For decades, the sound of Marv Albert’s distinctive voice shouting “Yes!” after a key basket has been almost as much a part of the soundtrack of the NBA as balls being dribbled or sneakers squeaking on the hardwood.
What You Need To Know
- Legendary NBA play-by-play announcer Marv Albert announced Monday he is retiring after more than a half-century
- Albert’s final telecasts will be in the upcoming Eastern Conference finals
- Albert has spent the past 22 years with Turner Sports, including 19 as an NBA play-by-play man
- He also has called NBA, NFL, Major League Baseball, college basketball, boxing and tennis events, working for NBC, CBS and other networks
Now the legendary play-by-play announcer is calling it a career after more than a half-century.
Albert, who turns 80 next month, announced Monday he is retiring. His final telecasts will be in the upcoming Eastern Conference finals.
Albert has spent the past 22 years with Turner Sports, including 19 as an NBA play-by-play man. His career began in New York in 1963 under the tutelage of another broadcast icon, Marty Glickman.
A onetime New York Knicks ball boy, Albert became the radio voice of the New York Rangers in 1965 and of the Knicks in 1967.
In 1968, he made what would become his signature call for the first time, exclaiming “Yes!” after the Knicks’ Dick Barnett hit a jump shot.
In Game 7 of the NBA Finals, it was Albert’s voice that alerted radio listeners that Knicks star Willis Reed, who suffered a torn thigh muscle four days earlier, had emerged from the locker room and would play that night.
“And here comes Willis, and the crowd is going wild!” Albert said.
It proved to be one of the most memorable moments in Knicks history, as the emotional boost from Reed’s return lifted the franchise to its first championship.
Albert started calling Knicks games on television in 1986 for the Madison Square Garden Network. He also broadcast NFL, Major League Baseball, college basketball, boxing and tennis events, working for NBC, CBS and the Westwood One radio network.
He briefly lost all his broadcast jobs in 1997 after he pleaded guilty to assault in a lurid sex case. Albert, however, was back with the Knicks and NBC a year later. He had a second divorce from the Knicks in 2004 and then became the voice of the then-New Jersey Nets on the YES Network from 2005-11.
Albert has called 25 NBA All-Star Games, 13 NBA Finals, eight Super Bowls, eight Stanley Cup Finals and the Dream Team’s run through the 1992 Olympics.
While he was a versatile announcer, he is by far best known for his NBA work.
“There is no voice more closely associated with NBA basketball than Marv Albert’s,” said NBA Commissioner Adam Silver. “My first memories of the NBA were of listening to Marv call a game with his signature style, iconic phrases and unparalleled passion. From his remarkable run as play-by-play announcer for the Knicks to his prominent national roles calling our marquee games on NBC and Turner Sports, Marv has been the soundtrack for basketball fans for nearly 60 years. We congratulate him on a Hall of Fame career that is simply unmatched.”
Albert is a member of the National Sportscasters and Sportswriters Association Hall of Fame, the Sports Broadcasting Hall of Fame and the American Sportscaster Association Sportscaster of the Year. In 1997, he received the Curt Gowdy Media Award from the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.
Turner Sports will air a 30-minute tribute to Albert during the Eastern Conference finals and also celebrate some of his most memorable calls throughout the playoffs, which begin Tuesday.
