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When the college basketball game ended at Allen Fieldhouse on Jan. 5, 2014, broadcaster Ted Leitner soaked in the quiet deflation of Kansas fans processing a 68-game non-conference winning streak stopped in its tracks.
Win at Kansas? Even among the tallest of tasks, it seemed a sequoia of an assignment.
San Diego State’s Skylar Spencer — 13 points, 9 rebounds, 6 blocks — played toe-to-toe with future NBA MVP Joel Embiid (12-12-5). Xavier Thames scored a game-high 16 points in the 61-57 head-turner.
Then came a voice through Leitner’s headset.
“The Aztecs had just beaten Kansas in Lawrence. Who does that?” Leitner recalled. “It was the biggest basketball win of all time for the program. I was waiting to start the postgame show.
“Then the station told me Jerry Coleman died. They said, ‘Ted, you need to make the announcement.’ I was shattered.”
Elation melted with the news that Leitner’s longtime Padres broadcast partner, the decorated fighter pilot who served in World War II and the Korean War, a former big-leaguer with the Yankees, had passed.
Leitner has been there for the highest of highs with the Aztecs, from the program’s meteoric rise under former coach Steve Fisher to the 2023 national championship game against mighty UConn.
No day, however, was more memorable than the snowy, sub-zero trip to the heart of Kansas.
“I hadn’t felt like that since my brother called me in 1978, right before I did the sports (segment at Channel 8), to tell me my mom had passed away,” Leitner said.
San Diego State will honor the one person who has been along the sidelines for 30 years, longer than any other, when the Aztecs host Wyoming at Viejas Arena on Saturday night.
Leitner has served as San Diego’s eyes and ears for the ups, the downs, the controversial calls, the clutch shots and personal heartbreak. He’s watched a program grow from irrelevance to national prominence.
The end of this season also will cap a broadcast career spanning 58 years.
Leitner called his last Padres game in 2020 and ended his run with San Diego State football at the end of the 2023 season. He worked at Channel 8, chronicling the long-gone Clippers and Chargers. He hosted a drive-time radio show.
Now, the finish line looms.
“I know it’s going away,” said Leitner, 77. “I’m not kidding myself. It’s going to be very sad. I’m savoring every minute of it.”
Leitner’s stellar run has been personal to a city that followed its sporting loves through him.
San Diego shared its jubilation and frustrations with Leitner, who saw the Aztecs and other teams he covered through the lens of a fan. He rode the emotional wave of each game and moment, unafraid to call out poor play or questionable effort.
To consider a voice so familiar and invested going silent underscores an era without peer.
“It’s been wonderful,” Leitner said. “I’ll miss it. I’ll be so glad I had it. You had an amazing run. You have no complaints. Don’t linger on it. When it’s over, put a sock in it.”
Aztecs basketball delivered Leitner’s No. 1 moment.
That came in Houston’s NRG Stadium on April 1, 2023, when Lamont Butler hit a jump shot from the right side with no time left to clip Florida Atlantic 72-71. The victory earned San Diego State its first trip to the national championship game.
“That’s 1 and 1A, because one led to the other,” Leitner said. “We’d never seen it before. That was the biggest play or shot of any Aztec sport in history.”
Another snapshot came when Leitner met Kawhi Leonard, who would become a perennial All-Star in the NBA and MVP runner-up.
“The first time we met, I shook hands with him,” Leitner said. “I shook hands (with baseball hall of famer) Johnny Bench. I’ve got big hands. I could palm a basketball when I was younger.
“His hand enveloped mine like I was a little kid. Kawhi’s hands were beyond Johnny’s. I was like, ‘Oh my, look at those mitts.’ “
It’s been a long, memorable road for someone who started with a $10 gig covering high school football in Cushing, Okla.
“I felt like Curt Gowdy,” Leitner said.
Time and health had a say at the end.
Glaucoma made calling sports like baseball and football increasingly difficult.
“My right eye is gone for the most part,” he said.
Leitner wanted to finish with a clean 30 years covering Aztec basketball. What will he say to close his final game, which could happen in a postseason tournament?
“Good question,” said Leitner, pausing to consider the moment. “I’ve never been in this spot before. My last broadcast with the Padres, we just wrapped it up. The team sent something out after the season.
“There was no speech at my last (Aztecs) football game. My last day at Channel 8, I didn’t know it was my last day.”
The day will come sooner than Leitner wants.
“All those memories make you sad, but it was wonderful and, good Lord, you’ve had a great life,” Leitner said. “I will tell myself, spend a day and feel sorry for yourself. Then remind yourself of all those great people you got to work with and remember you haven’t worked a day in your life.
“Lucky ol’ Ted.”
Lucky us.
Wyoming at Aztecs
When: 5 p.m. Saturday
Where: Viejas Arena
On the air: CBS Sports Network, 760-AM
Originally Published:
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