PA legend Gene Honda’s final, Final Four

GLENDALE, Ariz. — The deep and rich voice heard in places from the World Series to the Stanley Cup is explaining about this being his last Final Four.

“If you ask anyone if they had the opportunity to do any one of the things that I’ve had the chance to do, would you do it? I would think the answer would be yes,” Gene Honda is saying courtside at State Farm Stadium. “So you smile and you say thank you and you go on.”

Gene Honda? Public address announcer for . . . well, lots of places.

If you’ve attended a Chicago White Sox baseball game since 1985, you’ve heard him. There have been nearly 2,700 chances because that’s how many games he’s worked, a career so long he is on his second ballpark on the south side of Chicago and his 11th White Sox manager. That’s calling out the names of a lot of good and bad lineups. “Mostly one side of that ledger,” he says with a laugh.

The fans in the stands never hear it but Honda has a great laugh. If you’ve attended a Blackhawks hockey game since 2001, you’ve heard him. That’s long enough for three Stanley Cup winners, including 2015, which you instantly know once you shake Honda’s hand since he’s wearing a championship ring. Can’t miss it. Looks as if he might sink if he ever jumped into a lake wearing the thing. On one side of the ring among all the diamonds is the word HONDA and a friend once jokingly asked, since when did Gene become a ring sponsor? Honda was miffed, not because of what the friend said but because he thought it was a great line and he hadn’t thought of it first.

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If you’ve been to DePaul basketball games, you’ve heard him. Illinois football games, you’ve heard him. The Big Ten basketball tournament, you’ve heard him. The Chicago Marathon, you’ve heard him.

And every Final Four game since 2003.

“It’s nice that I did a baseball game on Tuesday and then in 24 hours I’m going to do a basketball game (all-star game) and then two more and then one more and then I’ll get home and I have two hockey games with a baseball game in between,” he says. “If anyone gets bored with that, you’re not doing the job right.”

Honda, who once studied engineering, finance and broadcasting at the University of Illinois, is the only PA announcer who can say he’s worked a World Series, Stanley Cup, Final Four, Frozen Four and Major League All-Star Game. Plus something else. “Very…