Nellie King

PITTSBURGH — Nellie King, a former Pittsburgh Pirates pitcher and broadcaster who later became the sports information director and golf coach at Duquesne University, has died after several years of health problems that included colon cancer and pneumonia. He was 82.

King's death was confirmed by Duquesne, where King worked from 1975-92 — also serving as the publicity director for the Eastern Eight Conference, the forerunner of the Atlantic 10, and announcing men's basketball games.

The 6-foot-6 King, who grew up in Hershey, Pa., was a right-hander who had a 7-5 record while pitching in 95 Pirates games from 1954-57, all but four as a reliever.

King became a broadcaster in suburban Pittsburgh after his playing career ended, mostly at the urging of former Pirates publicist Jack Berger, and was hired to work alongside Bob Prince and Jim Woods as a Pirates announcer in 1967.

After Woods left to replace Harry Caray in St. Louis in 1970, King and Prince worked as partners until Prince's ouster in 1975 led the Pirates to also fire King. Prince and King were a contrast in styles — Prince was loud and colorful, King was softer-spoken and an expert interviewer — but they worked well together on broadcasts that beamed to much of the East Coast on 50,000-watt KDKA radio.

Their firings angered numerous Pirates fans, with about 15,000 turning out for a downtown parade urging the team to rehire Prince and King.

The team later acknowledged the firings were a major mistake that alienated countless longtime rooters, but King never returned to the Pirates' broadcast booth on a full-time basis. Prince came back briefly in 1985 before dying that year.

King did spend 24 seasons working with announcer Ray Goss on Duquesne basketball games.

Last year, King wrote the book "Happiness Is Like a Cur Dog" that mostly recounted his baseball memories. The title came from an expression once used by former Pirates general manager Branch Rickey.