Eric Reid is an American television play-by-play announcer for the

Miami Heat The Miami Heat are an American professional basketball team based in Miami. The Heat compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference (NBA), Eastern Conference Southeast Division (NBA), Southe ...

and college football on

Sun Sports Bally Sports Sun is an American regional sports network owned by Diamond Sports Group, a joint venture between Sinclair Broadcast Group and Entertainment Studios, and operates as an affiliate of Bally Sports. The channel broadcasts local coverage ...

. Reid has been with the Heat since the team's inaugural

season A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperate and pol ...

. He was the Heat's color analyst alongside Sam Smith for three seasons before taking over play-by-play duties in 1991, and has been their play-by-play announcer ever since. He has shared the broadcast booth with analysts including

Dr. Jack Ramsay John Travilla Ramsay (February 21, 1925 – April 28, 2014) was an American basketball coach, commonly known as "Dr. Jack" (as he held an earned doctorate). He was best known for leading the Portland Trail Blazers to the 1977 NBA championship, a ...

Dave Wohl David Bruce Wohl (born November 2, 1949) is an American former basketball player and coach, and the former general manager of the Los Angeles Clippers. A 6'2" guard who grew up in East Brunswick, New Jersey and played collegiately at the Univers ...

Ed Pinckney Edward Lewis Pinckney (born March 27, 1963) is an American former professional basketball player. College career He attended Villanova University and was a part of the Villanova Wildcats' 1981 heralded recruiting class that included Gary McLa ...

Mike Fratello Michael Robert Fratello (born February 24, 1947) is an American sports broadcaster and a professional basketball coach. Fratello is currently an analyst for Fox Sports Ohio for the Cavaliers and a part-time color commentator for Fox Sports West f ...

Tony Fiorentino Tony Fiorentino (born 1949) is an American television color commentator, most recently for the Miami Heat.John Crotty John Kevin Crotty (born July 15, 1969) is an American former professional basketball player. A 6'1" point guard from the University of Virginia, Crotty was undrafted, but played in 11 National Basketball Association (NBA) seasons from 1992 to 2003 ...

. He is best known among Heat fans for bellowing, "Kaboom!" after Heat three-pointers and big plays. In 2017, Reid told ''

The Palm Beach Post ''The Palm Beach Post'' is an American daily newspaper serving Palm Beach County in South Florida, and parts of the Treasure Coast. On March 18, 2018, in a deal worth US$42.35 million, ''The Palm Beach Post'' and ''The Palm Beach Daily News'' we ...

'' that he got the idea from a cabbie who was driving him and Ramsay to a game against the

Chicago Bulls The Chicago Bulls are an American professional basketball team based in Chicago. The Bulls compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Central Division. The team was founded on January 1 ...

United Center United Center is an indoor arena on the Near West Side of Chicago, Illinois, United States. It is home to the Chicago Bulls of the National Basketball Association (NBA) and the Chicago Blackhawks of the National Hockey League (NHL). It is named ...

. The cabbie was an ardent Bulls fan, and recalled that he loved listening to Bulls radio broadcasts because announcer

Neil Funk Neil Funk (born December 29, 1946) is the former television play-by-play announcer for the National Basketball Association's Chicago Bulls. Education and career Funk grew up in Indianapolis and attended Syracuse University, graduating in 1969. H ...

would bellow "Kaboom!" after a Bulls three-pointer. Reid's broadcast career began at

WHCU WHCU (870 AM) is a commercial radio station in Ithaca, New York, that programs a news/talk radio format. The station has been owned by the Cayuga Radio Group subsidiary of Saga Communications since 2005. Programming is simulcast on FM translato ...

radio in

Ithaca, New York Ithaca is a city in the Finger Lakes region of New York, United States. Situated on the southern shore of Cayuga Lake, Ithaca is the seat of Tompkins County and the largest community in the Ithaca metropolitan statistical area. It is named a ...

