Alan Albert (born Alan Aufrichtig in

Brooklyn, New York Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

) is a sportscaster, who formerly called basketball games for the

New York Nets New is an adjective referring to something recently made, discovered, or created. New or NEW may refer to: Music * New, singer of K-pop group The Boyz Albums and EPs * ''New'' (album), by Paul McCartney, 2013 * ''New'' (EP), by Regurgitator, ...

and

Denver Nuggets The Denver Nuggets are an American professional basketball team based in Denver. The Nuggets compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Western Conference Northwest Division. The team was founded as the D ...

, as well as national

NBA The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America. The league is composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada) and is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United St ...

coverage for the

USA Network USA Network (simply USA) is an American basic cable television channel owned by the NBCUniversal Television and Streaming division of Comcast's NBCUniversal through NBCUniversal Cable Entertainment. It was originally launched in 1977 as Madison ...

. He was also a play-by-play sportscaster for the

Indiana Pacers The Indiana Pacers are an American professional basketball team based in Indianapolis. The Pacers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Central Division. The Pacers were first esta ...

. He has also worked in boxing, as the blow-by-blow announcer for '' Tuesday Night Fights''.

Education

Albert obtained his degree from

Ohio University Ohio University is a Public university, public research university in Athens, Ohio. The first university chartered by an Act of Congress and the first to be chartered in Ohio, the university was chartered in 1787 by the Congress of the Confeder ...

, where he played hockey and lacrosse. He played goalie for both sports. Albert was invited to training camp by the

New York Rangers The New York Rangers are a professional ice hockey team based in the New York City borough of Manhattan. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Metropolitan Division in the Eastern Conference. The team plays its home ...

and ended up playing a single season for the

Toledo Blades The Toledo Blades and Hornets were the International Hockey League franchise of Toledo, Ohio from 1963 to 1974. The first four years (1959-1963) of the franchise was in Omaha, NE as the Omaha Knights. After moving to Toledo for the 1963-64 seas ...

Career

Albert started his broadcasting career in Denver, working for a local broadcasting company called KOA and also

KHOW KHOW (630 AM) is a commercial radio station licensed to Denver, Colorado, and serving the Denver metropolitan area. The station is owned by iHeartMedia, Inc. KHOW is one of three iHeart-owned stations in Denver with a news/talk radio format. C ...

radio and

KWGN-TV KWGN-TV (channel 2) is a television station in Denver, Denver, Colorado, United States, airing programming from The CW. It is owned-and-operated station, owned and operated by network majority owner Nexstar Media Group alongside Fox Broadcasting ...

. He also served as a sports anchor on

WNBC WNBC (channel 4) is a television station in New York City, serving as the flagship of the NBC network. It is owned and operated by the network's NBC Owned Television Stations division alongside Linden, New Jersey–licensed Telemundo station WN ...

in New York City and was the voice of the

and

New York Islanders The New York Islanders (colloquially known as the Isles) are a professional ice hockey team based in Elmont, New York. The Islanders compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Metropolitan Division in the Eastern Conference ( ...

. He was the voice for the Nuggets for 21 years until he decided to leave Denver in 1996. In 1999, he joined the

as a play-by-play man. He worked there until 2007. On January 24, 1984, Albert, working for USA network, called what

Syracuse Syracuse may refer to: Places Italy *Syracuse, Sicily, or spelled as ''Siracusa'' *Province of Syracuse United States *Syracuse, New York **East Syracuse, New York **North Syracuse, New York *Syracuse, Indiana * Syracuse, Kansas *Syracuse, Miss ...

fans call the greatest game in the

Carrier Dome The JMA Wireless Dome, originally the Carrier Dome (1980–2022) and colloquially called "The Dome," or more recently "The JMA Dome," is a domed sports stadium in Syracuse, New York. Located on the campus of Syracuse University in the University ...

ever. Syracuse faced

Boston College Boston College (BC) is a private Jesuit research university in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts. Founded in 1863, the university has more than 9,300 full-time undergraduates and nearly 5,000 graduate students. Although Boston College is classifie ...

, and the teams were tied 73-73 after a missed free throw by Boston College's Martin Clark. Sean Kerins passed the rebound to

Pearl Washington Dwayne Alonzo "Pearl" Washington (January 6, 1964 – April 20, 2016) was an American professional basketball player. He was a , guard. Early life Washington grew up in the Brownsville section of the New York City borough of Brooklyn, where ...

who took three steps and made a half court shot to win the game. Albert's call lives on as The Greatest Play By Play Call in the Carrier Dome ever: "Washington, two seconds, OHHHH! 'The Pearl' hits it ..at midcourt." Syracuse University basketball fans call that the greatest nine words in Syracuse history.

Awards and honors

In 1995, he won the

Sam Taub Award The Sam Taub Award is a yearly award presented by the Boxing Writers Association of America for Excellence in Broadcasting Journalism. The award is named after Sam Taub, a journalist and radio broadcaster who is best known for his work covering box ...

for excellence in boxing broadcasting journalism.International Boxing Hall of Fame/BWAA Awards
/ref>

Family

Albert hails from a family of broadcasters. His brothers, Marv and

Steve Albert Steve Albert (born Stephen Aufrichtig in Brooklyn, New York;April 26, 1952) is a former American sportscaster. He has served as a play-by-play announcer for the New Jersey Nets, New Orleans Hornets, Golden State Warriors, New York Mets, and Phoe ...

, and a nephew,

Kenny Kenny is a surname, a given name, and a diminutive of several different given names. In Ireland, the surname is an Anglicisation of the Irish language, Irish ''Ó Cionnaith'', also spelt ''Ó Cionnaoith'' and ''Ó Cionaodha'', meaning "descendant ...

, are also play-by-play sports commentators.

References

External links

PACERS: Al Albert
Year of birth missing (living people) Living people American Basketball Association announcers American television sports announcers American radio sports announcers Boxing commentators College basketball announcers in the United States Denver Nuggets announcers Indiana Pacers announcers Los Angeles Clippers announcers Jewish American sportspeople Major League Baseball broadcasters National Basketball Association broadcasters National Football League announcers National Hockey League broadcasters New York Islanders announcers New York Rangers announcers New York Nets announcers New York Jets announcers Ohio University alumni Sportspeople from Brooklyn Television anchors from New York City Toledo Blades players New Jersey Devils announcers 21st-century American Jews {{US-journalist-stub