A KING IS CROWNED HOCKEY TO HONOR VETERAN ANNOUNCER.

Byline: Matt McHale Staff Writer

Saturday night in Bakersfield - and Bob Miller is doing homework.

The NHL regular season is still two weeks away. An exhibition game between the Kings and San Jose is not being televised.

It is one of those Santa Ana September nights probably better spent by his beloved backyard pool in Woodland Hills, but Miller and his wife, Judy, hop in the car for the hundred-mile drive to the cusp of Central California.

There is country music on the radio and laughter in the air. If you don't think this is the road that has led to Miller's induction into the Hockey Hall of Fame today in Toronto, think again.

In a market that is slightly fanatical but mostly skeptical about hockey, Miller's job as the Kings broadcaster in the Los Angeles area always has been about much more than X's and O's. Before the game in Bakersfield, he has his annual dinner with ``Mrs. Wheeler'' a 70-year-old Kings nut who has been writing him for years and is counting the days until he comes through again.

Fans who have been listening to Kings games for his 28 years on the job or just arrived from New Jersey or Kentucky stop him to say hello. Miller shares hilarious stories with anyone, on anything from the club's irascible first owner Jack Kent Cooke to epic snowstorms in Buffalo to the night he nearly was attacked by a fan in the visiting radio booth.

In between handshakes, Miller watches the team and worries about starting goaltender Stephane Fiset, who injured his knee the night before in Anaheim. Miller knows Fiset, who has a long history in the trainer's room, could be gone awhile. Seven weeks later, Fiset still isn't back.

With Judy at his side for the game and the past 37 years, Miller is the last to say he is Kings' royalty. But he might be the only one.

``He is the single most important person to the organization,''club president Tim Leiweke said of Miller. ``Great Kings teams and players have come and gone, but Bob has been the mainstay in Los Angeles.''

Leiweke did not mention the really bad Kings teams that Miller kept exciting with his enthusiastic broadcast style. They are as much a part of his legacy as the classic call he made the night Wayne Gretzky passed Gordie Howe as the the leading scorer in NHL history.

There was a particularly lousy stretch in the mid-`80s when the Kings were getting beaten up in Canada. After the mighty Edmonton Oilers scored a short-handed goal to make the game 9-1, Miller said, ``This is the most goals the Kings have allowed in . . . oh, two weeks.''

``You're expecting him to say like, '10 years,' '' former broadcast partner Nick Nickson said. ``His timing was so perfect, like Jack Benny. I was laughing so hard, I had to leave the booth. Bob kept talking and kept a straight face, but if you hear a tape of that call you can hear me laughing hysterically in the background.''

The NHL won't play that tape today when Miller is inducted along with Chicago Blackhawks and Montreal Canadiens center Denis Savard and Joe Mullen. But they should.

On those nights in the Forum when the Kings might draw fewer than 3,000, Miller was the voice of a better tomorrow.

``He is the reason I am in this business,'' said Kings TV producer Bob Borgan, who grew up listening to Miller. ``If it wasn't for him, I probably would have been a pharmacist. He enjoys his life and that come through to everyone he meets. It especially comes through for the listeners he's never met.''

Miller, 62, admits he grew up hearing voices on the South Side of Chicago. Standing in the outfield of a little league or high school game, he used to mimic the broadcast heroes of the day, Bob Elson and Jack Brickhouse.

He inherited the fun-loving personality of his father, Jim, a tavern owner, and once took a flyer by introducing himself to Elson at a Chicago White Sox game. Elson, a member of baseball's Hall of Fame, surprised Miller by bringing him into the booth and showing him around.

``That kind of approach always stayed with him,'' said Jim Fox, Miller's partner on television the past 11 years. ``There is no ego there. He just wants to help any way he can.

``When I first left the team and went into broadcasting, I told him he was going to be carrying me for a couple of years. But not long after he came to me and said, `If you want to disagree with me about something on the air, go ahead. It will make us better.' That just doesn't happen in this business.''

It wasn't all Pollyana. His father died during his first year at the University of Iowa. His younger brother, Ron, died eight years ago. The Kings had so many owners over the years, just one ``We're going in a different direction'' memo might have ended his ride to the Hall of Fame.

He occasionally wondered about more lucrative network jobs. Several years ago, Miller thought seriously about an offer with the Phoenix Coyotes when his deal with the Kings was about to expire. The club decided to give him a lifetime contract that pays almost $300,000 a year.

``The thing I am proudest of is the longevity,'' Miller said. ``I've been around so many great people, but with all the different owners, it would have been easy for one to say, `That's it.'

``In the past few weeks, a lot of people have asked what I will say at the induction ceremony. There are so many people to thank, but I think I'm most thankful for the opportunity to be a part of this.''

It wasn't always so, especially after leaving Madison, Wis., for California in 1973. Cooke, the Kings' first owner, recognized the importance of the play-by-play man in building a relationship with the warm-weather fans. He rode Miller hard.

In an attempt to generate more revenue, Cooke once suggested to Miller the uniform number of star center Marcel Dionne be changed from 16 to 240Z to promote one of the cars by top advertiser Datsun.

Cooke also was notoriously frugal and was outraged after learning Miller's starting salary was $22,000.

After calming down, Cooke said, ``OK, but don't let anyone know how much I've paying you.''

``No problem,'' Miller thought, ``I'm more embarrassed about it than you are.''

Until expansion in the `90s, the Kings' closest road game was Vancouver. They once were the only team in their division that did not play in the Eastern time zone.

Being away from home could be difficult with a wife and two children, Kristin, now 35, and Kevin, now 33.

They grew up seeing their dad on a television screen, but it was Judy's job to take Kevin to 4 a.m. hockey practice at the old ice rink on Topanga Boulevard.

``I used to hang out with the dads and drink coffee,'' Judy said. ``Kevin changed to baseball when he was 11.''

Judy and Bob Miller met on a blind date in Milwaukee. He was doing play-by-play football and hockey at the University of Wisconsin and his broadcasting career always was part of their romance.

``I know there have been tough times over the years when she wanted me home more,'' Miller said. ``But she never complained. There always was love and support. If I was happy, she was happy. You can not ask for more.''

The Millers moved to Woodland Hills 27 years ago at the suggestion of legendary Lakers broadcaster Chick Hearn.

With the kids grown and gone, the couple enjoy long walks in the neighborhood almost daily.

On Sunday, Judy rises early to sing at St. Luke's Lutheran Church in Woodland Hills. Miller sings and plays guitar at home and at parties.

Judy Miller said if Cooke, who died several years ago, still owned the Kings, they would have left Los Angeles.

But looking back, Judy said her husband's time with Cooke probably cemented his place in L.A. broadcasting history.

``I think Bob finally decided he couldn't please him, so he was going to have to please himself,'' Judy said. ``It's as if he was saying, `If my best wasn't good enough for Mr. Cooke, it would be good enough for me. It made him prepare even more for games.

``There were many times in those days when he would get frustrated and question whether we made the right decision to come here. It was very hard to work under those conditions, but it gave him the confidence in himself to do what he had to do.''

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Photo: Kings broadcaster Bob Miller will be inducted today into the Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto.

David Sprague/Staff Photographer