Kenneth Gary Albert (born February 2, 1968) is an American sportscaster, the son of NBA sportscaster Marv Albert and nephew of sportscasters Al Albert and Steve Albert. He is the only sportscaster who currently does play-by-play for all four major professional sports leagues in the United States and Canada (

NFL The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the major ...

, NBA, MLB,

NHL The National Hockey League (NHL; french: Ligue nationale de hockey—LNH, ) is a professional ice hockey league in North America comprising 32 teams—25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. It is considered to be the top ranked professional ...

Early life

Albert's parents gave him a

tape recorder An audio tape recorder, also known as a tape deck, tape player or tape machine or simply a tape recorder, is a sound recording and reproduction device that records and plays back sounds usually using magnetic tape for storage. In its present ...

for his fifth birthday to practice his broadcasting. On his sixth birthday in

1974 Major events in 1974 include the aftermath of the 1973 oil crisis and the resignation of President of the United States, United States President Richard Nixon following the Watergate scandal. In the Middle East, the aftermath of the 1973 Yom K ...

, his father took him along to a

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 ho ...

game. One of the statisticians had to leave in the middle of the game, so Albert got to do the stats for the rest of the game. At 14, he became the official statistician for the Rangers on the radio. At 16, he wrote content for the Rangers program. Aside from his

father A father is the male parent of a child. Besides the paternal bonds of a father to his children, the father may have a parental, legal, and social relationship with the child that carries with it certain rights and obligations. An adoptive fathe ...

, his idol was

Vancouver Canucks The Vancouver Canucks are a professional ice hockey team based in Vancouver. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Pacific Division (NHL), Pacific Division of the Western Conference (NHL), Western Conference, and ...

play-by-play broadcaster Jim Robson. From 1981 to 1986, Albert, growing up in Sands Point, covered high school sports for the ''Port Washington News'' at Paul D. Schreiber High School, an Anton Community Newspapers publication. Albert graduated from

New York University New York University (NYU) is a private research university in New York City. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded by a group of New Yorkers led by then- Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin. In 1832, ...

in 1990 with a degree in broadcasting and journalism. He was a member of the

Sigma Phi Epsilon Sigma Phi Epsilon (), commonly known as SigEp, is a social college fraternity for male college students in the United States. It was founded on November 1, 1901, at Richmond College (now the University of Richmond), and its national headquarte ...

fraternity. Albert worked in the sports department at WNYU radio. While working there he was able to pick up his quick responses while announcing local games.

Broadcasting career

Albert is the radio voice of the

, as well as a

play-by-play In sports broadcasting, a sports commentator (also known as sports announcer or sportscaster) provides a real-time commentary of a game or event, usually during a live broadcast, traditionally delivered in the historical present In linguis ...

announcer and field-level reporter for

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''). Twelv ...

's coverage of

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL) ...

, the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ma ...

, and previously, the

Sugar Bowl The Sugar Bowl is an annual American college football bowl game played in New Orleans, Louisiana. Played annually since January 1, 1935, it is tied with the Orange Bowl and Sun Bowl as the second-oldest bowl games in the country, surpassed on ...

. Previously, he handled TV play-by-play for the

Washington Capitals The Washington Capitals (colloquially known as the Caps) are a professional ice hockey team based in Washington, D.C. The team competes in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Metropolitan Division in the Eastern Conference, a ...

and

Washington Bullets The Washington Wizards are an American professional basketball team based in Washington, D.C. The Wizards compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Southeast Division. The team plays ...

(now the Washington Wizards), and was a part-time announcer on

Washington Nationals The Washington Nationals are an American professional baseball team based in Washington, D.C.. They compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member of the National League (NL) East division. From 2005 to 2007, the team played in RFK Stadi ...

telecasts in

2005 File:2005 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: Hurricane Katrina in the Gulf of Mexico; the Funeral of Pope John Paul II is held in Vatican City; "Me at the zoo", the first video ever to be uploaded to YouTube; Eris (dwarf planet), Er ...

. Additionally, he does TV play-by-play for the

Washington Commanders The Washington Commanders are a professional American football team based in the Washington metropolitan area. The Commanders compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) ...

