SPORTSCASTER BOB DADAY IS RETIRING AND MOVING TO FLORDIA

Bob Daday says it's fitting that his final game as a local broadcaster tonight will take place at Liberty High's Memorial Gym and on Dec. 19.''My father gave me a box of game-by-game charts of all of the games he did when I was helping him as a kid and I got to Dec. 19, 1955, and that turned out to be the first game he ever did at Memorial Gym,'' Daday said. ''Now, Dec. 19, 2008 -- 53 years later -- will be the last game I do in the Lehigh Valley and it's also at Memorial Gym.''Tonight's Freedom-Liberty boys basketball broadcast on WSAN-1470 AM radio will end Daday's TV and radio career and close out 60 years of the Daday family name being associated with Lehigh Valley sports.Daday, 65, is moving, headed with his wife, Maryjane, for ''semi-retirement'' in Oviedo, Fla., near Orlando.

''It has been a wonderful ride; you don't do something for more than 30 years if you don't enjoy it, and I truly enjoyed being a part of the local sports scene,'' he said.Bob's father, John, who lives in Macungie, is a Lehigh Valley Basketball Hall of Fame broadcaster and a pioneer when it comes to local sports radio and television.Bob followed in his footsteps and began his radio career in 1971 with a Phillipsburg Catholic basketball game on an Easton radio station.He keeps detailed records and says tonight's basketball game in Bethlehem will be his 978th broadcast as a play-by-play man, either on local TV or radio, to go with 257 football games he has worked over 25 years.And, then there are the 1,625 interview shows he did as a local TV talk show host on Service Electric and RCN.

Gary Laubach, sports director at RCN Television, said Daday was a fixture on the local sports scene.''He was a Lehigh Valley sports staple and it will be strange not hearing Bob's voice doing local football or basketball,'' Laubach said. ''He carried on a great family tradition that started with his father.''

No. 1 loveBroadcasting may have been a part-time job for Daday -- he spent 10 years as a marketing supervisor at Mack Trucks and 25 years as an area manager for the U.S. Department of Treasury -- but it became his No. 1 love.

''There are so many games, so many players and coaches that stand out that it's hard to just select a few,'' said Daday, who has two daughters and six grandchildren. ''Basketball was my favorite sport. One thrill for me was doing an NCAA Tournament game in the mid-1980s, Temple against Lehigh at the Hartford Civic Center.

'But we were also there when Central Catholic made those state [boys basketball] title runs in 1984 and '86. I was so blessed because through all of these games, all of these nights, I met some terrific people.''Changing landscapeIn a highly competitive media environment, Daday worked hard to forge relationships, compile sponsors and hammer out agreements.

When he used to help carry the equipment for his father, radio was the only way most fans could stay connected to their favorite team.

And when cable TV came on the scene, the games were on tape-delay.

Now, both RCN and Service Electric do games live in addition to tape.''TV has really changed things, but at heart, I will be a radio guy and that's always No. 1 with me,'' Daday said. ''What I took pride in was bringing a certain level of enthusiasm to each broadcast.

It didn't matter who was playing; my goal was to make every broadcast sound like it was the seventh game of the NBA finals and to do my best to spotlight the young athletes who were playing.

''More announcing?

Daday said he will miss the area and the people he has come to know all of these years.

But he doesn't intend to miss broadcasting.

He has been in talks about possibly working games for the University of Central Florida or the Orlando Magic.

''I love to put on those headsets and getting behind the microphone,'' he said. ''That will always be in my blood. I don't think I'm done yet.''