Marv Albert

Marv Albert (born Marvin Philip Aufrichtig; June 12, 1941) is an American sportscaster. Honored for his work as a member of the Basketball Hall of Fame, he is commonly referred to as "the voice of basketball". From 1967 to 2004, he was also known as "the voice of the New York Knicks". Albert currently works for Turner Sports as the lead announcer for NBA games on TNT.

For the American crime novelist, see Marvin Albert.
Marv Albert
Albert calls a game for TNT in December 2008
Born
Marvin Philip Aufrichtig

(1941-06-12) June 12, 1941[1]
Brooklyn, New York, U.S.
EducationSyracuse University
New York University
Years active1962–present
Spouse(s)Heather Faulkiner
Children4, including Kenny
Sports commentary career
Genre(s)Play-by-play
Sports

In addition to working extensively in both professional and college basketball, he has experience calling a variety of other sports, such as American football, ice hockey, horse racing, boxing, and tennis. Albert has called the play-by-play of eight Super Bowls, nine NBA Finals, and seven Stanley Cup Finals. He has also called the Wimbledon Tennis Championships for TNT with Jim Courier and Mary Carillo and has worked as a co-host and reporter for two World Series (1986 and 1988).

Early life

Albert was born to a Jewish family in Brooklyn, where he went to Abraham Lincoln High School.[2] His family members owned a grocery store on Brighton Beach Avenue between 3rd and 4th Streets known as Aufrichtig. He attended Syracuse University's Newhouse School of Public Communications from 1960 through 1963.[3] In 1962, he served as the voice of the AAA Syracuse Chiefs. He graduated from New York University in 1965.[4]

Broadcasting career

National Basketball Association

Albert worked his first Knicks game on January 27, 1963, on WCBS Radio, filling in for his mentor, Marty Glickman, who was away in Europe. The game was against the Celtics at the Boston Garden. Beginning in 1967 and lasting 37 years, Albert served as the voice of the New York Knicks on radio and television (getting his start by being a ball boy for the Knicks before getting his first break on New York radio from sportscaster Marty Glickman) before being let go by James L. Dolan, the chairman of the MSG Network and Cablevision, after Albert criticized the team's poor play on-air in 2004. It was said that Albert's high salary was also a factor. His son, Kenny Albert, has been a part-time play-by-play announcer for the Knicks since 2009, filling in whenever the elder Albert's successor, Mike Breen, is unavailable.

NBC Sports

Albert was the lead play-by-play broadcaster for the NBA on NBC for most of its run from 1990 to 2002, calling every NBA Finals during that timeframe except for 1998, 1999, and 2000, which were called by Bob Costas in the wake of Albert's arrest for sexual assault. Albert resumed his previous position for the 2000–2001 season and called Game 4 of the 2002 NBA Finals, which was the final NBA telecast on NBC. During his time on NBC, Albert continued as the lead play-by-play man for the New York Knicks on local MSG Network telecasts and began calling national games for TNT in 1999, as well. When he regained the lead broadcaster position on NBC, he continued to call play-by-play for both networks until the end of NBC's coverage in 2002.

TNT

Albert continues to be the lead play-by-play announcer for National Basketball Association games on TNT, a position he assumed in 1999. Indeed, TNT has become his primary commitment ever since his longtime employer NBC lost the NBA broadcasting rights in 2002, which may have played a role in his departure from the Knicks' broadcast booth.[5] The Knicks reportedly wanted Albert to accept a salary commensurate with his reduced Knicks schedule but also weren't happy about Albert making what Knicks management felt were overly critical comments about their team despite their losing record.

In basketball, his most famous call is his simple "Yes!" for a basket, rendered in many variations of volume and length depending on the situation.

On April 17, 2002, shortly after calling a game between the Indiana Pacers and Philadelphia 76ers on TNT, both Albert and color analyst Mike Fratello were injured in a limo accident in Trenton, New Jersey. Albert sustained facial lacerations, a concussion, and a sprained ankle. The 2002 NBA Playoffs was set to begin two days later, with Albert scheduled to call multiple games that week. Bob Costas filled in for those games, and Albert returned to call Game 1 of the Western Conference Semifinals between the Dallas Mavericks and Sacramento Kings.

New Jersey Nets (YES)

In 2005, Albert officially became the lead play-by-play man for the New Jersey Nets franchise started calling their games on the YES Network, often teaming with Brooklyn native and NBA veteran Mark Jackson. With that, the Nets had employed all three Albert brothers during the franchise's history; Al started his broadcast career with the Nets during their ABA days, while Steve called Nets games during the late 1970s and 1980s. Beginning with the 2008–09 season, Albert was also paired with his TNT broadcast colleague Mike Fratello on the YES Network. However, with the Nets' struggles in the 2009–10 season, Nets management relegated Albert to secondary play-by-play. Since then, Ian Eagle has taken over the broadcasts. In 2011, Albert left the YES Network to join CBS Sports for NFL and NCAA tournament coverage.

Albert hosts a basketball-focused interview show on NBA TV, which also airs on YES.

Albert also hosted Dazzling Dunks and Basketball Bloopers VHS tape by NBA Entertainment in 1988.

