The Bulls announced Sunday that Stacey King died suddenly at 59, and Jason Benetti’s first reaction was not about the broadcast booth. It was about the way King made working with him feel like a partnership, even on nights when they were only together for one game.
Benetti was at Wrigley Field calling Cubs games on NBC’s Sunday Night Baseball when he learned of King’s death, and he said the news hit him immediately. He had worked alongside King on Bulls telecasts as an alternate announcer, and said he did maybe around 30 games with him. That was enough, he said, to understand how King treated people around him: warmly, directly and with the kind of ease that made a new voice feel like part of the show.
King spent eight seasons with the Bulls and won three consecutive NBA titles from 1991 to 1993, a run that still defines the franchise’s modern history. Benetti, who grew up in Homewood in the south suburbs and was a fan of those championship teams, said he even played as King in a video game when he was using the Bulls. For him, King was never just a former player turned analyst. He was part of the soundtrack of a team that shaped a generation of Chicago fans.
That is what made Benetti’s recollection land with such force. He said King wanted a partnership, even on one-game assignments, and that he was deeply welcoming to someone he had never been around before. Benetti also remembered King staying after games to sign autographs for almost an hour, a small act that explained why so many viewers and fans felt they knew him beyond the screen. King loved Chicago, Benetti said, even while sharing a booth in which Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen often drew the biggest spotlight.
The suddenness of King’s death leaves the biggest question unanswered. The Bulls gave no cause, and for now the focus has shifted to what King meant to the people who worked beside him. Benetti’s memories point to a broadcaster who never acted like the room belonged only to him, even though he had the résumé to claim it. King also remained close to Chicago sports in recent years, including a 2021 White Sox telecast from the NBC Tower with Adam Amin that was interrupted by a 2 1/2 hour rain delay. What comes next is a stretch of grief and remembrance without the one detail many will want most: why he died so suddenly.
