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In high school, though, Lawler played basketball -- loved the game, its statistics, its angles, its beauty. But his on-court days ended at Bradley University.

"The reality was obvious," he says. "I was a speaker, not a player."

At the time the voice of the Bradley Braves was Chick Hearn and Lawler dreamed of following in Hearn's footsteps.

Lawler later worked at a Peoria radio station, which bid for Bradley basketball. "If we'd gotten that contract," Lawler says, "I imagine I'd still be doing Bradley Braves basketball. I'd have been there 50 years, happy as can be."

Frank Furino, a director for ABC Sports, calls Lawler the dean of NBA announcers.

"Hall of Fame? It should be embarrassed Ralph isn't there. I think he is overlooked because (A) of the bad team and (B) because all those years he worked in the shadow of Chick Hearn and the Lakers."

Former Clippers star Elton Brand, now a 76er, agreed.

"With his wit and dedication to the game, absolutely, this man should be in the Hall of Fame," Brand said.

"I've had two or three teams inquire about my availability over the years," he says. "I never seriously considered it. It would be like leaving your family for a family that had a nicer home or drove a bigger car."

One last thing. Guess how many games Lawler has missed in 30 years.

Zero.

He even did one broadcast despite having a kidney stone. "I passed it after the game," Lawler says matter of factly.

He did not say "bingo."

"But I wished I had," he says.

"When I got this job in 1978, I knew it was the last job I ever wanted to have," he says. "I am a Clipper for life."

And right here, on offer, are a couple of the nuggets that didn't make the story. For example, here's Lawler speaking about how he took on the challenge of helping former Clipper player Bill Walton overcome a speech impediment -- a stutter -- until Walton became such a talented broadcaster that he ended up on ESPN.

As odd couplish as the stately Lawler and free-spirited Walton might seem, they not only became broadcast partners, they also became dear friends. When Walton first got offered a talk show in San Diego while he was a Clipper, Lawler was the sidekick. Lawler would book guests, and Walton would do the interview -- but his stammer got in the way.

"Bill would finish the interview and I would spend six hours in the studio with a razor blade splicing," Lawler said. Walton, who has no trace of a stammer any more, says this of Lawler: "He is the envy of all humanity, he has a wonderful family, a glamorous and inspirational wife, tremendous children and grandchildren, a job he loves that allows him to exhibit the creative and performing genius that he is. He saved me so many times as a player and a broadcaster."