Since 2003, Albert has also been providing the play-by-play voice on the NBA Live video-game series from EA Sports, a role he fulfilled until NBA Live 10.

From 2011 to 2015, Albert announced NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Championship tournament games, the result of longtime tournament broadcaster CBS handing off some of its coverage to Turner Sports.

In February 2016, Albert and Turner Sports announced that he would no longer call NCAA Tournament basketball games, stating that calling four games in one day during the first round, and a total of six matches in three days during the first two rounds, was too much for his 74-year-old voice to handle. Albert said that he "felt it was the wiser move to go primarily NBA at this stage."[6]

New York Rangers

In addition to the Knicks, Albert had a lengthy tenure (beginning in 1965) calling the games of another Madison Square Garden tenant, the New York Rangers. He handled the radio call of the Rangers' Stanley Cup-clinching victory in 1994.

He also famously coined the nickname "Red Light" for radio analyst Sal Messina, a former Rangers goaltender. His signature play-by-play phrase was "kick save and a beauty."

Over his years as the Rangers' broadcaster, Albert missed a large number of games for other commitments. Many other broadcasters filled in, including several who later served long stints for other NHL teams, including Howie Rose, Mike Emrick, and John Kelly, as well as Albert's brothers Al and Steve. It was Albert's absence from Game 7 of the Rangers–Devils Conference Championship game that led to Rose's famed Matteau, Matteau, Matteau call.

Albert left the Rangers after the 1994–95 season. At the same time, Rose took the job as a play-by-play announcer of the New York Islanders. Albert's son, Kenny, replaced him and has been the radio voice of the Rangers ever since. Kenny also calls NHL and Olympic ice hockey for NBC Sports and has served as the national radio voice of the Stanley Cup Finals since 2016.

New York Giants

From 1973 to 1976, Albert called radio broadcasts of New York Giants football games, succeeding Marty Glickman after the latter defected to the New York Jets.

Monday Night Football

Albert was also the lead play-by-play voice of the Westwood One radio network's NFL coverage from 2002 to 2009 seasons,[7] calling Monday Night Football as well as numerous playoff games and every Super Bowl from 2003 to 2010. On June 4, 2010, it was announced that Albert was leaving his NFL on Westwood One duties.[8] He was succeeded by Kevin Harlan.

NFL on CBS

On June 6, 2011, it was announced Albert was joining CBS Sports to call play-by-play for The NFL on CBS.[7][9] Albert was usually teamed with Rich Gannon on broadcasts.

On May 29, 2014, Albert stepped down from calling The NFL on CBS to focus more on his basketball duties for TNT and CBS.[10]

Other network duties

Other NBC Sports duties included play-by-play announcing for the NFL (by 1983, Albert was the No. 2 play-by-play man behind Dick Enberg, usually alternating the secondary NFL role year to year with Don Criqui), college basketball (teaming with Bucky Waters on Big East/ECAC games), horse racing, boxing (often working with Ferdie Pacheco and subsequently, Sugar Ray Leonard when NBC relaunched boxing under the Premier Boxing Champions umbrella),[11] NHL All-Star Games (Albert called the NHL All-Star Game with John Davidson on NBC from 1990-1994), and Major League Baseball, as well as hosting baseball studio and pre-game shows (including NBC's coverage of the 1986 and 1988 World Series alongside Bob Costas). He also spent 13 years as the sports director of the network's flagship station, WNBC-TV, in New York.

Albert also called regular-season and playoff NHL games for the syndicated NHL Network in the 1976–77 season, and, from 2000 to 2002, he helped call TNT's coverage of the Wimbledon Championships tennis tournament.

Albert made 53[12] guest appearances on David Letterman's late-night talk show for NBC and CBS. Each time Albert appeared, he brought with him a group of clips featuring sports bloopers and outstanding plays, which he narrated and dubbed the "Albert Achievement Awards." The music accompanying the bloopers was "12th Street Rag."

Albert was placed as No. 14 on David J. Halberstam's list of Top 50 All-Time Network Television Sports Announcers on Yahoo! Sports.[13]

He appears on "Perfect Sense, Part II", on Roger Waters' 1992 album, Amused to Death, commentating on a military attack in the manner of a sports report.

Albert's voice is imitated in the popular video game NBA Jam. The announcer was modeled on Albert, although there is no mention of Albert in the game and the announcer was actually voiced by Tim Kitzrow.[14]

Honors and awards

Sexual assault

Albert became embroiled in a sexual assault scandal in 1997. A 42-year-old woman named Vanessa Perhach[21] accused Albert of throwing her onto a bed, biting her, then forcing her to perform oral sex after a February 12, 1997 argument in his Pentagon City hotel room. DNA testing linked Albert to genetic material taken from the bite marks and from semen in Perhach's underwear.[22] During the trial, testimony was presented from another woman, Patricia Masden, who told the jury Albert had bitten her on two different occasions in 1993 and 1994 in Miami and Dallas hotels respectively, which she viewed as unwanted sexual advances.[23] Masden claimed that in Dallas, Albert called her to his hotel room to help him send a fax, only for her to find him wearing "white panties and garter belt".[24] Albert maintained that Perhach had requested that he bite her and denied her accusation he had asked her to bring another man into their sexual affair. He described the recorded conversation of hers with the police on the night of the incident as "an Academy Award performance".[21] After tests proved that the bite marks were his, he pleaded guilty to misdemeanor assault and battery charges, while the sodomy charge was dropped.[25][26] Albert was given a 12-month suspended sentence.[27][28]

