Marv Albert, the 80-year-old known as the voice of basketball, signed off for the last time Saturday night after the Milwaukee Bucks beat the Atlanta Hawks 118-107 to earn a spot in the NBA Finals.
Albert made his first appearance on an NBA radio broadcast in 1963 — when the league had nine teams, including clubs in Baltimore, Cincinnati and St. Louis — and was the New York Knicks’ play-by-play announcer on both TV and radio for 37 years. He rose to national prominence on NBC’s basketball coverage starting in 1990.
Though his career was briefly interrupted by sexual assault accusations, he remained in prominent positions and earlier this year announced his intention to retire after the season.
Here’s his final sign-off.
“You gifted the game of basketball with your voice.” ✊
Hall of Fame broadcaster Marv Albert wraps up a legendary career. pic.twitter.com/4ONADiRqOo
— NBA on TNT (@NBAonTNT) July 4, 2021
There was a standing ovation from the fans left in the stands.
.@ReggieMillerTNT and fans show love to Marv Albert in his final broadcast ❤️
What a career for the Hall of Fame broadcaster pic.twitter.com/gtinAG9VBH
— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) July 4, 2021
And here’s a tribute video to watch, if you’d like.
After nearly 60 years, Hall of Fame broadcaster Marv Albert has worked his final game. From his remarkable run as announcer for the Knicks to his role calling marquee national NBA games, Albert has been the soundtrack for fans for generations. pic.twitter.com/CVmBnfct8w
— NBA (@NBA) July 4, 2021
You’ll find plenty of tweets of admiration, too:
Marv Albert…Legend. One of the great voices that inspired me to want to do this for a living. He ruined it for the rest of us. No one will ever call hoops as well as Marv.
— Brian Anderson (@BAndersonPxP) July 4, 2021
It would be wrong, though, after what was truly an awful week for women in sports — with the NFL giving the Washington Football Franchise barely a slap on the wrist for cultivating a horrifyingly violent and repressive environment for women, and the Portland Trail Blazers showing how little they care about women in the wake of hiring Chauncey Billups, and the Los Angeles Dodgers originally planning to allow Trevor Bauer to pitch in the wake of sexual and physical assault allegations — to not mention Albert’s past here.
Albert was fired by NBC prior to the start of the 1997-98 season after he pled guilty to misdemeanor assault and battery charges stemming from an incident in which a woman accused him of biting her, throwing her onto a bed and forcing her to perform oral sex. During the trial for that case, another woman also accused Albert of biting her against her will.
NBC brought Albert back before the 2000 season.
