Monterey Peninsula - 65° Magazine

I’ll never be able to sell an autobiography. I don’t have the
hardship story that many others have.
PERSONA
undercurrent, Gary winks before “Chris” concedes
the point. The fact is there’s a little threat of truth
in each of Gary’s repartees, from his seemingly
innocent comments about sports, to his purposefully
placed witticisms about the state of culture today.
Gary is keen on what’s going on around him, and
he’s not afraid to call a spade a spade.
Growing up in San Jose, California as the son of
laborers and entrepreneurs, Gary lived a life that
might best be recapped through a collage of
sports highlights. In frame one, Gary is a two-yearold
swimming diaper-free in the muddy irrigation
ditches of the family’s apricot and pear orchards. In
frame two, nine-year-old Gary and his dad return
to the orchards from a Little League game. Gary
watches his dad irrigate the orchards by the car’s
headlights. In frame three, 10-year-old Gary picks
up a basketball, shooting hoops in the driveway for
hours on end each day until his skills eventually take
him to high school, then college.
“I’ll never be able to sell an autobiography. I don’t
have the hardship story that many others have,”
Gary confesses. “I observed my parents’ hard work
and devotion to the family, and just did my best to
mimic it.”
Gary is the child of Evelyn and Bill “Willie” Radunich
(Gary dropped the “U” to preserve the name’s
proper pronunciation). He credits them as his role
models, having been taught more by example than
by lecture. “One thing Dad did say was, ‘unless
you really know a person, don’t idolize them,’”
Gary says. Years ago, his father recounted a story
about former Giants announcer, Lon Simmons, and
how he once snubbed a young Gary after asking
for Simmons’ autograph. “The irony is, I had him
on my show a couple of times,” he shrugs. “But,
whatever.” Gary let’s most things roll off of his back,
believing that the only opinions that matter are of
the people closest to him.
Family customs are another key ingredient in
“recipe Gary.” The Radnich’s are longtime Bay Area
sports habitués. Evelyn, Willie, and the kids would
head to dinner at the Fisherman’s Grotto—where
Gary takes his family today—following games. Tito,
one of the Grotto’s waiters, remembers Gary when
he was just a sprout. “I knew Gary when he was just
this high,” he says, flattening his hand at waist level.
Folded into the nooks and crannies of Gary’s values
are the observations that inspired him to become
an “old-fashioned kinda guy.” At 89, Gary’s mother
has built a life around volunteerism and still refuses
to miss Gary’s shows. As for Gary’s father, up until he
passed away at 86, Willie was known for trimming
the trees at a convent in Los Gatos for no other
reason than because he enjoyed helping. Willie was
also a pragmatic man. Tending the orchards often
required the assistance of farmhands. And on a few
occasions, hands were caught sleeping in trees,
their limbs draped over the branches like willows.
One time, “Grandpa Willie” took matters into
his own hands. Grasping the trunk of the tree, he
shook those Sleeping Beauties to the ground. Alicia
Radnich, Gary’s wife, refers to that day as “a true Ma
and Pa Kettle moment.”
Just about the only thing Radnich didn’t inherit
was his dad’s aptitude for craftsmanship. “Dad
always said he might as well do a job himself
because he’d just have to do it again anyhow,”
Gary chuckles. “At home, I can fix light bulbs. I try
to fix other things too. But ultimately, Alicia comes
along and corrects it.”
Over the decades, life has peppered small parodies
of its lessons around Gary. He has reconciled these
experiences and connected life philosophies to his
every move—in the studio, in the home, and in his
conduct—all while living an abstemious lifestyle.
“My mom may be Scottish, but I don’t drink
alcohol,” Gary admits. Aside from not liking the
taste, Gary says that if you want to be a wise guy for
a living, you have to be clear headed. “TV viewers
will occasionally accuse me of being drunk when
they disagree with what I say,” Gary admits. “Guess
the joke is on them.”
Gary has accumulated more than two decades of
experience in the sports industry, including coverage
of dozens of Super Bowls and World Series. He also
serves as KNBR talk show host for The Gary Radnich
Show, as KRON 4’s evening sportscaster and as
co-host of the 2009 49ers Postgame Live with Willie
Brown and Eric Davis. Regardless, he claims to lead
a “neighborhood” life. “I go to work. I take the kids
to school. I pick them up. We eat dinner. We go to
bed. Then, do it all again the next day,” he says,
matter of fact. And what’s wrong with that? He’s Gary
Radnich, the indiscriminate voice of the Bay Area.
He’s off-the-cuff and in the rough, but he’s also the
kind of man you can take home to Mother. °
INSIDE KNBR 680 RADIO, SAN FRANCISCO
Photography by KEVIN THOMAS