Longtime 76er Public Address Announcer Dies

David Zinkoff, the longtime public address announcer for the Philadelphia 76ers, died Wednesday morning at Hahnemann University Hospital in Philadelphia, several days after undergoing open heart surgery.

Zinkoff, 75, the longest-running public address announcer in the National Basketball Assn., announced his last game on Nov. 13.

Zinkoff had been sick during the game and went into the hospital the next day. He was out of the hospital for several weeks while trying to improve his health in preparation for surgery Dec. 20.

Zinkoff, known as “The Zink,” started announcing games for the Philadelphia Warriors when the NBA was formed in 1946. He announced for the Warriors until 1962, and in 1963 he began announcing for the Philadelphia 76ers, which had been formed from the Syracuse Nationals.

He is best remembered for his alliterative style, calling out “a Dipper dunk,” for example, after a dunk by Wilt Chamberlain, whose nickname was “Dipper.” He also was known for elongating words and names, introducing Julius Erving as “Julius Errrrving “ and announcing the two minute warning as “ twooooo minutes to play.”