Kevin Paul Calabro (born June 27, 1956) is an American sportscaster based in

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 ...

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered on ...

. The longtime voice of the former

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 ...

NBA franchise, Calabro has primarily called NBA basketball but has also announced collegiate football (alongside

Yogi Roth Yogi Zohar Roth (born September 20, 1981) is a Pac-12 Networks college football analyst, filmmaker, and author. Roth is a graduate of Lackawanna Trail Jr./Sr. High School in Factoryville, PA. Roth began his collegiate career as an athlete at th ...

) and basketball as well as MLS soccer. From 2016 to 2020, he served as the television play-by-play voice for the

Portland Trail Blazers The Portland Trail Blazers (colloquially known as the Blazers) are an American professional basketball team based in Portland, Oregon. The Trail Blazers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Western Con ...

. He rejoined the Portland Trail Blazers as the Play-By-Play Voice for the 2021-22 season after stepping down in 2020 to be with his family in order to avoid exposure to COVID-19. As of the 2015–16 season, Calabro is the lead play-by-play announcer for NBA on

ESPN Radio ESPN Radio, which is alternately platform-agnostically branded as ESPN Audio, is an American sports radio network and extension of the ESPN television network. It was launched on January 1, 1992, under the original banner of "SportsRadio ESPN". ...

, including NBA Finals games in 2007, 2014 and 2016 alongside personalities like

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 ...

and

Hubie Brown Hubert Jude Brown (born September 25, 1933) is an American retired basketball coach and player and a current television analyst. Brown is a two-time NBA Coach of the Year, the honors being separated by 26 years. Brown was inducted into the Naism ...

. Calabro has done ESPN radio play-by-play for the NBA Conference Finals for a decade in addition to being a regular contributor to TNT's NBA broadcasts. Calabro worked college basketball and football games for the

Pac-12 Network The Pac-12 Network (P12N; also sometimes referred to as Pac-12 Networks) is an American sports-oriented digital cable and satellite television network owned by the Pac-12 Conference. The network's studio and production facilities are headquart ...

and postseason college basketball for

Westwood One Sports Westwood One is an American radio network owned by Cumulus Media. The company syndicates talk, music, and sports programming. The company takes its name from an earlier network also named Westwood One, a company founded in 1978. The company w ...

, including NCAA tournament action.

Career

Calabro is a 1974 graduate of

Ben Davis High School Ben Davis High School (BDHS) is a three-year high school in Indianapolis, Indiana. History Ben Davis was first established in 1892. The current school building was constructed in 1965. The school underwent extensive construction and renovation fr ...

Indianapolis Indianapolis (), colloquially known as Indy, is the state capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Indiana and the seat of Marion County. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the consolidated population of Indianapolis and Marion ...

, Indiana. He called high school basketball games in Indiana on

WBDG WBDG (90.9 FM) is a high school radio station broadcasting a Variety format from Ben Davis High School in Indianapolis, Indiana, United States. The station is currently owned by Metropolitan School District of Wayne Township. WBDG broadcasts i ...

. He graduated from

Butler University Butler University is a private university in Indianapolis, Indiana. Founded in 1855 and named after founder Ovid Butler, the university has over 60 major academic fields of study in six colleges: the Lacy School of Business, College of Communic ...

(1978) where he called Butler Bulldog basketball for four years. Calabro had stops in the Central Hockey League, where he broadcast games for the

Indianapolis Checkers The Indianapolis Checkers were a minor league professional ice hockey team from Indianapolis, Indiana. The Checkers' home arena was the Fairgrounds Coliseum from 1981 to 1985 and Market Square Arena from 1979 to 1981 and again from 1985 to 1987. Th ...