(formerly the Washington Redskins) preseason games with Joe Theismann. Albert called the international broadcast of Super Bowl XLVI with Theismann. When Fox had the network contract for the

National Hockey League The National Hockey League (NHL; french: Ligue nationale de hockey—LNH, ) is a professional ice hockey sports league, league in North America comprising 32 teams—25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. It is considered to be the top ranke ...

in the 1990s, Albert also worked on ''

Fox NHL Saturday The ''NHL on Fox'' is the branding used for broadcasts of National Hockey League (NHL) games that were produced by Fox Sports and televised on the Fox network from the 1994–1995 NHL season until the 1998–1999 NHL season. NHL games continue ...

'' telecasts. Albert previously did play-by-play for the ''

NHL on NBC The ''NHL on NBC'' is an American presentation of National Hockey League (NHL) games produced by NBC Sports, and televised on NBC properties, including MSNBC, CNBC, Golf Channel, USA Network and NBCSN in the United States. While NBC covered t ...

'' and formerly with

Versus Versus (Latin, 'against') may refer to: Film and television * ''Versus'' (2000 film), a Japanese zombie film * ''Versus'' (2016 film), a Russian sports drama film * ''Versus'' (2019 film), a French thriller film * Versus (TV channel), form ...

(now called NBCSN). Albert called Game 1 of the

2014 Stanley Cup Finals The 2014 Stanley Cup Finals was the championship series of the National Hockey League's (NHL) season, and the culmination of the 2014 Stanley Cup playoffs. The League realigned its divisions prior to the season, and changed the structure of th ...

for NBC, filling in for

Mike Emrick Michael "Doc" Emrick (born August 1, 1946) is an American former network television play-by-play sportscaster and commentator noted mostly for his work in ice hockey. He was the lead announcer for National Hockey League national telecasts on bot ...

, who was dealing with a death in the family. He has done work for NBC's

Olympics The modern Olympic Games or Olympics (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques) are the leading international sporting events featuring summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a var ...

coverage, as a play-by-play announcer for men's and women's

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an Ice rink, ice skating rink with Ice hockey rink, lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two o ...

at every

Winter Olympic Games The Winter Olympic Games (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques d'hiver) is a major international multi-sport event held once every four years for sports practiced on snow and ice. The first Winter Olympic Games, the 1924 Winter Olympics, were he ...

since

Salt Lake City Salt Lake City (often shortened to Salt Lake and abbreviated as SLC) is the capital and most populous city of Utah, United States. It is the seat of Salt Lake County, the most populous county in Utah. With a population of 200,133 in 2020, th ...

in 2002. Albert has also done

college basketball In United States colleges, top-tier basketball is governed by collegiate athletic bodies including National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA), the United States Collegiate Athleti ...

for ESPN Plus and is a substitute play-by-play announcer for televised

New York Knicks The New York Knickerbockers, shortened and more commonly referred to as the New York Knicks, are an American professional basketball team based in the New York City borough of Manhattan. The Knicks compete in the National Basketball Associa ...

games on MSG Network. For the 2011 playoffs, Albert broadcast for two playoff teams in the same market, doing the play-by-play for the

on WEPN 1050 ESPN radio and filling in on MSG Network doing play-by-play for the

. Albert was the play-by-play announcer for the

2015 American League Division Series The 2015 American League Division Series were two best-of-five-game series to determine the participating teams in the 2015 American League Championship Series. The three divisional winners (seeded 1-3) and a fourth team—the winner of a one-g ...

between the Texas Rangers and the

Toronto Blue Jays The Toronto Blue Jays are a Canadian professional baseball team based in Toronto. The Blue Jays compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. Since 1989, the team has played its home games ...

. In the top of the 7th inning of Game 5, he helped explain the rule regarding the errant throw by Toronto Blue Jays catcher Russell Martin, which resulted in Texas scoring the go-ahead run. In the bottom of the inning, he called Jose Bautista's go-ahead home run. In 2016, Albert was nominated for the

Sports Emmy Award The Sports Emmy Awards, or Sports Emmys, are part of the extensive range of Emmy Awards for artistic and technical merit for the American television industry. Bestowed by the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences (NATAS), the Sports ...

for Outstanding Sports Personality, Play-by-Play in a list that included fellow Fox and NBC colleagues Kevin Burkhardt, eventual winner

, and even his own father. After Emrick's retirement, Albert became NBC's lead play-by-play announcer beginning in the

2020–21 NHL season The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the Baseline (typography), baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally lo ...

