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AT LAST, STAR STATUS FOR KINGS' MILLER.


Byline: TOM HOFFARTH MEDIA

Understandably, Bob Miller wasn't really sure how he was supposed to react a couple years ago when he was told that he'd been selected to have a Hollywood Walk of Fame The Hollywood Walk of Fame is a pavement along Hollywood Boulevard and Vine Street in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, United States, which is embedded with more than 2,000 five-pointed stars featuring the names of not only human celebrities but fictional characters honored by  star cementing his legacy on Hollywood Boulevard For uses other than the original street, see Hollywood Boulevard (disambiguation).
Hollywood Boulevard is a boulevard in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, United States, beginning at Sunset Boulevard in the east and running northwest to Vermont Avenue, where it straightens out
.

``The first thing I did was go down there to see how many of the names on that sidewalk I recognized,'' the Kings' Hockey Hall of Fame The Hockey Hall of Fame, located in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, is dedicated to the history of ice hockey with exhibits featuring memorabilia and NHL trophies (including the Stanley Cup) along with interactive activities.  play- by-play man said. ``And there were a lot of 'em that I had no idea who they were.''

Starting Monday, a few steps away from the Hollywood Wax Museum The Hollywood Wax Museum is located in the heart of the tourist district of Hollywood, California, USA, at 6767 Hollywood Blvd.

The museum, the brainchild of entrepreneur Spoony Singh, was opened in 1965,[1]
 near of the intersection at Hollywood and Highland The Hollywood & Highland Center is an entertainment, retail and hotel complex at Hollywood Boulevard and Highland Avenue in the Hollywood district in Los Angeles. The 387,000 square foot (0 m) , Miller will have some legitimate star power. Even if those out-of-towners who walk all over him in the future don't even realize who he is.

``I know a lot of my friends are pretty impressed by it,'' said the 68-year-old and longtime West Hills resident. ``Their reaction has been: You're the first person I've ever known who'll be on the Walk of Fame.''

To stick-and-puck fans of Southern California Southern California, also colloquially known as SoCal, is the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. Centered on the cities of Los Angeles and San Diego, Southern California is home to nearly 24 million people and is the nation's second most populated region, , this 11:30a.m. ceremony will be a day where hockey and Hollywood officially converge, an honor overdue for the voice of the team since 1973, and big enough to where FSN (Full-Service Network) A communications network that provides shopping, movies on demand and access to databases and a variety of interactive services.  West will carry the event live.

Stars have already been forged for the Dodgers' Vin Scully For the American architecture historian, see .
Vincent Edward "Vin" Scully (born November 29, 1927, in The Bronx, New York) is an American sportscaster, known primarily as the play-by-play voice of the Brooklyn and Los Angeles Dodgers baseball teams.
 and the Lakers' Chick Hearn, so adding another L.A.-based broadcasting Hall of Famer only seemed natural. At least it did to Doug Mann, the longtime statistician for many of the L.A. and national top TV and radio sports announcers This is a list of sports announcers/commentators. Please note that those networks included must have national exposure, not regional. American football
  • Troy Aikman : Fox 2001-
  • Bonnie Bernstein : CBS 1998-2006, ESPN/ABC, 2006-
, who came up with the nomination idea in August 2003.

``When this first hit me, it was `Why does this man not have a star on the Walk of Fame?'' said Mann, who has worked with Miller for at least 20 years, including the past three seasons full time.

``He's been selected to his respective sport's Hall of Fame, he's been with the same team for over 30 years, I need to try and make this happen.That was my goal, really my dream, to get something for Bob, even if I had to raise the money for it. I know a lot of people wanted to go to his Hockey Hall induction (in Toronto in 2002) but couldn't, so this really could be a way for those who want to honor him.''

Mann approached Mike Altieri, the Kings' VP of communications and broadcasting, and the puck started rolling. Altieri enlisted Kings' management to sponsor the nomination (which included a $15,000 donation), and then some interesting decisions had to be made.

The Walk of Fame has five categories to honor those in the entertainment world, and the decision was made that Miller's chances for selection were better if he was entered in the radio category -- which is what Scully and Hearn also have -- for the pink terrazzo terrazzo

Type of flooring consisting of marble chips set in cement or epoxy resin that is poured and ground smooth when dry. Terrazzo was ubiquitous in the 20th century in commercial and institutional buildings.
 and brass plaque. The first 17years of Miller's 33 seasons with the Kings was on radio, many of them on a simulcast.