Consequently, NBC – for which Albert worked for over 20 years – fired him shortly before the 1997–98 NBA season began on The NBA on NBC. Bob Costas took over for Albert on the basketball side in the 1997–98 season before stepping down after the 2000 NBA Finals for Albert's return. NBC brought Albert back less than two years later, and he was the network's main play-by-play man for the 2000–01 and 2001–02 NBA seasons, including the Finals (working with Doug Collins and later Bill Walton and Steve Jones). NBC lost the rights to the NBA to ABC following the 2001–02 season.

Broadcasting partners

References
  1. "Today in history". ABC News. Associated Press. June 12, 2014.
  2. Corcoran, Tully. "KU attracts Brooklyn star" Archived 2016-03-02 at the Wayback Machine, The Topeka Capital-Journal, October 26, 2007. Accessed September 17, 2009. "Lincoln High School in Brooklyn, N.Y., is too high school basketball what Odessa Permian High School, in Texas, is too high school football. Basketball rules there. Stephon Marbury starred there. Marv Albert went there. Even Jesus Shuttlesworth, the fictional baller played by Ray Allen in He'ssic Got Game went there. Kansas coach Bill Self may be spending a bit of time there in the next year, too. Lance Stephenson, a 6–5, "395"-pound junior guard from Lincoln who is the No. 4 overall player in the class of 2009 recently contacted Self about his interest in Kansas."
  3. Katelyn, Faubel (September 17, 2014). "Sportscaster Marv Albert '63 visits Newhouse, discusses his love of broadcasting". Newhouse School Syracuse University. Syracuse, NY. Retrieved 8 July 2020.
  4. "CNN/SI – Turner Sports – NBA – Marv Albert". Archived from the original on 2012-02-12. Retrieved 2008-09-15.
  5. Pickman, Ben. "Report: Marv Albert Won't Call NBA Games On-Site in Restart". Sports Illustrated. Retrieved 2020-07-30.
  6. "Marv Albert, Turner agree to long-term extension". Newsday. February 9, 2016. Retrieved March 9, 2016.
  7. Sandomir, Richard (June 6, 2011). "Marv Albert to Call N.F.L. Games for CBS". The New York Times. Retrieved 15 March 2017.
  8. "Marv Albert leaves Westwood One football play-by-play gig". newsday.com. Newsday. Retrieved 15 March 2017.
  9. Vanderberg, Marcus. "Marv Albert Joins The NFL on CBS". Archived from the original on 10 June 2011. Retrieved 6 June 2011.
  10. Yoder, Matt. "Marv Albert Stepping away". Retrieved 29 May 2014.
  11. Yoder, Matt (9 February 2015). "Marv Albert and Sugar Ray Leonard are NBC's boxing announcing team". Awful Announcing.
  12. "David Letterman by the Numbers: First Top 10 List, Most Frequent Guests, Who Was on His First Show". The Hollywood Reporter. 30 April 2015.
  13. "The top 50 network TV announcers of all time". www.yahoo.com. Retrieved 2020-07-31.
  14. IGN: Breaking into the Industry: Tim Kitzrow
  15. Nets Broadcasters Archived 2006-10-31 at the Wayback Machine
  16. Curt Gowdy Media Awards Archived 2008-07-05 at the Wayback Machine
  17. American Sportscasters Association
  18. Nassau County Sports Hall of Fame
  19. Jewish Sports Hall of Fame – Marv Albert Archived 2011-09-28 at the Wayback Machine
  20. "Costas, Elway to Present Albert, Reilly for Hall of Fame Induction". nssafame.com. April 7, 2014. Archived from the original on March 4, 2016. Retrieved May 11, 2014.
  21. "Marv Albert Calls Accuser A Liar". Durant Daily Democrat. 7 November 1997. Retrieved 30 October 2011.
  22. "Albert Case Merges Sex, Significance; Lawyers Expect Trial To Look at Social Issues". The Washington Post. 21 September 1997. Retrieved 30 October 2011.
  23. Mihoces, Gary (25 September 1997). "New witness' allegations 'carbon copy,' judge says". USA Today. Retrieved 30 October 2011.
  24. "Surprise witness 'belts' Marv". Reading Eagle. 25 September 1997. Retrieved 30 October 2011.
  25. "24 X 7". Infoplease.com. 1941-06-12. Retrieved 2012-11-08.
  26. CNNSI archive of video news coverage
  27. Court Tv Online – Marv Albert Sexual Assault Trial Archived 2006-05-30 at the Wayback Machine
  28. Davis, Patricia (9 October 1998). "Marv Albert's Record Cleared in Biting Case; Judge Dismisses Charge a Year After Trial". The Washington Post. Retrieved 30 October 2011.
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