Franklin Mieuli was an innovator on and off the court; first to hire Bill King in Bay Area; Monday pulse

Franklin Mieuli was one of the nicest people I've ever met. A charming, funny, and engaging man, who brought the Bay Area the ONLY NBA basketball championship in that magical year of 1975.

Mieuli died Sunday at the age of 89.

Truly, he was a pioneer of his times. He made his money in the broadcasting business, and was the first Bay Area owner to hire the late, great Bill King, who broadcast Warriors games for over twenty years.

In 1956, Mieuli purchased five reel-to-reel audiotape duplicators from Ampex for use in distributing sports and music programming to radio stations. The venture led him to create Hi*Speed Duplicating Company, the first business of its kind in Northern California. In 1960, Mieuli produced national radio coverage of the VIII Winter Olympic Games at Squaw Valley. This was the start of his long-standing radio and television production company, Franklin Mieuli & Associates.

Mieuli made himself available to Bay Area sports media. He was always a gentleman and was known to be something of a character, but his business savvy was remarkable. He owned 5% of the SF 49ers and made numerous charitable donations.

**Follow me on Twitter.