By June 2004, the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce Walk of Fame committee agreed to give Miller star No. 2,319.

``I think I caught him off guard,'' Altieri remembered Miller's response when he was told of the honor. ``He really had no reaction at first. Being as humble as he is, once it sunk in, he was very appreciative.''

But then the wait began.

The NHL lockout The NHL lockout may refer to any of the two lockouts in the history of the National Hockey League:
  • The 1994-95 NHL lockout, which cancelled most of the 1994-95 season.
  • The 2004-05 NHL lockout, which cancelled the whole 2004-05 season.
 that took away the 2004-05 season left picking a date for a ceremony in limbo. Before the 2005-06 season started, a serious illness by Miller's wife, Judy, delayed the process again.

At last, Oct. 2 was decided on last summer, even without official knowledge of whether the Kings would have a game that night. Miller's only request was that his plaque be as close as possible to Hearn, who hired him for the Kings' job on behalf of then Lakers and Kings owner Jack Kent Cooke Jack Kent Cooke (25 October, 1912 – 6 April, 1997) was a Canadian-American entrepreneur who became one of the most widely-known executives in North American professional sports. . As a result, Miller's star will be just four away from Hearn's, and not far from Scully's.

``I'm thrilled for him; it's an honor well deserved,'' said Scully.

``I just wanted to make sure it wasn't in front of Frederick's of Hollywood Frederick's of Hollywood is a well known retailer of lingerie in the United States, with stores in many modern shopping malls across the USA.

The business was started by Frederick Mellinger (inventor of the push-up bra) in 1946.
 because I'm sure no one looks down at the sidewalk there,'' Miller joked.

Monday's ceremony will be attended by all five of Miller's partners during his Kings' career: Dan Avey Dan Avey is a radio personality who had worked for stations KIWZ, KFWB, and KFI. He is now working for the news on KABC in the afternoon.

For his work in radio, he has a "Star" on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on 6834 Hollywood Blvd.
 (who went on to radio newscasting and got his Walk of Fame star in April), Pete Weber (flying in from Tennessee, where he's starting his eighth season as the voice of the NHL's Nashville Predators), Rich Marotta (flying in from a vacation in Lake Tahoe), Nick Nickson (who became the Kings' exclusive radio play-by-play man when Miller went to TV) and Jim Fox (his partner the past 17years, and one of the ceremony's three speakers).

Miller's family and friends are flying in from all over, and, in addition to his wife, son Kevin, daughter Kristin and grandsons Kaden and Brennon in attendance. Along with, of course, hundreds upon hundreds of Kings fans.

``When I was in Las Vegas last weekend (for the Kings' exhibition game Saturday at the MGM MGM
 in full Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Inc.

U.S. corporation and film studio. It was formed when the film distributor Marcus Loew, who bought Metro Pictures in 1920, merged it with the Goldwyn production company in 1924 and with Louis B. Mayer Pictures in 1925.
 Grand) it must have taken me a half-hour to get from my room to the arena because there were thousands of Kings fans who kept congratulating me and saying they were going to be at the ceremony Monday,'' said Miller, who also has his first book coming out in the middle of October called ``Tales From the Los Angeles Kings'' (with Randy Schultz, Sports Publishing, $19.95, 192 pages).

``Maybe this will make some people realize that hockey really is a major sport in L.A. I may feel like I'm out of my element in getting this honor, but when I see all those hockey fans with all their Kings jerseys, that'll make me feel that I'm among friends.''

CAPTION(S):

2 photos, 4 boxes

Photo:

(1 -- color) Monday, Kings broadcaster Bob Miller will have star No. 2,319 on Hollywood's Walk of Fame.

Evan Yee/Staff Photographer

(2) Bob Miller, right, helps Johnny Grant, left, unveil a Walk of Fame star for his former Kings partner, Dan Avey, in April.

John Shearer/WireImage.com

Box:

(1) WHAT SMOKES

(2) WHAT CHOKES

(3) STAR STRUCK

(4) THE ICING ON THE CAKE
COPYRIGHT 2006 Daily News
No portion of this article can be reproduced without the express written permission from the copyright holder.
Copyright 2006, Gale Group. All rights reserved. Gale Group is a Thomson Corporation Company.

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Title Annotation:Sports
Publication:Daily News (Los Angeles, CA)
Date:Sep 29, 2006
Words:1052
Previous Article:WHERE THERE'S SMOKE ...
Next Article:L.A. CONFIDENTIAL.



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