Chico >> A meeting between the Central Washington and Whittier men’s basketball teams, with the Mac Martin Tournament championship on the line, was Ray Narbaitz’s opportunity to become the voice for Chico State sports.
But, Narbaitz wasn’t aware of it.
Bud Hanna, the voice for Chico State athletics for 20 years, was eager to retire and was in the hunt for a replacement.
Both teams wanted to simulcast the game and Hanna reached out to Narbaitz, offering him to do the play-by-play for the game. Narbaitz agreed and successfully called the game, which ended in triple overtime.
“What I didn’t know was that they set that whole thing up for Bud to hear me do a college game and see whether or not he thought I could handle the college level,” Narbaitz said. “If I could, he’d retire. I didn’t know it, but it was my audition. He retired and I took over Chico State.”
Narbaitz’s voice filled the radio waves of the north state as he called Chico State games throughout the ’60s and ’70s. He’d later become the first sports director at KHSL radio.
For his accomplishments and contributions to the athletic community, Narbaitz will join the ranks of the Chico Sports Hall of Fame. Narbaitz will be one of three inductees during the 46th annual Chico Sports Hall of Fame and Senior Athletes Banquet.
The banquet is set for Tuesday, May 8, at the Chico Elks Lodge, 1705 Manzanita Ave. Along with Narbaitz, Gerald Circo and Eileen Mason will be inducted as part of the 2018 Hall of Fame class.
The banquet also honors area schools’ top senior athletes and features the announcement of the Chico Sportsperson of the Year award.
Tickets to the event, sponsored by the Enterprise-Record, are on sale for $35 per ticket from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday at the E-R office, 400 E. Park Ave. in Chico. Tickets will be $45 after May 4, and ticket sales will be cut off at noon the day before the event on Monday, May 7, to get a head count for the caterer. Tickets will not be sold at the door.
Awards for the winning athletes and Hall of Fame recipients will be provided by Jimmy’s Trophies of Oroville.
Growing up in Stockton, Narbaitz, 78, was always surrounded by sports, which influenced him to pursue a career in sports media.
Narbaitz’s earliest memories were sitting in the stands alongside his father watching the Stockton Ports minor league baseball team. He got to meet boxing champion Joe Louis as a kid and even worked at the local speedway concession stand. He lived near the University of Pacific and became the towel boy for the football team.
“Sports was always around,” Narbaitz said. “I can remember being in grammar school and Dad and I watching the Friday night fights on TV. (Sports) were part of my life forever and are to this day.”
After Narbaitz’s family moved from Stockton to Merced, he attended broadcasting classes at Merced Junior College and was a self-proclaimed “exceedingly bad student.” However, he got a job working as a disc jockey in Merced.
“Started in broadcasting as a disc jockey in radio and believe it or not as a rock ’n’ roll disc jockey,” Narbaitz said with a chuckle. “Which was interesting because I never particularly liked rock ’n’ roll.”
It was Gary Avey, a former roommate and at the time program director at KHSL radio, who called Narbaitz and offered him a position in Chico to do play by play for Chico High football games.
“He heard me do play by play in Merced,” Narbaitz said. “I came up and interviewed for the job, took it and haven’t left ever since.”
Calling the Chico High football games led to taking over Chico State football and basketball games on the radio.
Then he started to dip into radio news and eventually sports on KHSL television.
“There was a method to my madness,” Narbaitz said. “I would do things because there wasn’t anybody on the Channel 12 staff who could tell you if a football was pumped up or stuffed. … I slowly worked my way over to sports.”
The only time Narbaitz was close to leaving Chico was when he interviewed for a television job in Fresno.
Stan Statham, a former news anchor and state assemblyman, had just been named news director at KHSL.
“Stan said, ‘Don’t take the job. They just made me news director and I want you to co-anchor the news with me.’ I said OK.”
He co-anchored the news and still kept his hand in sports, eventually becoming the sports director for the station.
“I wanted to do that when I started as a rock ’n’ roll DJ,” Narbaitz said. “I worked my way through the station.”
One of his most notable moments, however, didn’t involve broadcasting or sports at all.
“I have two defining moments of my life other than getting married and having kids,” he said. “One was being inducted into the Hall of Fame, the other was being gored by an elephant in Chico, California.”
When a traveling circus came to perform at Silver Dollar Speedway, Narbaitz was one of the special guests to ride an elephant to open the show.
While climbing aboard the animal, an elephant to his right turned its head, pinning his leg between the two animals. When one elephant tried to stand, it exposed a tusk, tearing into his leg.
“I looked down and here’s this big hole — and by the way it was a brand new pair of pants, first time I’d ever worn them,” Narbaitz quipped.
He’d recover and regain mobility in his leg but not until after receiving several bags of peanuts as gifts while in the hospital.
After working at KHSL, Narbaitz went into politics in 1979, becoming an administrative assistant for Statham, who became an assemblyman.
“He offered me a job seven times. I turned him down the first six. The seventh time I was in the hospital following the elephant thing,” Narbaitz said. “I claim I was still under the influence of the anesthetic and said yes.”
Now out of politics and the news business, Narbaitz is still tuned in with area sports. He’s a booster for the Chico State men’s basketball team and said he is ‘exceedingly impressed’ with head coach Greg Clink. He’s involved with the Chico Area Fly Fishers Association, where he contributes a column called the Fly of the Month to the monthly newsletter.
To earn a spot in the Chico Sports Hall of Fame, for which he was part of the first committee, means a lot to Narbaitz.
“It’s really a double shot. The first shot is knowing the Hall of Fame because I was one of the originators of it,” Narbaitz said. “The recognition was amazing knowing the history of the Hall of Fame. Number two, to join some of the people that are on it, who are real icons in Chico sports, people I had the pleasure of watching and covering, to join some of those people it’s a big deal. It meant quite a bit.”
He and his wife Bette still live in Chico and Narbaitz said he’s grateful to have found his way to this community.
“I did broadcasting here, I did politics here and I did fly fishing here. It provides me with that fly fishing itch to this day,” Narbaitz said. “It was a great place to raise my kids. It was small enough I could get involved in the community in a lot of different ways. I’ve always loved that involvement.”
Connect with Sports Writer Sharon Martin at 896-7778.
