By Jeff McDonald, Staff Writer | San Antonio Express-News (SAEN), 2025-04-04 08:30:33
由生成式人工智能翻译，译文内容可能不准确或不完整，以原文为准。
那是在1979年的一个傍晚，年轻的 比尔·舍宁(Bill Schoening) 走下公共汽车，来到一个他从未到过的城镇，它位于一个他从未见过的州的中心地带。他审视着自己无法预测的未来。
从圣路易斯到伊利诺伊州帕纳需要乘坐两辆公共汽车。舍宁从他的家乡费城飞到圣路易斯，在那里开始了他的广播生涯。
他20岁，离家800英里，即将开始他梦寐以求的广播事业：在一个人口不足6000人的小镇报道市议会会议，那里的汽车站同时也是当地的自助洗衣店。
简而言之，舍宁觉得自己仿佛身处天堂。
“我想住在我家附近的人比这个镇上的人还多，” 舍宁说。“但这将是我事业的起点。”
于是，一段跨越近46年的广播生涯开始了，过去的24年他担任马刺队的解说员，这使得 舍宁 四次荣获美联社的“德克萨斯州实况转播奖”，并在德克萨斯州广播名人堂中留下了他的名字。
对于 舍宁 来说，这段旅程将于4月13日结束，届时马刺队将在霜冻银行中心主场迎战多伦多猛龙队，迎来常规赛的最后一场比赛。
现年66岁的 舍宁 决定在本赛季结束后退休。
“是时候了，” 舍宁 说。“我干这行已经24年了。我想趁自己还年轻，去探索其他的挑战和兴趣。”
这样做， 舍宁 将留下难以企及的遗产，无论是在圣安东尼奥还是在整个NBA。
如果没有发生什么意外， 舍宁 将在完成连续2280场马刺队比赛的解说后谢幕，这是联盟现役第二长的纪录。亚特兰大老鹰队广播员史蒂夫·霍尔曼已经完成了超过3000场连续解说。
NBA纪录由已故的洛杉矶湖人队实况转播员奇克·赫恩保持，他完成了3338场连续解说。
“我过去常常开玩笑说，我将在37-38赛季赶上 奇克，” 舍宁 说。
舍宁 在2001-02赛季取代了杰·霍华德——他本身就是圣安东尼奥的传奇人物。
他参与解说了马刺队五次NBA总冠军中的四次。他解说了蒂姆·邓肯(Tim Duncan)、托尼·帕克(Tony Parker)和马努·吉诺比利(Manu Ginobili)一起打的每一场比赛。他已经宣布了 维克托·文班亚马(Victor Wembanyama) 迄今为止的每一场比赛。
马刺队高级广播主管迈克·基基里洛表示， 舍宁 真正的魔力往往体现在一月份在明尼苏达州的那些普通的周一夜晚上。
“他与球队一起经历了所有伟大的时刻，” 基基里洛 说。“而且他让所有其他的时刻听起来都充满激情和乐趣。”
对于一个曾经带着晶体管收音机在费城街头闲逛的孩子来说，过去的四十年简直就像一场清醒的梦。
在成长过程中， 舍宁 的生活总是与耳机和最大音量相伴。
白天，他会沉迷于排名前40位的电台音乐，其中费城灵魂乐队哈罗德·梅尔文和蓝调乐团是他特别喜欢的。
晚上，他会收听一位名叫拜伦·萨姆的德克萨斯州出生的广播员解说他心爱的费城费城人队的比赛。
闭上眼睛，在黑暗中，耳边回响着 萨姆 的声音， 舍宁 勾勒出了自己未来的愿景。
“我听着比赛入睡，心想，‘这就是我想做的事情，’” 舍宁 说。
从西天主教高中毕业后， 舍宁 在坦普尔大学学习了一年广播专业。他认为课程过于理论化和深奥，并且动手实践不够，因此 舍宁 参加了美国广播学院为期六个月的课程。
他于1979年4月7日从广播学校毕业。十六天后，他乘坐飞机，然后乘坐两辆公共汽车前往帕纳。
舍宁 接受了WKXK的新闻工作，部分原因是当权者允许他兼职解说高中篮球比赛。
一年后， 舍宁 搬到了拉梅萨，位于拉伯克以南，担任类似的职位。从那以后，他一直住在德克萨斯州。
1983年，23岁的 舍宁 离开了拉梅萨，前往亨茨维尔，在那里，除了在山姆休斯顿州立大学解说大学橄榄球、篮球和棒球比赛外，他还报道了那里的州立监狱的动态。
舍宁 报道了29起处决。
“但我只目睹了六起，”他说。
舍宁 的下一个重大突破是在奥斯汀，他在KLBJ和KVET电台解说了长角牛队的橄榄球、篮球和棒球比赛，长达12年。
克雷格·韦(Craig Way)是 舍宁 十个赛季的德克萨斯橄榄球比赛和九个赛季的篮球比赛的色彩评论员，他称他以前的搭档是“一个机构和一个偶像”。
“他体现了真正的德克萨斯广播成功故事，” 韦 说。“他戴过很多帽子，从最大的市场到最小的市场。”
在整个马刺队的旅行团队中， 舍宁 被称为“费城比利”——除了前控球后卫贝诺·尤德里，他总是搞错顺序，永远称球队的电台工作人员为“比利·费城”—— 舍宁 将他对家乡的热爱表现在言语中。
韦 过去常常开玩笑说， 舍宁 即使在保险研讨会上也能找到乐趣。
“然后有一天，” 韦 说，“他证明我是对的。”
在90年代初，德克萨斯篮球队在夏洛特参加一个锦标赛。长角牛队最后一场比赛结束后， 舍宁 和 韦 回到酒店，走向电梯，准备结束这一天。
这时， 舍宁 听到从其中一个宴会厅传来欢乐的喧闹声。那是一个聚会——天哪——保险业大会代表。
在 韦 阻止他之前， 舍宁 已经站在卡拉OK舞台上，热情地演唱着诱惑乐队的“我的女孩”。
“他把整个地方都带动起来了，” 韦 回忆道。
在 韦 看来，这种始终存在的快乐是 舍宁 广播事业的秘诀。
“他是最专业的广播员，同时也是最和蔼可亲的，” 韦 说。“人们可以看得出他玩得很开心。这才是对他真正的赞美。”
即使在加入马刺队后， 舍宁 和他的妻子格里仍然住在奥斯汀。在主场比赛结束后，他经常从霜冻银行中心向北长途驾车，收听他最喜欢的乡村音乐电台——新布朗费尔斯的KNBT电台——以保持清醒。
最近的一个晚上，也许在他一生中为数不多的几次中， 舍宁 并不怎么想听收音机。