, paired with Emrick's long-time partner

Eddie Olczyk Edward Walter Olczyk Jr. (; born August 16, 1966) is a former center in the National Hockey League for 16 seasons with the Chicago Blackhawks, Toronto Maple Leafs, Winnipeg Jets, New York Rangers, Los Angeles Kings, and Pittsburgh Penguins. He ...

. Albert previously filled in for Emrick in game one of the

due to a death in the latter’s family. With NBC losing its NHL rights after the 2021–22 season, the pair moved to

Turner Sports Warner Bros. Discovery Sports (WBD Sports) is the division of Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) that is responsible for sports broadcasts on its parent company's various channels in the United States, including TBS, TNT, AT&T SportsNet, and TruTV ...

to serve in the same capacity. Albert is a frequent guest on

WNYU-FM WNYU-FM (89.1 FM) is a college radio station owned and operated by New York University. Its offices and studios are located at NYU's campus in lower Manhattan. WNYU's main transmitter is located at University Heights in the Bronx, the former loc ...

's sports talk program, ''The Cheap Seats''. He has also made many appearances on the popular New York sports internet radio show ''Sports Heaven with Mark and Evan''.

Four sports in four days

On October 25, 2009, Albert called the play-by-play of the

Minnesota Vikings The Minnesota Vikings are a professional American football team based in Minneapolis. They compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the National Football Conference (NFC) North division. Founded in 1960 as an expansio ...

–

Pittsburgh Steelers The Pittsburgh Steelers are a professional American football team based in Pittsburgh. The Steelers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference (AFC) North division. Founded in , the Stee ...

NFL game for

and then hosted the

New York Yankees The New York Yankees are an American professional baseball team based in the New York City borough of the Bronx. The Yankees compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. They are one o ...

' locker room celebration after clinching the

American League Championship Series The American League Championship Series (ALCS) is a best-of-seven playoff and one of two League Championship Series comprising the penultimate round of Major League Baseball's (MLB) postseason. It is contested by the two winners of the America ...

that night. The following night he broadcast a

Rangers A Ranger is typically someone in a military/paramilitary or law enforcement role specializing in patrolling a given territory, called “ranging”. The term most often refers to: * Park ranger or forest ranger, a person charged with protecting and ...

game on radio and on October 28, he called the play-by-play of the

season opener on MSG Network.

Personal life

Albert currently resides in New Jersey with his wife of 20 years, Barbara (Wolf), and their two daughters, Amanda and Sydney. Albert was introduced to his wife by close friend and

Baltimore Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, and List of United States cities by popula ...

sports reporter, Jerry Coleman. Albert has frequently cited his love of all sports, but mainly hockey and basketball. He has cited baseball as the hardest sport to commentate for.

Career timeline

*1990–1992: Baltimore Skipjacks – play-by-play *1992–1995:

– play-by-play on NBC Sports Washington *1993–1994: '' NHL on ESPN2'' – play-by-play *1994–1995, 2016–present: NHL Radio – lead play-by-play *1994–present: ''

NFL on Fox The ''NFL on Fox'' (also known as ''Fox NFL'') is the branding used for broadcasts of National Football League (NFL) games produced by Fox Sports and televised on the Fox broadcast network. Game coverage is usually preceded by '' Fox NFL Kickof ...

'' – play-by-play *1995–1999: '' NHL on Fox'' – play-by-play *1995–present:

– radio play-by-play *1999–2000: ''NTRA on Fox'' – host *2001–2019, 2022–present: '' Major League Baseball on Fox'' – play-by-play *2002:

Winter Olympics The Winter Olympic Games (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques d'hiver) is a major international multi-sport event held once every four years for sports practiced on snow and ice. The first Winter Olympic Games, the 1924 Winter Olympics, were h ...

– hockey play-by-play *2005:

– fill-in television play-by-play *2005–2006: ''

NHL on Versus ''The NHL on Versus'' was a presentation of National Hockey League (NHL) games broadcast on Versus. Versus became the NHL's cable partner in the United States beginning in the 2005–06 season from previous partner ESPN, providing coverage of re ...

