Athletes, actors and other famous personalities gathered Friday evening to honor Los Angeles Dodgers announcer Vin Scully, football Hall of Fame running back Jim Brown and boxing legend Sugar Ray Leonard at the 14th Annual Harold & Carole Pump Foundation gala.
Scully has been the voice of the Dodgers since 1950, when they were in Brooklyn. He is widely regarded among the greatest broadcasters of all time. The Dodgers recently announced that Scully will return to the team’s broadcast booth for his 66th season.
Bob Miller, a fellow Los Angeles play-by-play announcer and voice of the Stanley Cup champion Los Angeles Kings was in attendance to support the cause and pay his respects the Scully.
“They’ve done a marvelous job for cancer research,” he said about the cancer awareness foundation. “They’ve raised millions and millions of dollars, and it is an honor for me to be asked to be here today to say a few words about one of the honorees, the great Vin Scully. Anytime I get the opportunity to do that, I’m happy to do it.”
Miller also took a few moments to talk about his eagerness to return to the broadcast booth and to recap the Kings’ latest Stanley Cup run.
“Well, it was much harder than the one in 2012,” he commented. “In that year, the Kings just ran through almost every series, going 16-4. This year, even the players said, ‘This is the way we thought it should be.’ It’s difficult – this is the most difficult championship to win. They had to come from behind in games, come from behind in series. Seven times they played a game where if they lost, they would’ve been eliminated. They won those games and had a miraculous run, especially being down three games to none in the opening series – [to] win that and go on to win the cup.”
Leonard also showed his enthusiasm to be at the gala and said he was humbled to be honored alongside Scully and Brown.
“It’s commendable, what they’re doing, the message they’re trying to get out,” said the legendary boxer who was named “Boxer of the Decade” for the 1980s. “The awareness and the money they raise for research that will hopefully one day eradicate cancer. For me to be acknowledged in such a wonderful manner is great.”
Sharing a laugh next to fellow boxer Sugar Shane Mosley, Leonard predicted a Floyd Mayweather win over Marcos Maidana in the rematch between the undefeated Mayweather and the Argentine Sept. 13, but said it could be more difficult for him this time around.
“Mayweather’s a technician, and he can break [Maidana] down. But also, Maidana knows to be a little more aggressive and not slow down.”
Dana and David Pump have raised more than $5.5 million for the Carole Pump Women’s Center, Harold and Carole Pump Department of Radiation Oncology and the Leavey Cancer Center at Northridge Medical Center, as well as other non-profit community charities.
For more information, visit haroldpumpfoundation.com.
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