Their voices have been part of Hawai'i's culture for generations.

Before Kanoa Leahey, there was Jim. Before Jim, there was Chuck.

"They're the first family of sports broadcasting in Hawai'i as far as I'm concerned," said Don Robbs, who's been in the radio business in Hawai'i for almost 47 years.

Chuck set the tone, using his military influence to make an impact in the local sports community.

Chuck was living aboard the USS Dobbin, a destroyer tender that was 500 yards from the USS Arizona when the Japanese attacked on Dec. 7, 1941. After serving in battles of Midway and Iwo Jima, Chuck worked as the chief journalist at Pearl Harbor, doubling as the "athletic director" who set up sports leagues, then providing the play-by-play on KGU-AM.

He would develop a style all his own during football broadcasts, where he would describe distances not by inches, feet or yards, but by using a local food item — a manapua. "The ball is one manapua away from a touchdown," Chuck would say during football broadcasts in the 1960s and '70s.

"I think Chuck Leahey remains the most unique ... he had a style unlike anyone else," Robbs said. "When you heard Chuck Leahey, you knew who you were listening to. All expressions were uniquely his."

Chuck also did Hawaii Islander broadcasts and got to team up with many young broadcasters who would become some of the best at their craft.

"I remember Chuck and Al Michaels working together," Robbs said. "You talk about ying and yang; old fatherly type while Michaels was a year or two out of ASU (Arizona State). They had that special chemistry. They really liked each other."

"I used to go with him and sit and watch," Jim said. "I would be in the booth next to Harry Kalas, Al Michaels. Pop was right there with them, and he was their mentor."

But Chuck's contributions extended beyond the booth.

He helped forge a relationship between the military and local communities while also becoming a major supporter for University of Hawai'i sports.

Chuck provided opponents for UH teams, leading to his role as co-founder of the Rainbow Classic and the Rainbow Easter baseball tournament.

"(Broadcasting) wasn't his real job," Robbs said. "His real job was out at the Navy and look what he did with the Rainbow Classic, Easter Tournament and generating this relationship with military and university and other sports organizations in Hawai'i. He was really ahead of the curve.

"In the bigger picture, those contributions were more important than his work as broadcaster."

But let's not forget another one of Chuck's contributions — producing another Leahey in Jim.

"I knew what I was going to be since I was 5 years old," said Jim, 66. "At 5, I knew every lineup in the American League. There were only eight teams. Later on, I knew them all and the players didn't change (teams).

"It was in me."

Of course, having Chuck as a mentor didn't hurt.

"He taught me when you do a game — and we're talking radio now — you owe it to the people to be their eyes because they can't see the game," Jim said. "What you're supplying to them is the highest form of creativity, and when you do that, it's God-like in its perfection. Once you do that to a person and he can see what you're describing, then you've done your job."

Said Robbs: "When you listened to a ball game (by Chuck), not only were you entertained, you were informed. I think Jimmy has inherited that gift."

Jim said he was just 15 years old and a sophomore at Saint Louis School when he first got the call.

He said his father came down with a lung infection, so Jim had to step in and do an all-service boxing card at Conroy Bowl at Schofield Barracks. Later, Jim would branch out, eventually doing UH sports — his first being a football game against Fresno State in 1973.

Jim said it takes hours of preparation and boundless amounts of imagination to create a vivid broadcast.

"By the use of your voice, you can describe how you feel the game. And you must feel the game. If you don't, you'll lose them," he said. "Describe the game as if it is so interesting that something wonderful is about to happen, the anti-participatory delivery that, 'Listen here, 'cause something wonderful is about to happen. (Such as) Heeeere's the pitch.' "

Preparation also plays a major factor.

"Even today for UH football games, I spend at least eight hours every game," he said.

"When you do your homework (at the end of the game), you'll not have used all of your research," Jim added. "(It's) like going to court. You've prepared your case. Now on the kickoff, it's all you now. It's a craft and it must be worked at, always."

Jim, despite the thousands of broadcasts, says he is still looking for his perfect game.

"I walk away from a game and I'm in a bad mood because I know I can do better," he said. "No game is ever perfect, but that's what you're trying to attain."

One thing that Jim wasn't fully prepared for was another Leahey becoming a sportscaster.

"What you wanna do this for?" Jim recalls asking Kanoa, Jim's youngest child.

"My dad's reaction was half excitement ... at the same time he absolutely hated it," Kanoa said. "It wasn't till up to a few years ago that I actually got a sense that he was fully OK with what I was doing."

But whether Jim liked it or not, it was he who actually might have steered Kanoa down his career path.

"I would accompany him to games. Just sitting in the booth I had exposure to it," Kanoa said. "When I was at a friend's house and playing video games they would ask me to do the play-by-play."

Kanoa said he "idolized my father certainly, and heard and listened to tapes of my grandfather (Chuck passed away when Kanoa was 5), but it was never something I thought I'd get into."

Jim wanted Kanoa to be a lawyer or doctor and even Kanoa thought physical therapy "would end up being my calling," especially since any hopes of a basketball career were dashed after he suffered a torn ACL in his right knee his junior year and in his left knee his senior year at 'Iolani.

But then one day Kanoa was approached with an opportunity to do a girls basketball game on radio.

Kanoa went to Jim and asked for advice.

"Remember the numbers and who belongs to the numbers," Jim recalled telling Kanoa. "Follow the ball, provide the picture and you have to keep doing that. Remind them as to the venue, as to the game, as to the score, because people on radio tune in, tune out, tune in, tune out."

When Jim heard the broadcast he was impressed.

"When the person was on the fast break, he (Kanoa) was in the fast break. (I said) this kid is not bad at all," Jim said.

Still young, Kanoa, 31, knows his place among the Leahey lore.

"I'm pulling the caboose of his Leahey legacy," Kanoa said.

Does he feel pressure to live up to their standards?

"It's a point of pride for me. It's something I'm aware of and something that pushes me and motivates me," Kanoa said. "I could understand my grandfather and dad (being among the Fab 50) but I don't put myself on that level whatsoever. I look up to them and hope one day to be a fraction of how good they were and are."

NOTES

The Leahey and Leahey radio show on KUMU-1500 AM — starring Jim Leahey and Kanoa Leahey — apparently has ended.

"They're definitely done for now," general manager John Aeto said. "We were honored to have them as part of the show."

The morning show aired Mondays and Fridays.

Aeto said the Dan Patrick Show will air live this Monday.

Aeto said Bob Hogue will replace Rob DeMello on the Tuesday and Thursday morning shows. DeMello cited family reasons in leaving the Rob and Russ Show.