'' – play-by-play *2006:

– hockey play-by-play *2007–2009:

– play-by-play *2009–present:

– fill-in television play-by-play *2010:

– hockey play-by-play *2010–present:

Broadcast Network – preseason play-by-play *2011: ''

'' – playoffs play-by-play *2012–2021: ''

–'' secondary play-by-play and then lead play-by-play *2014:

– hockey play-by-play *2016:

Summer Olympics The Summer Olympic Games (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques d'été), also known as the Games of the Olympiad, and often referred to as the Summer Olympics, is a major international multi-sport event normally held once every four years. The ina ...

– track and field play-by-play *2018:

– hockey play-by-play *2021:

- baseball and volleyball play-by-play *2021–present: ''

NHL on TNT The ''NHL on TNT'' is an American presentation of National Hockey League (NHL) games produced by Warner Bros. Discovery Sports (formerly known as Turner Sports), and televised on TNT in the United States. In 2021, Turner Sports reached a seven ...

'' - Lead play-by-play *2022:

- hockey play-by-play

Broadcasting partners

* Troy Aikman * Rod Allen * Brian Baldinger * Ronde Barber * Brian Boucher * Terry Bradshaw * Sean Casey *

Rick Cerone Richard Aldo Cerone (born May 19, 1954) is an American former professional baseball player, television sports color commentator and minor league baseball team owner. He played in Major League Baseball as a catcher from to with the Cleveland Ind ...

Brian Engblom Brian Paul Engblom (born January 27, 1955) is a Canadian ice hockey broadcaster for the Tampa Bay Lightning, and a former professional hockey defenseman. Biography Engblom was born in Winnipeg, Manitoba, and played for the University of Wiscons ...

* Cliff Floyd * Walt Frazier *

Joe Girardi Joseph Elliott Girardi (born October 14, 1964) is an American former professional baseball player and manager in Major League Baseball (MLB). Girardi played the catcher position for the Chicago Cubs, Colorado Rockies, New York Yankees, and St. ...

Mark Grace Mark Eugene Grace (born June 28, 1964) is a former Major League Baseball (MLB) first baseman who spent 12 seasons with the Chicago Cubs and three seasons with the Arizona Diamondbacks of the National League (NL). He was a member of the 2001 W ...

* Tim Green * Tim Hutchings * Daryl Johnston * Keith Jones * Eric Karros * Howie Long * Steve Lyons * Dave Maloney *

Tim McCarver James Timothy McCarver (born October 16, 1941) is an American former professional baseball player and television sports commentator. He played in Major League Baseball as a catcher from to , most prominently as a member of the St. Louis Cardin ...

* Pierre McGuire * Joe Micheletti *

Mike Milbury Mike may refer to: Animals * Mike (cat), cat and guardian of the British Museum * Mike the Headless Chicken, chicken that lived for 18 months after his head had been cut off * Mike (chimpanzee), a chimpanzee featured in several books and document ...

* A. J. Mleczko * Anthony Muñoz * Chris Myers * CJ Nitkowski *

* Darren Pang * A. J. Pierzynski *

Lou Pinella Louis Victor Piniella ( usually ; born August 28, 1943) is a former professional baseball player and manager. An outfielder, he played 16 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) with the Baltimore Orioles, Cleveland Indians, Kansas City Royals an ...

* Ron Pitts * Harold Reynolds * Ken Rosenthal *

Bryce Salvador Bryce Chadwick Salvador (born February 11, 1976) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey defenceman. Salvador was drafted in the sixth round, 138th overall by the Tampa Bay Lightning in the 1994 NHL Entry Draft. During his professional c ...

* Tony Siragusa * Kendall Coyne Schofield * Joe Theismann * Jeff Torborg * Tom Verducci * Jonathan Vilma

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Albert, Kenny 1968 births Living people American Hockey League broadcasters American horse racing announcers American radio sports announcers American television sports announcers College basketball announcers in the United States College football announcers High school basketball announcers in the United States Major League Baseball broadcasters National Basketball Association broadcasters National Football League announcers National Hockey League broadcasters New York Knicks announcers New York Rangers announcers New York University alumni Olympic Games broadcasters Washington Bullets announcers Washington Capitals announcers Washington Nationals announcers Women's National Basketball Association announcers Paul D. Schreiber High School alumni Jewish American sportspeople 21st-century American Jews