Mick Hubert (born February 16, 1954) is a retired radio play-by-play announcer who from 1989 to 2022 served as the primary radio voice and media host for the

Florida Gators The Florida Gators are the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent the University of Florida, located in Gainesville. The University of Florida, its athletic program, its alumni and its sports fans are often collectively referred to as t ...

sports programs at the University of Florida (UF). He was well known for his exuberant announcing style, highlighted by his use of the phrase "Oh my!" when excited by the action on the field.

Early life and career

Hubert was born in

St. Anne, Illinois St. Anne (sometimes spelled Saint Anne) is a village in Kankakee County, Illinois, United States. The population was 1,161 at the 2020 census. It is part of the Kankakee–Bourbonnais–Bradley Metropolitan Statistical Area. It was fo ...

and got his first broadcast experience calling high school football games on WMDB-AM in Peoria while a student at Illinois State University. He graduated with a degree in broadcast journalism in 1976, and in 1979, he became the sports director at WHIO-TV in Dayton, Ohio. During his 10 years at the station, he did radio and television play-by-play for Bradley University and University of Dayton athletic events, along with play-by-play for NCAA tournament games on ESPN.

Voice of the Gators

Hubert became only the third radio "Voice of the Gators" in 1989. (Original UF radio play-by-play announcer Otis Boggs held the position for over four decades, and successor David Steele left in 1989 to become the TV voice of the expansion

Orlando Magic The Orlando Magic are an American professional basketball team based in Orlando, Florida. The Magic compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Southeast Division. The franchise was establ ...

of the National Basketball Association.) Beginning with the 1989 football season, Hubert was the lead radio announcer for Florida's

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

and men's basketball teams, along with most baseball broadcasts. In addition, he served as host for Gator coaches' radio and television shows and hosted and produced the majority of the television, radio, and online content created by UF's athletic department. On football broadcasts, he worked alongside several

color analyst A color commentator or expert commentator is a sports commentator who assists the main (play-by-play) commentator, typically by filling in when play is not in progress. The phrase "colour commentator" is primarily used in Canadian English and the ...

s over the years, including former Gator players

James Jones James Jones may refer to: Sports Association football *James Jones (footballer, born 1873) (1873–1955), British Olympic footballer * James Jones (footballer, born 1996), Scottish footballer for Wrexham *James Jones (footballer, born 1997), Wel ...

, Lee McGriff, and Shane Matthews. For basketball, he called the action with Mark Wise, Bill Koss, or

Lee Humphrey Lee Anthony Humphrey (born April 23, 1984) is an American-born professional basketball player, who last played for BC Juventus of the Lithuanian League. Humphrey played college basketball for the University of Florida, and was a key member of t ...

"Doering's got a touchdown!"

Hubert was known at Florida for his extensive preparation, his coining of nicknames for Gator players, and "passionate" announcing style. He first came to prominence after the Gators' last-minute win at Kentucky on September 11,

1993 File:1993 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Oslo I Accord is signed in an attempt to resolve the Israeli–Palestinian conflict; The Russian White House is shelled during the 1993 Russian constitutional crisis; Czechoslovakia is peace ...

. His energetic yelling of "DOERING'S GOT A TOUCHDOWN! DOERING'S GOT A TOUCHDOWN! OHHHH MY!" in describing the game-winning touchdown pass from

Danny Wuerffel Daniel Carl Wuerffel (born May 27, 1974) is a former college and professional American football quarterback. Wuerffel attended the University of Florida, where he was a prolific passer for the Florida Gators under head coach Steve Spurrier. Wuerf ...

Chris Doering Chris is a short form of various names including Christopher, Christian, Christina, Christine, and Christos. Chris is also used as a name in its own right, however it is not as common. People with the given name * Chris Abani (born 1966), N ...

was extensively replayed on national sports networks and became so well known that it was featured in the ESPN films

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documentary "More than a Voice" almost thirty years later. Over the ensuing decades, his enthusiastic radio calls (including his use of "Oh my!", which he attributed to the influence of long-time sportscaster Dick Enberg) were often used by national sports media when featuring highlights of Gator games.

Retirement

In May 2022, Hubert announced that he was retiring after 33 years at UF to spend more time with his family. His last call as "Voice of the Gators" was during the Florida baseball team's final regular season series against South Carolina in May 2022 in which Hubert served as play-by-play announcer for the SEC Network's television coverage.

Awards and recognitions

Hubert received many accolades during his long career, beginning with two

Emmy Awards The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the calendar year, each with the ...

for sports coverage while working at WHIO in the early 1980s. More recently, he was named the National Sports Media Association's Florida Sportscaster of the Year in 2017 and was inducted into the

Florida Sports Hall of Fame The Florida Sports Hall of Fame (FSHOF) is an association dedicated to honoring athletes with outstanding achievement in sports in Florida. It has expanded its goals to include encouraging physical fitness among Florida's citizens through the examp ...

in 2018. As the radio voice of the Gators, Hubert called Florida's

1996 File:1996 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: A Centennial Olympic Park bombing, bomb explodes at Centennial Olympic Park in Atlanta, set off by a radical Anti-abortion violence, anti-abortionist; The center fuel tank explodes on TWA Flight 8 ...

2006 File:2006 Events Collage V1.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2006 Winter Olympics open in Turin; Twitter is founded and launched by Jack Dorsey; The Nintendo Wii is released; Montenegro 2006 Montenegrin independence referendum, votes to declare ...

, and

2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...

football national championships, the

and

2007 File:2007 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Steve Jobs unveils Apple's first iPhone; TAM Airlines Flight 3054 overruns a runway and crashes into a gas station, killing almost 200 people; Former Pakistani Prime Minister of Pakistan, Pr ...

men's basketball championships, and the

2017 File:2017 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The War Against ISIS at the Battle of Mosul (2016-2017); aftermath of the Manchester Arena bombing; The Solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 ("Great American Eclipse"); North Korea tests a ser ...

NCAA baseball championships, making him the only radio announcer to ever call championships for all three major sports for the same university.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hubert, Mick 1954 births Living people College football announcers College basketball announcers in the United States College baseball announcers in the United States Florida Gators baseball announcers Florida Gators men's basketball announcers Florida Gators football announcers Illinois State University alumni Sportspeople from Dayton, Ohio People from Kankakee County, Illinois People from Gainesville, Florida