, as well as at

Purdue University Purdue University is a public land-grant research university in West Lafayette, Indiana, and the flagship campus of the Purdue University system. The university was founded in 1869 after Lafayette businessman John Purdue donated land and money ...

and

University of Missouri The University of Missouri (Mizzou, MU, or Missouri) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Columbia, Missouri. It is Missouri's largest university and the flagship of the four-campus Universit ...

where he called basketball games. He began his professional career as the play-by-play announcer for the

Kansas City Kings The Sacramento Kings are an American professional basketball team based in Sacramento, California. The Kings compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Western Conference Pacific Division. The Kings are the oldest ...

in the 1983–84 season. In the 1987–88 season, Calabro came on board with the SuperSonics alongside the SuperSonics original play-by-play announcer Bob Blackburn. He became the team's sole play-by-play announcer in 1992, following the retirement of Blackburn. Calabro reaching a milestone 1,500 games in 2006. Calabro had an option with the SuperSonics for the 2008–09 season. However on April 11, 2008, Calabro stated he would not continue with the team should they relocate to Oklahoma City, which they ultimately did. The National Sportscasters and Sportswriters Association named him "Sportscaster of the Year" for the state of

in 1997, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, and 2006. Calabro became lead play-by-play personality for the

Seattle Sounders FC Seattle Sounders Football Club is an American professional men's soccer club based in Seattle. The Sounders compete as a member of the Western Conference of Major League Soccer (MLS). The club was established on November 13, 2007, and began ...

, a

Major League Soccer Major League Soccer (MLS) is a men's professional soccer league sanctioned by the United States Soccer Federation, which represents the sport's highest level in the United States. The league comprises 29 teams—26 in the U.S. and 3 in Canada ...

franchise, in its first year. Calabro was honored with the 2016 Keith Jackson Sports Media Excellence Award during the 81st Annual Sports Star of the Year Awards. Calabro has done work on the national level with

TNT Trinitrotoluene (), more commonly known as TNT, more specifically 2,4,6-trinitrotoluene, and by its preferred IUPAC name 2-methyl-1,3,5-trinitrobenzene, is a chemical compound with the formula C6H2(NO2)3CH3. TNT is occasionally used as a reagen ...

, TBS,

, and

NBA TV NBA TV is an American sports-oriented pay television network owned by the National Basketball Association (NBA) and operated by Warner Bros. Discovery through its sports unit. Dedicated to basketball, the network features exhibition, regular ...

. He has also lent his voice to several

Microsoft Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational technology corporation producing computer software, consumer electronics, personal computers, and related services headquartered at the Microsoft Redmond campus located in Redmond, Washing ...

games, including ''

NBA Inside Drive ''NBA Inside Drive'' is a series of video games based on National Basketball Association, published by Microsoft Studios. Its main competition was ''NBA Live'', a series from Electronic Arts. Games NBA Inside Drive 2000 The first game in the s ...

'', ''

NBA Full Court Press ''NBA Full Court Press'' is a video game published by Microsoft and developed by Australian company Beam Software for Windows in 1996. The game is one of the first to be published by Microsoft for its Windows 95 operating system. Gameplay ''NB ...

'', and ''

NFL Fever ''NFL Fever'' was an American football video game series published and developed by Microsoft Game Studios. In February 2005, Microsoft sold the series to Ubisoft Ubisoft Entertainment SA (; ; formerly Ubi Soft Entertainment SA) is a French v ...

'' and more recently has been the play-by-play voice of the Sony

PlayStation is a video gaming brand that consists of five home video game consoles, two handhelds, a media center, and a smartphone, as well as an online service and multiple magazines. The brand is produced by Sony Interactive Entertainment, a divisi ...

NBA game franchise. Calabro's brother, David Calabro, is a sportscaster and the sports director with the NBC-affiliate station

WTHR WTHR (channel 13) is a television station in Indianapolis, Indiana, United States, affiliated with NBC. It is owned by Tegna Inc. alongside low-power, Class A MeTV affiliate WALV-CD (channel 46). Both stations share studios on North Meridian S ...

in Indianapolis, as well as the public address announcer at the

Indianapolis Motor Speedway The Indianapolis Motor Speedway is an automobile racing circuit located in Speedway, Indiana, an enclave suburb of Indianapolis, Indiana. It is the home of the Indianapolis 500 and the Verizon 200, and and formerly the home of the United State ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Calabro, Kevin College football announcers 1956 births Living people Association football commentators College basketball announcers in the United States Butler University alumni National Basketball Association broadcasters National Football League announcers Portland Trail Blazers announcers Sacramento Kings announcers Seattle Seahawks announcers Seattle SuperSonics announcers People from Indianapolis High school basketball announcers in the United States Major League Soccer broadcasters