By Rick Kaempfer
BABY ONIONS : CHUCK SWIRSKY
Chuck Swirsky is in the midst of his 25th season as an NBA play-by-play man and his 15th year doing radio play-by-play for the Bulls . Next month he ' ll do his 2000th game . " If everything goes according to plan ," he says , " it will happen on January 13 , a Friday night , against Oklahoma City ."
That ' s a lot of basketball , but if you think that has led Chuck to get sick of it , you would be wrong . In fact , a few years ago , Swirsky started a new tradition after Bulls wins . " During Covid , we were doing road games live from the United Center . One night the Bulls won a game , and I did a little dance , and our engineer Rich Wyatt was taping it . He asked if he could put it up on the internet , and I said sure . Next thing we knew , we got 25,000 hits . So , we thought , why not ? Let ' s keep doing it . And it really caught on . I saw ( Golden State Warriors player ) Stephen Curry , who I have known since he was a kid , in the hallway before a game last year , and we chatted , and at the end of the chat , I said , ' have a good game .' I took about ten or fifteen steps , and he called out to me , " Oh Chuck , Chuck . You ' re not dancing tonight ."
Chuck Swirsky
Does Chuck take dance move requests ? Yes , he does . " Make a suggestion to me on Twitter @ ctsbulls if you have a dance move you ' d like me to try ."
Chuck doesn ' t consider himself a dancer , even if that ' s how he is now known . On the other hand , he also never really considered himself a writer , but with a new book out called Always a Pleasure ( eckhartzpress . com ), that ' s another claim he can no longer make . " I honestly have no idea how it ' s going to go ," he said . " I ' m new to all of this ."
Fans of Chicago radio will love the chapters about his broadcasting career before the NBA . Chuck has worked with some of the all-time radio greats . " When I was at the Loop in the early ‘ 80s ," he says , " the ratings were huge . It was a thrill to work with people like Steve & Garry , Sky Daniels , Mitch Michaels , Patti Haze . The best . We had some bumps in the road because I was doing sports , and I don ' t think they knew quite what to do with me , but it all worked out ."
It led to his next radio gig on WGN Radio . " When I look back at those years , I am so blessed that ( WGN GM ) Dan Fabian gave me the chance to walk in the door . I worked with superstar after superstar . Wally Phillips # 1 in Chicago year after year after year . Nobody was remotely as big as Wally . Roy Leonard was an incredible interviewer and would bring in all these famous guests . They knew that Roy wasn ' t going to turn it into 60 minutes . Bob Collins was just a guy who brought his life into the program , and people loved that . They wanted to hear someone who was real . Milt Rosenberg was an intellectual giant . And we haven ' t even talked about the sports personalities . It was an on-air smorgasbord of greatness ."
Swirsky became particularly close to WGN morning man Bob Collins . He will never forget how he heard the news about Collins ' untimely passing . " I was broadcasting a Toronto Raptors game versus the Hawks ," he recalls . " I usually turn my phone to vibrate , and I heard it go off early in the opening quarter . It was blowing up . I pointed to the phone and asked my engineer to answer the calls . I was afraid something had happened to my family because there were so many calls . During the time out I asked what
was going on , and he said , ' I ' ve got some bad news . A friend of yours named Bob Collins died in a plane crash .' And then he said , ' Chuck we ' re on the air .' I had so many emotions ripping through my mind , my heart , my soul , but I had to immediately get focused on the game . It was one of the hardest broadcasts I ' ve ever done . Bob and I were close . It was heart-wrenching . I still get emotional talking about that day ."
But Swirsky has had to overcome adversity his whole life . He was just a boy when his father , a naval officer , passed away . His mother worked three jobs to take care of him . " And I never heard her complain once ," he says .
Her example led Chuck to adopt a strategy of life he calls the Four Ps . " I believe in positivity because life is not a straight line . If you stay positive and surround yourself with positive people , you are bound to be happier . For me , my purpose is to inspire others . I want to make a difference in people ' s lives . And passion is so important . It can ' t be fake . If you have it for real , you will be able to do anything . And that leads to perseverance . Think Walter Payton climbing up that hill . If you have positivity , purpose , passion , and perseverance , you can live your dreams and accomplish your goals . I guarantee it ."
Chuck ' s book Always a Pleasure is available at chuckswirskythebook . com . You can hear Chuck doing play-by-play for Bulls games ( with former Bull Bill Wennington ) all season long on WSCR-AM 670 , the Score . ( Full disclosure : Rick Kaempfer is the co-publisher of Eckhartz Press ) december 2022 illinoisentertainer . com 19