Legendary play-by-play announcer Marv Albert will retire at the conclusion of the Eastern Conference finals of the NBA playoffs, the New York Post reported Saturday.
He turns 80 next month.
His retirement will bring to an end a career that began in 1963 when he filled in for another icon, Marty Glickman, on the call of a game between the New York Knicks and Boston Celtics on WCBS Radio. In 1967, he became the lead announcer for the New York Rangers, then added the Knicks to his responsibilities a few years later. He also called the New York Giants’ games on radio for four seasons in the 1970s before joining NBC Sports in 1977.
Since 1999, Albert has been the lead basketball play-by-play announcer for Turner Sports.
A multiple Emmy Award winner, Albert was inducted into the National Sportscasters and Sportswriters Association Hall of Fame in 2015, and the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame honored him with the Curt Gowdy Media Award in 1997.
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Albert’s career has spanned work on a variety of sports.
He has called college basketball, boxing and horse racing as well as the major sports. He worked five Olympics for NBC, assigned to coverage of boxing in 1988, 1996 and 2000, and the basketball “Dream Team” in Barcelona in 1992.
Albert also was on the call of the Knicks’ first NBA championship in 1970 and the Rangers’ Stanley Cup win in 1994.
Chris Webber and Albert have been the No. 1 team for Turner Sports this season, but it is unclear who will sit by Albert’s side in the playoffs. The Post reported Friday that Webber, a former No. 1 NBA draft pick, and Turner decided to part ways before the start of the postseason.
–Field Level Media