My Lifelong Friend
HUGGY BOY
Dick Hugg, "Huggy Boy" passed on Wed August 30.
2006. I can't tell you how truly sad I am. Dick Hugg was the genius of Rock & Roll on the west coast. He is the one man that every teenager, black or white listened to. Broadcasting from Dolphins of Hollywood to the strains of Joe Huston's "All Night Long" and Vernon Green & the Medallions' "Buick 59" he passed that excitement to all his audience.
I'll never forget standing in front of that little record store in south central LA mesmerized by Hugg. I still have the paper bag stamped Dolphins of Hollywood that I bought my 78's from them in that night. Several years later I gave him a lift from Bob's to his KRKD studio where I was priviledged to meet some of the early recording artists. Hugg & I hung out several times after that and I met him in the early 80's again at the closing of a Drive In restaurant in Hollywood. I called in and talked to him a few times after that right up into his 70's. He never forgot me and I never stopped listening to him right up to the end of his career with KRTH in 2002.
Unfortunately, Dick Hugg never got the real recognition he truly deserved for what he had accomplished in the music industry, on the west coast. Last summer while visiting the Rock & Roll Hall of fame in Cleveland Ohio, I was shocked that not one mention was made of Hugg anyplace in that museum.
Alan Freed, an equally important disk jockey from the east coast even had a working studio built on the premisis and named in his honor. In a small corner of the museum, different jocks were remembered such as the west coasts Hunter Hancock but Hugg was ignored. I tell you, those of us that grew up on the west coast will never forget Hugg and we all still love him. That is why I wanted to do a tribute to this great radio personality. I think it only fair, he receive recognition, considering that the West Coast was by far the most loyal Fan of Rhythm and Blues and Rock & Roll in the early 50's. It was Hugg that made it happen.
Frederick J Roth June 2008
Thousand Oaks, CA
