January 23, 1990 - The true architect of the most famous basketball introduction in the world is none other than Tommy Edwards, who served as the Chicago Bulls' P.A. announcer for 25 years. Edwards, a DJ at Chicago's WLS, initially experimenting with using Michael Jackson's "Thriller" and the theme to Miami Vice to introduce the Bulls in the mid-80's. The Alan Parsons Project's "Sirius" took hold later in the decade, first identified by Williams as a potential starting lineup candidate during a night out at the Biograph Theater.
Edwards, it turned out, never got to see his baby grow into a worldwide phenomenon firsthand. He departed from the Bulls in March 1990, less than two months following his Jan. 23 performance shown above.
With Edwards heading east to take over as program director of a CBS-owned radio station in Boston, the Bulls hired Ray Clay to finish out the 1989-90 season. Despite the blacked out Sirius starting lineup being Edwards' baby (including the phrase, "the man in the middle"), it was Clay who'd foster and grow the routine into a spectacle over the course of six Chicago Bulls championships throughout the 1990's.
Clay held onto the Bulls' P.A. position until 2002 and in 2006, Edwards returned to Chicago, serving as the Bulls' P.A. announcer for 13 more years, retiring in 2019.
An Oral History of the Greatest Starting Lineup Introduction in Sports History: www.theringer....
26 сен 2024