他默默地开车回家，思考着自从帕纳以来他走了多远。
“我一直在想我往返的次数，所有不同的球队，所有我报道过的不同的人，所有不同的回忆，” 舍宁 说。
多年来， 舍宁 逐渐认同了德克萨斯州创作歌手罗伯特·厄尔·基恩创作的最著名的歌曲中最著名的一句歌词，并将其作为自己生活和事业的座右铭。
那句歌词是：道路永无止境，派对永不落幕。
对于 舍宁 来说，这条道路——至少与马刺队有关的道路——可能即将结束。
然而，了解“费城比利”的人都知道，派对永远不会结束。
“我不认为我们会找到像他这样性格的人，” 基基里洛 说。“他为他所做的一切带来了很多快乐。我们会想念他的。”
San Antonio Spurs broadcasters Bill Schoening interviews Tony Parker dueing the 2009-10 NBA Playoffs.
Bill Schoening has been the Spurs radio voice since 2001. He was recently inducted into the Texas Radio Hall of Fame.
点击查看原文：Farewell Philly Billy: Longtime Spurs radio voice set to retire
Farewell Philly Billy: Longtime Spurs radio voice set to retire
It was late in the day back in 1979 when a young Bill Schoening climbed off a bus in a town he had never visited smack dab in the middle of a state he had never seen and took stock of a future he could not predict.
It had taken two buses to get to Pana, Ill., from St. Louis, where Schoening had flown from his hometown of Philadelphia to begin his life in broadcasting.
He was 20 years old, 800 miles from home, and set to commence his long-dreamed-about radio career by covering city council meetings in a town of less than 6,000 people, where the bus station doubled as the local laundromat.
In short, Schoening was in heaven.
“I think more people lived on my block growing up,” Schoening said. “But this is where it was going to start.”
And so began a radio career that has spanned nearly 46 years, the past 24 spent as the voice of the Spurs, one that helped make Schoening a four-time winner of the Associated Press’ Texas Play-By-Play award and etched his name in the Texas Radio Hall of Fame.
For Schoening, the ride will come to an end April 13, when the Spurs host the Toronto Raptors in the regular-season finale at the Frost Bank Center.
The 66-year-old Schoening has decided to retire effective at the end of the season.
“It’s time,” Schoening said. “I’ve been doing this for 24 years. I wanted to be young enough to still be able to explore other challenges and interests.”
In doing so, Schoening will leave a legacy difficult to match, both in San Antonio and across the NBA.
Barring an unforeseen hiccup, Schoening will sign off having called 2,280 Spurs games in a row, the second-longest active streak in the league. Atlanta Hawks broadcaster Steve Holman has worked more than 3,000 consecutive games.