where he was the station's sports director and the radio play-by-play voice for

Cornell University Cornell University is a private statutory land-grant research university based in Ithaca, New York. It is a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1865 by Ezra Cornell and Andrew Dickson White, Cornell was founded with the intention to teach an ...

football, basketball, and lacrosse. Prior to joining the Heat, Reid was the radio voice of

Providence College Providence College is a Private university, private Catholic Church, Catholic university in Providence, Rhode Island. Founded in 1917 by the Dominican Order and the Roman Catholic Diocese of Providence, local diocese, it offers 47 undergradua ...

from 1982 to 1988. He has also called basketball games for

ESPN Plus ESPN+ is an American over-the-top subscription video streaming service available in the United States, owned by Disney Media and Entertainment Distribution, in partnership with ESPN Inc., which is a joint venture between The Walt Disney Compa ...

and the

University of South Florida The University of South Florida (USF) is a public research university with its main campus located in Tampa, Florida, and other campuses in St. Petersburg and Sarasota. It is one of 12 members of the State University System of Florida. USF is ...

, and football games for ESPN Plus,

New England Sports Network New England Sports Network, popularly known as NESN , is an American regional sports cable and satellite television network owned by a joint venture of Fenway Sports Group (which owns a controlling 80% interest, and is the owner of Boston Red So ...

Brown University Brown University is a private research university in Providence, Rhode Island. Brown is the seventh-oldest institution of higher education in the United States, founded in 1764 as the College in the English Colony of Rhode Island and Providenc ...

, the

University of Miami The University of Miami (UM, UMiami, Miami, U of M, and The U) is a private research university in Coral Gables, Florida. , the university enrolled 19,096 students in 12 colleges and schools across nearly 350 academic majors and programs, incl ...

, and the University of South Florida. While at NESN, Reid also hosted the pre- and post-game shows for the

Boston Red Sox The Boston Red Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Boston. The Red Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. Founded in as one of the American League's eight ...

, did play-by-play for the

Pawtucket Red Sox The Pawtucket Red Sox, known colloquially as the PawSox, were a professional minor league baseball club based in Pawtucket, Rhode Island. From 1973 to 2020, the team was a member of the International League and served as the Triple-A affiliate ...

, and was also the host and writer for the syndicated weekly television show, "This Week in the

Big East The Big East Conference is a collegiate athletic conference that competes in NCAA Division I in ten men's sports and twelve women's sports. Headquartered in New York City, the eleven full-member schools are primarily located in Northeast and ...

." In 1990, Reid called the NCAA Lacrosse Championships for ESPN. In 2013, Reid won an Emmy for best play-by-play announcer in his 25th season calling action for the Heat. Reid is a 1979 graduate of

Ithaca College Ithaca College is a private college in Ithaca, New York. It was founded by William Egbert in 1892 as a conservatory of music and is set against the backdrop of the city of Ithaca (which is separate from the town), Cayuga Lake, waterfalls, and go ...

and a native of

Massapequa, New York Massapequa (, ) is a hamlet and census-designated place (CDP) in the Town of Oyster Bay in Nassau County, on the South Shore of Long Island, in New York, United States. It is considered the anchor community of the Greater Massapequa area. The p ...

. He currently resides in

Boca Raton, Florida Boca Raton ( ; es, Boca Ratón, link=no, ) is a city in Palm Beach County, Florida, United States. It was first incorporated on August 2, 1924, as "Bocaratone," and then incorporated as "Boca Raton" in 1925. The population was 97,422 in the ...

References

External links

Eric Reid profile at Fox Sports Florida
{{DEFAULTSORT:Reid, Eric Year of birth missing (living people) Living people People from Massapequa, New York Sports in Boston Miami Heat announcers Lacrosse announcers Ithaca College alumni People from Boca Raton, Florida College football announcers College basketball announcers in the United States Major League Baseball broadcasters Television personalities from Florida