R.I.P. Captain Philadelphia

By Dave “Large” Larzelere
Stu Nahan died yesterday at his home in L.A. at the age of 81. He was an accomplished television and radio sportscaster over the years and did play-by-play for both the Eagles and the Flyers. He was also a bit of a cult figure in Philly due to his short-lived gig hosting a kids cartoon show there as “Captain Philadelphia.â€
But Nahan was best known in Philly and around the world as the announcer of nearly all of the great fights involving a certain Philadelphia icon known as the Italian Stallion. Stu Nahan, as “Stu Nahan,†was on the mike for Creed/Balboa I and II, Balboa/Lang I and II, Creed/Drago (with the esteemed Warner Wolf as his color man), and even the video game recreation of Balboa/Mason Dixon in Rocky Balboa.
I remember seeing a show about the making of the first Rocky movie in which they said that although there were scripted lines for the commentators, they also were encouraged to ad lib for the sake of spontaneity and call the fight as they thought they would in real life. If that was indeed the case, Nahan himself may have authored of some of the most memorable lines in some of the most memorable sports movies of our time. Enjoy his work below, as he calls the stirring conclusion of the first (and still greatest) fight between Rocky and Apollo, held at the old Philly Spectrum.

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