Bobby Curran, a prolific Hawaii radio presence who served as the play-by-play voice of University of Hawaii football and men’s basketball for more than 30 years, died Sunday in local hospice care. He was 69.

The pioneering, brash broadcaster's passing from mounting health issues came one year to the day since his final game call for ESPN Honolulu, UH men’s basketball against Cal State Bakersfield on senior night March 9, 2024, during which he was recognized on the court.

UH won by 17.

His wife, Jo McGarry Curran, told Spectrum News on Wednesday that Curran was "peaceful and resting. No pain and just reflections on a life he loved — made joyful by UH sports and the community you all created together."

Curran, a native New Yorker, underwent a double-lung transplant in November 2022 to remedy life-threatening emphysema, and doggedly recovered to the point that he went back on the airwaves about eight months later with some restrictions.

The 2023 UH Sports Circle of Honor inductee was on the call for more than 400 football broadcasts — and more than a thousand for his career including basketball and other sports. UH issued a statement calling him “a storyteller and magician behind the microphone.”

Curran is the latest member of his generation of legendary Hawaii sports media to pass in a relatively short period. Robert Kekaula (June 2021), Jim Leahey (January 2023) and Don Robbs (January 2025) were mourned over the last few years.

He stepped away from football broadcasts in 2022 as he dealt with health issues leading to his lungs transplant at a facility in Arizona. Incidents of low blood sugar caused him to have to retire from men’s basketball duties by the end of the 2023-24 season, and from his longtime morning program, The Bobby Curran Show, shortly thereafter.

The Bobby Curran Show was a three-hour weekday morning staple for commuters — 6 to 9 a.m., like clockwork, wherein Curran, with his well-honed proclivity for cantankerousness, would give his no-apology opinions on the issues of the day, either to guests, call-in listeners or to no one in particular. For Curran, it was just part of the job; he’d often report for duty at the Manoa campus for a game that could last until 9:30 p.m., then turn right back around for a predawn morning wake-up for his talk show, not to mention other events he'd regularly work as MC.

For the last six-plus months, Kanoa Leahey and co-host Billy Hull have filled the ESPN Honolulu morning show slot formerly held by Curran with the two-hour "Let's Talk Sports" weekday show. Leahey, the primary play-by-play broadcaster for Spectrum Sports, told Spectrum News he has gained a new appreciation for a schedule that Curran made look routine — and for a longer show, all by himself.

More than that, Leahey will remember him for bringing a big-market swagger to a space that had seen or heard nothing of its kind.

"He was never shy about sharing his thoughts and opinions, and he was often brutally honest about it, but that was something that made him so special," Leahey said. "He carved out a brand that didn't previously exist as that voice of sports reason in the morning, right? There was nothing that really existed in that way prior to him, and he carried that torch for decades."

Curran, who moved to Hawaii in 1983 to attend UH and got his start on the radio at the Manoa campus station KTUH, cut his teeth on high school games and worked his way up the ladder at KGU. He told Spectrum News last year that being able to call games on the radio was, “basically a dream come true. A job I always wanted.”

He endured through handoffs of UH sports radio rights and changes of corporate branding; he worked for KGU, KCCN and later KKEA, 1420-AM, which now goes by ESPN Honolulu.

Larry Beil, a sports anchor at KGO-TV in San Francisco and a UH alumnus, told Spectrum News last year that he considered Curran the “constant” around which so much else changed over the decades.

“He basically gave his life to support the program,” Beil said then. “Coaches come and go, players come and go, but oftentimes the announcers are what people remember the most in some cases. Certainly, he’s a Hawaii institution. Just a tremendous figure to support UH Athletics all these years.”

Leahey still shakes his head about Curran's stubborn determination to get back on the air less than a year after having both his lungs replaced.

"That is one of the most courageous and remarkable things that I can recall in my life," Leahey said. "And it would be Bobby Curran who was able to pull that off, because there just aren't that many people out there who could have had the audacity to even think that they could do it, let alone the confidence and the commitment to then do that."

He was named Hawaii Sportscaster of the Year six times by the National Sports Media Association.

UH's full statement on him read: "Bobby Curran was a storyteller and magician behind the microphone. This New Yorker quickly adapted himself into the local culture and became a fixture on the airwaves for more than three decades. His smooth colorful voice was synonymous with UH football and basketball. He was the voice of more than 400 football broadcasts – the longest announcer streak in program history – and several hundred more basketball games. He called some of the brightest stars and biggest moments in UH history, including a dozen bowl teams and four NCAA Tournament basketball teams. Bobby was so much more than just a voice. He was respected by the players and coaches and most importantly, beloved by his listeners, the fans. Our heartfelt condolences go out to his wife Jo and sons Max and Finn, and the entire Curran 'ohana. Mahalo Bobby, may you rest in aloha."

Attorney Jeff Portnoy, a former color commentator alongside Curran on ESPN Honolulu, offered Spectrum News his thoughts on his old partner: "I had the privilege and honor of working as an analyst alongside Bobby longer than any other broadcast partner, more than 20 years. Through good times and not so good times, we were together through WAC championships, Big West championships, and the incredible victory over Cal in the NCAA Tournament. When you work side by side with somebody, travel with them, and spend several hours twice a week together, you come to understand how talented they are. We didn’t always agree, and our banter sometimes caused a bemused stare, but I will always cherish those moments. After I left ESPN, I kept in touch with Bobbie, Jo, and their sons. His heroic fight against his terrible disease should be an inspiration to all of us. RIP my friend."

Curran is survived by his wife, Jo McGarry Curran and sons Max and Finn.

McGarry Curran said that "in the spirit of his lineage" the family is planning a traditional Irish wake for Curran at Murphy's Bar and Grill sometime in April.

Note: This story has been updated with quotes and details.

Brian McInnis covers the state’s sports scene for Spectrum News Hawaii. He can be reached at brian.mcinnis@charter.com.