Former S.A. sports anchor in California’s Hall of Fame
Former San Antonio sports reporter and anchor Rick Lozano has been inducted into the California Sports Hall of Fame.
Lozano worked at KSAT and KMOL here before moving to Los Angeles in 1986, where he spent 13 years as a weekend and weekday sports anchor at KABC. He finished his career as a general news and sports reporter with KTTV, Los Angeles’ Fox affiliate, retiring in 2021.
He said his length of service as well as his charity work were cited as reasons for his nomination to the Hall of Fame.
“I had no idea it was coming,” he said in a phone interview Monday. “There’s some huge names in this Hall of Fame, from John Wooden to Joe Montana to Jerry Rice. … When I received the letter in the mail, I had to call them to make sure it wasn’t some kind of a hoax.”
Founded in 2006 by former pro football player Christian Okoye, the Hall of Fame honors California sports heroes
and promotes education through sports, according to its website.
Lozano, a San Antonio native, graduated from Brackenridge High School and attended
San Antonio College.
His first job was with radio station KONO/KITY in the early ’70s when he was a freshman at SAC. He joined KSAT in 1974, where he worked as a weekend sports anchor and weekday sports reporter. In 1980, he moved to KMOL, where he was a weekend sports anchor and weekday reporter before being promoted to the 6 p.m. sports anchor post. He held that job about two years before moving to Los Angeles.
Lozano’s nonprofit, Christmas Cheer All Year, actually began while he was at KMOL. He challenged San Antonio Spur John Paxson to a freethrow shooting contest, with the proceeds used to buy Christmas presents for kids.
These days, Christmas Cheer All Year buys toys for about 3,000 kids every holiday season, funds scholarships and gives laptop computers to graduating seniors.
While working in Los Angeles, Lozano also had the opportunity to do a little acting. He appeared as a reporter in a Season Two episode of the Fox drama “24.”
Lozano was inducted into the California Sports Hall of Fame with soccer player Alexi Lalas, former Oakland A’s pitcher Dave Stewart and former L.A. Laker Norm Nixon, among others.
Other broadcasters in the Hall of Fame are Vin Scully and Chick Hearn. Lozano said he’s one of just three local TV sportscasters in the Hall of Fame. One of the others, former pro football player Jim Hill, also is a San Antonio native.
Lozano is the younger brother of Fred Lozano, the longtime San Antonio newsman who died in 2016. He said his brother helped him make his career choice. He was thinking about becoming a coach after playing basketball at Brackenridge.
“My brother said, ‘Why don’t you get into broadcasting because you love sports so much. You could become a sports guy,’ ” he said. “I thought that’s pretty wise, so I followed his advice.”
Lozano said his children and grandchildren live in San Antonio and he’s “still San Antonio very much at heart.”
“I’m a very proud San Antonian and have been my whole life,” he said. “I’ve always been proud of my high school. I come back for our alumnae golf tournament every year and come back for Fiesta. When I’m not here, I’m there.”