Remembering the legendary Al McCoy and how he shaped my life

I learned how to fold socks and shoot jumpers by listening to Al McCoy.

While I was a kid growing up after moving to Arizona in the early 1970s, a staple of my life was tuning into the radio and listening to Al call the play-by-play for the Phoenix Suns. I rarely missed the chance to follow along and pretend I was there, using those rolled-up socks and flinging them into the laundry basket in my bedroom throughout the night.

When Al would tell us the Suns were driving “left to right across your radio dial,” I was running point guard on the play. If it was a drive to the hoop for a layup, I simulated the action in real time. When he’d tell us there was pass out to the far wing, I was there ready to bury the baseline jumper.

And when he told us it was a “Wham, bam, slam!,” well, you get the picture. Once I discovered the Nerf ball and the little hoop you could hang over your door, I was in heaven.

And now, so is Al.

Tough news on Saturday

We lost the legendary Al McCoy on Saturday at the age of 91. The Suns informed us of his passing in a heartfelt news release that crushed a lot of us. I won’t lie, it made me cry.

It made me think of all the countless hours I spent watching and listening to him call Suns’ games for an amazing 51 years. I’ll admit wasn’t much of a big follower these last dozen years or so, but I used to record his broadcasts on a tape cassette, play them back nightly, and try to duplicate every play he described.

Whether it was the laundry basket or the Nerf hoop — and later, outside on the front porch where we hung a 10-foot-high regulation hoop off the garage — I faithfully listened to Al’s broadcasts and felt like I was right there on the court while he was calling the action.

In 1976 during the Suns’ appearance in the NBA Finals against the Boston Celtics, I must have replayed his call and re-enacted Garfield Heard’s famous “Shot Heard ‘Round the World” about a million times. I listened to the album, “The Sunderella Suns,” at least that many times or more.

The years went by and I stopped playing basketball for some reason. I stopped listening and watching it, too. But I never forgot about Al. Sadly, I only remember having one conversation with him all these years later. It wasn’t at Veterans Memorial Coliseum or Footprint Center.

An unexpected moment I’ll never forget

It was at Arrowhead Mall in northwest Phoenix many years ago.

I was shopping for birthday presents for my twins. Al stopped me and called me out by name.

“Hey, Bob, how are you doing? It’s Al McCoy,” I remember him saying. “Just wanted to let you know I love your work. I enjoy reading your articles.”

I was at a complete loss for words. “Al McCoy knows who I am?” I thought to myself. “No way!”

We gave each other a short hug, shook hands, and he told me he liked going to the mall just to walk around and get some exercise. I loved him for that. For all of it.

Now that he’s gone, I’m going to follow his advice and when I can, visit shopping malls and just walk around to get some exercise. Lord knows it can’t hurt.

I just wish I still had the Nerf basketball and the little hoop I could hang over the back of a door.

Reach McManaman atbob.mcmanaman@arizonarepublic. Follow him on X, formerly Twitter: @azbobbymac and listen to him live every Tuesday at 3:30 p.m. on Roc and Manuch on Fox Sports 910-AM.