A sad Aloha to The General Les Keiter

[Kalihiboy]

I just find out "The General" has passed away. He was a dear friend of mine who I got to know in recent years, I did a story on him awhile back you can read below. I hadn't checked on him for a few months, but had just thought of him recently and now its too late. As soon as I got back in town I was going to visit him and wish him a Happy 90th Birthday. Last year I bought a CD player for him so he can hear an interview he did for a Philadelphia news station. What memories he had. And he was still so sharp with his memory.

I so much enjoyed spending time with him, sitting in his apartment in Kailua listening to him talk about his days in Philly, NY, etc.

Losing Harry Kalas and now Les, very sad.

http://archives.starbulletin.com/200...flashback.html

Aj McWhorter writing from New Buffalo, Michigan

[tutusue]

Re: A sad Aloha to The General Les Keiter

Joe Moore had a tough time getting thru the news tonight. AJ, it was mentioned that The General had been suffering from dementia of late.

[Kalihiboy]

Re: A sad Aloha to The General Les Keiter

Joe Moore had a tough time getting thru the news tonight. AJ, it was mentioned that The General had been suffering from dementia of late.

Sometimes with dementia or alzheimers people can remember many things that happened years ago. My grandmother had this very recently, she was 87when she died a couple weeks ago. I'm on the mainland attending her funeral this week.

Joe had a tough time getting thru the newscast when Sevey died as well, you can tell they both meant a great deal to him.

The General would often call me up and I never needed caller ID to see who called, as soon as he said my name, I knew who it was.

Aj

[tutusue]

Re: A sad Aloha to The General Les Keiter

My condolences, AJ. What a tough time this must be for you.

[Walkoff Balk]

Re: A sad Aloha to The General Les Keiter

Is Chris Berman's call of "Back, Back, Back.." for a homerun based on Les Keiter's trademark of "Back, Back, Back, Boom off the Wall?"

[LikaNui]

Re: A sad Aloha to The General Les Keiter

Man, that's really sad news.
I used to see The General every Monday at the Quarterback Club weekly luncheons for the sports media, which he hosted. First at the Flamingo, and then at the Pagoda after the Flamingo closed. Listening to his stories before, during and after the luncheons was fascinating. What a legend he was. And always will be.
The Star Bulletin has it online now at this link, including:

Les Keiter, a Hall of Fame broadcaster and longtime fixture in Hawaii sportscasting, died this afternoon in Castle Medical Center. He would have been 90 on April 27.
(...)
While working in New York for ABC radio, Keiter called 14 championship boxing matches, including Muhammad Ali's first title win over Sonny Liston in 1964. He gained fame in Hawaii, recreating baseball games for the Hawaii Islanders.
Keiter retired from KHON in 1994, becoming the spokesman for Aloha Stadium.

The Advertiser has a longer version at this link.
RIP, General.

[Kalihiboy]

Re: A sad Aloha to The General Les Keiter

Les Keiter was big time. Tom Snyder had him on his show as did Bob Costas. They wanted him on so he could do his recreations for them and talk about the old days when sports was about the game, not the money or fame.

Aj

[oldiebuff]

Re: A sad Aloha to The General Les Keiter

Les "The General" Keiter will be sorely missed. I don't know of any other better words to say except, he was truly the best at what he did.

Joe, he loved you man. He made you what you are today. Don't ever forget that.

By the way, the General's Star-Bulletin video flashback is now on youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N0J8o2v9AxA

[Kalihiboy]

Re: A sad Aloha to The General Les Keiter

I put that video package together last year, what fun that was! Les has a photo of he and Joe in his apartment along with pictures of his family, that is how much Joe meant to him.

If you think about it, it was Joe and Les that became a number one team together, finally knocking off KGMB after all of those years. Two sports guys came together and became a solid news duo.

Aj

[Kimo]

Re: A sad Aloha to The General Les Keiter

It's likely that the last interview with The General was conducted by Ray Cruz at Hawaii Public Radio for a sports feature running as part of the KHPR "Hawaii: The 50th State of Mind" series to commemorate the 50th anniversary of statehood.

www.hawaiipublicradio.org and then click on the statehood link and then scroll down to sports.

[Frankie's Market]

Re: A sad Aloha to The General Les Keiter

Is Chris Berman's call of "Back, Back, Back.." for a homerun based on Les Keiter's trademark of "Back, Back, Back, Boom off the Wall?"

My favorite Les Keiter-ism was his rapid fire, "He beat the ball! He beat the ball! He beat the ball!" whenever a Hawaii Islander batter beat out a grounder for a base hit late in the game.

Down to this day, the General nickname has stuck with Les. But I wonder if most people are aware of how he got that moniker?

Like Joe Moore, Bob Sevey, and Bob Jones, Les was a local media figure who was given numerous minor acting roles on Hawaii Five-0. Sometimes playing himself as a reporter. But on one episode, he played a US army general, with the full-on dress uniform. Joe also appeared on that episode. Years later, when JoMo became the news anchor on KHON, he started introducing then-sports anchor Les as the General. After Les stepped down as the anchor, he continued appearing on KHON's newscasts for a couple years with an occasional taped segment called, (you guessed it!), the General Opinion.

My sympathy and condolences to his family. He will be missed.

[oggboy]

Re: A sad Aloha to The General Les Keiter

My favorite Les Keiter-ism was his rapid fire, "He beat the ball! He beat the ball! He beat the ball!" whenever a Hawaii Islander batter beat out a grounder for a base hit late in the game.

Down to this day, the General nickname has stuck with Les. But I wonder if most people are aware of how he got that moniker?

Like Joe Moore, Bob Sevey, and Bob Jones, Les was a local media figure who was given numerous minor acting roles on Hawaii Five-0. Sometimes playing himself as a reporter. But on one episode, he played a US army general, with the full-on dress uniform. Joe also appeared on that episode. Years later, when JoMo became the news anchor on KHON, he started introducing then-sports anchor Les as the General. After Les stepped down as the anchor, he continued appearing on KHON's newscasts for a couple years with an occasional taped segment called, (you guessed it!), the General Opinion.

My sympathy and condolences to his family. He will be missed.

Mahalo for that info, now I know how he got that nickname. Aloha General Les Keiter...

[oldiebuff]

Re: A sad Aloha to The General Les Keiter

I wonder will KHON interview previous co-workers like Barb Tanabe, Jim McCoy, and of course BJ Sams?

And AJ, thank you for that awesome package you put together for the SB!

[Ron Whitfield]

The General - Les Keiter, one of the SUPERB things about Hawaii

The day had to come, ...things will never be the same without Les.
They certainly don't make them like him any more, and now our walking talking history book has left the building.

[gchun]

Re: A sad Aloha to The General Les Keiter

While I haven't been an avid sports fan as an adult, I used to listen to Mr. Keiter on the radio at night. I saw him a few years ago on a panel of sports journalists. While he was a bit fragile, he still had THAT energy in his voice. I was immediately taken back to my past, listening to him on the radio.

Thanks for the fond memories of my childhood.

RIP Mr. Keiter.

gchun