Sportscaster Stu Nathan Dies

Longtime L.A. Television Fixture

Los Angeles, CA –
Longtime Los Angeles sportscaster Stu Nahan, who worked for three decades in the Los Angeles market and made appearances in several films, died at his Studio City home on December 26. He was 81.

The cause of death was lymphoma, which he had been diagnosed with in January 2006.

At the time of his retirement from television in 1999, Nahan had been a sportscaster for three different Los Angeles stations. In addition, he had done pre- and post-game radio shows for the Los Angeles Dodgers, and had worked telecasts of the Los Angeles Kings’ hockey games.

Nahan’s affinity for hockey came from experience. He was a goalie at McGill College in Montreal, and was signed by the NHL’s Toronto Maple Leafs in 1946. He played for a minor league franchise, Los Angeles Monarchs, but his career ended when the team folded in 1952.

Following an apprenticeship in Los Angeles under veteran sports announcer Bob Kelley, Nahan began his broadcasting career in 1956, as a play-by-play announcer for the Modesto Reds, a minor league baseball team. He began his first nightly sports reports on a Sacramento television station.

In addition to his sports resume, Nathan hosted a children’s TV program in Sacramento, and later moved to Philadelphia, where he had another children’s show. He also did play-by-play for Philadelphia’s professional hockey team, the Flyers, and its football team, the Eagles.

In 1968 he moved to Los Angeles, where he was hired as a sportscaster at KABC-TV Channel 7. In 1977 he moved to KNBC-TV Channel 4 in 1977 and in 1988 to KTLA-TV Channel 5, where he remained until his retirement.

Nahan also appeared as a sportscaster in a number of movies and television series, most memorably the TV movie Brian’s Song, and the Rocky films, starring Sylvester Stallone..

He is survived by his wife, three children, five grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren.