One of the most acclaimed and prominent broadcasters in all of sports, NBC’s Mike ‘Doc’ Emrick, is retiring.
Emrick announced Monday that he is ending his 50-year broadcasting career, the last 15 years of which were spent as NBC’s lead NHL play-by-play voice. The announcement comes less than a month after Emrick called what turned out to be his final NHL game, Game 6 of the Stanley Cup Final, remotely from his home.
In a farewell video, Emrick said he will continue to provide essays for NBC’s NHL coverage and “perhaps in the future … have something to share.”
Emrick began calling hockey games in the 1970-71 season and prior to joining NBC in 2005 served as the lead voice of games on FOX. He also called games on ESPN/ABC and even the old SportsChannel America.
Between FOX, NBC and ESPN, Emrick called 22 Stanley Cup finals on national television in four different decades (1987, 1988, 1995-99, 2006-present) — and worked an additional four as the studio host for SportsChannel America. He was also the voice of the Olympic hockey tournament six times, most recently in 2014.
The New York Post was first to report Emrick’s retirement.
In addition to his NHL work, Emrick has also called other sports. He worked NFL and NCAA Tournament games for CBS in the early 1990s, including Brett Favre’s first NFL game. He also worked Olympic water polo for NBC in 2004 and 2012. In 2016, he made a guest appearance on MLB Network, working a Cubs-Pirates game alongside Bob Costas.
Emrick had become widely acclaimed by the end of his career, winning the Sports Emmy for play-by-play for the seventh-straight time — and eighth in ten years — this year.
Kenny Albert is second on NBC’s depth chart, but the network made no announcement about its future plans Monday.
[News from NBC Sports PR, NYP 10.19]