The NBA record is held by late Los Angeles Lakers play-by-play man Chick Hearn, who logged 3,338 straight.
“I always used to kid with people that I was going to catch Chick during the ‘37-38 season,” Schoening said.
Schoening replaced Jay Howard – a San Antonio institution in his own right – to open the 2001-02 season.
He was on the mic for four of the franchise’s five NBA championships. He called every game Tim Duncan, Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili played together. He has announced every game of Victor Wembanyama’s career so far.
Schoening’s true magic, said Spurs senior director of broadcasting Mike Kickirillo, often shined through on the random Monday nights in the Minnesota in the middle of January.
“He’s been with the team for all the great moments,” Kickirillo said. “And he made all the other moments sound big and fun, too.”
For a kid who used to walk around Philly with a transistor radio practically soldered to his hand, the past four decades have been a waking dream.
Growing up, Schoening lived life with ear buds in and the volume full.
During the day, he would jam to top 40 radio, with Philadelphia soul group Harold Melvin & the Blue Notes a particular favorite.
At night, he would listen to a Texan-born broadcaster named Byron Saam call his beloved Philadelphia Phillies’ games.
Eyes closed in the dark, with Saam’s voice in his ear, Schoening hatched a vision of his own future.
“I was falling asleep listening to the games and thinking, ‘This is what I want to do,’ ” Schoening said.
Upon graduation from West Catholic High, Schoening spent one year studying broadcasting at Temple University. Deeming the curriculum too theoretic and esoteric and not nearly hands-on enough for his tastes, Schoening enrolled in a six-month program at the American Academy of Broadcasting.
He graduated from broadcasting school on April 7, 1979. Sixteen days later, he was on a plane and then two buses to Pana.
Schoening accepted the news job at WKXK in part because the powers that be allowed him to call high school basketball games on the side.
A year later, Schoening moved to Lamesa, south of Lubbock, to take a similar position. He has lived in Texas ever since.
In 1983, the 23-year-old Schoening left Lamesa for Huntsville, where in addition to calling college football, basketball and baseball games at Sam Houston State, he also covered the goings-on at the state prison there.
Schoening reported on 29 executions.
“But I only witnessed six,” he said.
Schoening’s next big break came in Austin, where he spent 12 years calling Longhorn football, basketball and baseball on KLBJ and KVET.
Craig Way, Schoening’s color commentator for 10 Texas football seasons and nine basketball seasons, calls his former partner “an institution and an icon.”
“He exemplifies the true Texas broadcasting success story,” Way said. “He’s worn so many hats, from the biggest markets to the smallest markets.”
Known throughout the Spurs’ traveling party as “Philly Billy” – except by former point guard Beno Udrih, who could never get the order right and forever dubbed the team’s radio guy “Billy Philly” – Schoening wears his love for his hometown on his sleeve.
Way used to joke that Schoening could find a way to have a good time at an insurance seminar.
“And then one day,” Way said, “he proved me right.”
In the early ‘90s, the Texas basketball team was in Charlotte for a tournament. After the Longhorns’ final game, Schoening and Way retired to the hotel and headed toward the elevators to call it a night.
Then Schoening heard a convivial commotion coming from one of the ballrooms. It was a party of – lo and behold – insurance conventioneers.
Before Way could stop him, Schoening was on the karaoke stage blazing through a rendition of “My Girl” by the Temptations.
“He got the whole place stirred up,” Way recalled.
As Way sees it, that ever-present joie de vivre has been the secret sauce to Schoening’s broadcast career.
“He’s the most professional broadcaster around, while at the same the most affable,” Way said. “People could tell he was having a good time. That’s the real compliment to him.”
Even after joining the Spurs, Schoening and his wife Gerry continued to make their home in Austin. After home games, he often makes the long drive north from the Frost Bank Center listening to his favorite Americana radio station – KNBT out of New Braunfels – to stay awake.
On a recent night, and maybe for one of the first times in his life, Schoening wasn’t much in the mood for radio.
He cruised home in quiet, pondering how far he had come since Pana.
“I was thinking about all the times I’ve made this drive back and forth, all the different teams, all the different guys I’ve covered, all the different memories,” Schoening said.
Over the years, Schoening has come to identify with the most famous line from the most famous song penned by Texas singer-songwriter Robert Earl Keen, adopting it as a tagline for his own life and career.
That line: The road goes on forever, and the party never ends.
For Schoening, the road – at least as it pertains to the Spurs – might be coming to an end.
Knowing Philly Billy, however, the party never will.
“I don’t think we’ll find anyone else like him with a personality like his,” Kickirillo said. “He brought a lot of joy to everything he did. We’re going to miss him.”
By Jeff McDonald, Staff Writer, via San Antonio Express-News