Marv Albert, one of the single most recognizable voices in sports broadcasting history, is calling it a career.
The New York Post reported Saturday that Albert, the lead voice of NBA games on TNT, will retire at the end of this season. His final assignment would be the Eastern Conference Finals.
Albert is turning 80 next month. He has been with Turner since 1999, a 22-year tenure that matches his career-defining run with NBC (1977-97 and 1999-02). His longest role was as the voice of the Knicks from 1967-97 and again from 1999-04, eventually losing the job because Knicks owner James Dolan did not like his on-air criticism of the moribund team.
Though best known as the voice of the NBA during the Michael Jordan era, Albert covered a variety of sports. He was the radio voice of New York Rangers hockey for 30 years from 1965-95, covered Major League Baseball, the NFL and boxing for NBC, called the Super Bowl for Westwood One radio from 2002-10, and broadcast NFL games for CBS from 2011-14.
He also served as one of the top voices on CBS/Turner Sports NCAA Tournament coverage from 2011-16 and even called some Wimbledon tennis matches for Turner in the early 2000s. Following his ouster from the Knicks, he was the voice of the Nets on YES Network.
In his heyday, Albert was a bonafide celebrity, appearing regularly on David Letterman’s late night talk show. Other than Howard Cosell, it is hard to imagine any sports broadcaster whose voice has been subject to more imitation.
He was never more in the public eye than in 1997, when he was charged with sexual assault in one of the more lurid celebrity scandals of the 1990s. He was arrested during that year’s NBA Playoffs, but continued to work games on NBC as the legal proceedings played out. After he pled guilty to a reduced charge that fall, he was fired from NBC and resigned from MSG.
He did not suffer the career-ending consequences that would likely have occurred today. Nonetheless, the case constituted “a humiliating public ordeal” that resulted in his temporary banishment from the industry.
He resumed his career with a role on the MSG SportsDesk in 1998 before a return to national prominence with Turner in 1999. After he had talks with Fox about a potential role on its NFL coverage, NBC stepped in to bring him back as an NBA voice. Just four years after his firing, he was back calling the NBA Finals for NBC in 2001.
His run calling the NBA Finals ended abruptly when ESPN/ABC swiped NBA rights from NBC in 2002. He has called the NBA All-Star Game and a conference final for TNT every year dating back to 2003, except for last year — when he skipped the NBA “bubble” restart over COVID-19 concerns and missed his first NBA Playoffs since 1998.
[News from NYP 5.15]
