro, J.R. Richard, Cesar Cedeno, Jose Cruz and Mike Scott.

Rockets: Moses Malone, Rudy Tomjanovich and Calvin Murphy.

Dodgers: Fernando Valenzuela and Orel Hershiser.

Raiders: Marcus Allen, Tim Brown and Howie Long.

Angels: Brian Downing, Wally Joyner, Chili Davis, Jim Abbott, Mark Langston, Jim Edmonds, Tim Salmon, J.T. Snow, Darin Erstad, Garret Anderson, Troy Glaus, Troy Percival, Vladimir Guerrero, Bobby Abreu, Hideki Matsui, Torii Hunter, Jered Weaver, Zack Greinke, Albert Pujols and Mike Trout.

Kings: Wayne Gretzky, Jari Kurri, Paul Coffey, Luc Robitaille, Tony Granato, Rob Blake, Darryl Sydor, Adam Deadmarsh, Ziggy Plaffy, Felix Potvin, Simon Gagne, Dustin Brown, Jeff Carter, Jarret Stoll and Jonathan Quick.

Clippers: Baron Davis, Marcus Camby, Chauncey Billups, Kenyon Martin, Chris Paul and Blake Griffin.

He introduced World Championship teams with the Kings this year and the Angels in 2002.

Here's a clip of him introducing the Clippers at the Staples Center.

The cause of death has yet to be announced, but in his last tweet, yesterday afternoon, he said, "I'm in the hospital waiting for an angiogram." So, most likely, it was heart trouble.

He was 54 years old.