Donald Robert Poier (February 24, 1951 – January 21, 2005) was a sports play-by-play announcer who called telecasts of Pac-10 football and basketball games and was the radio and television voice for the

Vancouver Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the ...

Memphis Grizzlies The Memphis Grizzlies (referred to locally as the Grizz) are an American professional basketball team based in Memphis, Tennessee. The Grizzlies compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Western Conference ...

Early life

Born in Snohomish, northeast of

Seattle Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest regio ...

, Poier was a three-sport standout in

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding t ...

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular court, compete with the primary objective of shooting a basketball (approximately in diameter) through the defender's h ...

, and football at

Snohomish High School Snohomish High School (SHS) is a secondary school located in the Snohomish School District, in Snohomish, Washington, United States. SHS, built for 1200 students, contains 1,689 9th–12th graders (as of 2016–17). The school serves primarily t ...

, where he played first base, forward, and punter/quarterback/tight end/defensive back. He starred on Dick Armstrong's first league-champion football team in 1968, earning all-state honors as a DB. After playing basketball on the freshmen team at

Washington State University Washington State University (Washington State, WSU, or informally Wazzu) is a public land-grant research university with its flagship, and oldest, campus in Pullman, Washington. Founded in 1890, WSU is also one of the oldest land-grant uni ...

, Poier transferred to

Pacific Lutheran University Pacific Lutheran University (PLU) is a private Lutheran university in Parkland, Washington. It was founded by Norwegian Lutheran immigrants in 1890. PLU is sponsored by the 580 congregations of Region I of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Ame ...

, where he played

defensive end Defensive end (DE) is a defensive position in the sport of gridiron football. This position has designated the players at each end of the defensive line, but changes in formations over the years have substantially changed how the position is ...

on the football team from 1972 to 1973 for legendary coach

Frosty Westering Forrest Edward "Frosty" Westering (December 5, 1927 – April 12, 2013) was an American football coach. He served as the head coach at Parsons College in Fairfield, Iowa from 1962 to 1963, Lea College in Albert Lea, Minnesota from 1966 to 197 ...

Career

Poier spent more than 20 years of his broadcasting career in Seattle, announcing regional basketball and football games in the Pac-10 and hydroplane boat races. In the 1980s he was the sports director at KING-TV (

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, its headquarters are l ...

), and later worked at

KCPQ KCPQ (channel 13) is a television station licensed to Tacoma, Washington, United States, broadcasting the Fox network to the Seattle area. It is owned and operated by the network's Fox Television Stations division alongside MyNetworkTV outlet ...

(

Fox Foxes are small to medium-sized, omnivorous mammals belonging to several genera of the family Canidae. They have a flattened skull, upright, triangular ears, a pointed, slightly upturned snout, and a long bushy tail (or ''brush''). Twelve sp ...

) and Prime Sports Northwest. In 1995, Poier moved to the professional ranks, joining the

Vancouver Grizzlies The Vancouver Grizzlies were a Canadian professional basketball team based in Vancouver. They were part of the Midwest Division of the Western Conference of the National Basketball Association (NBA). The team was established in 1995, along w ...

of the NBA during their inaugural year. Before that, the only professional games he had called were in the NBA, providing play-by-play for the

Seattle SuperSonics The Seattle SuperSonics (commonly known as the Seattle Sonics) were an American professional basketball team based in Seattle. The SuperSonics competed in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member club of the league's Western Confe ...

during the exhibition seasons of the early 1980s & major league baseball, as a broadcaster for the

Seattle Mariners The Seattle Mariners are an American professional baseball team based in Seattle. They compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) West division. The team joined the American League as an expansion team ...

in the 1981 season. He and former NBA player and sportscaster Bob Elliott gained national recognition by lending their voices to

EA Sports EA Sports is a division of Electronic Arts that develops and publishes sports video games. Formerly a marketing gimmick of Electronic Arts, in which they tried to imitate real-life sports networks by calling themselves the "EA Sports Network ...

' ''

NBA Live Series ''NBA Live'' is a series of basketball video games published by EA Sports. The series, which debuted in 1994, is the successor to the previous ''NBA Playoffs'' and '' NBA Showdown'' series. Beginning in the late 2000’s, NBA Live sales had dro ...

'' video games from 1999 through 2003. After doing radio play-by-play for every Grizzlies game during his tenure in Vancouver and Memphis, he was promoted to television play-by-play for the

2004–05 NBA season The 2004–05 NBA season was the 59th season of the National Basketball Association (NBA). It began on November 2, 2004 and ended June 23, 2005. The season ended with the San Antonio Spurs defeating the defending-champion Detroit Pistons, 4–3, ...

Death

On January 21, 2005, Poier was found dead of an apparent

heart attack A myocardial infarction (MI), commonly known as a heart attack, occurs when blood flow decreases or stops to the coronary artery of the heart, causing damage to the heart muscle. The most common symptom is chest pain or discomfort which ma ...

in his Denver hotel room before the Grizzlies' game against the Nuggets. The Grizzlies decided to play the game in spite of Poier's sudden death, and lost by a final score of 92–82. He was 53 years old he was one month prior to his 54th Birthday. The media center at

FedExForum FedExForum is a multi-purpose arena located in Downtown Memphis, Tennessee. It is the home of the Memphis Grizzlies of the NBA and the NCAA Division I men's basketball program of the University of Memphis, both of whom previously played home ...

, the Grizzlies' home arena in Memphis, has been named in honor of Poier.http://www.nba.com/grizzlies/news/release-050420-don_poier_media_center.html Grizzlies Unveil Don Poier Media Center In addition, a memorial banner hangs from the ceiling at every Grizzlies home game.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Poier, Don 1951 births 2005 deaths College basketball announcers in the United States College football announcers Major League Baseball broadcasters National Basketball Association broadcasters National Football League announcers Memphis Grizzlies announcers People from Snohomish, Washington Seattle Mariners announcers Seattle Seahawks announcers Vancouver Grizzlies announcers