Mic check: from the '40s to the present day, we take a look at the best basketball announcers of all time

Basketball Digest, May-June, 2004 by Keith Loria

BASKETBALL ANNOUNCERS ARE the voices and--on radio--the eyes of the game for fans. They entertain us with their stories, thrill us with their vivid descriptions, and anger us when they criticize our favorite players. They have trademark phrases that we copy and inflections that we imitate.

Although everyone has an opinion on who they think are the best announcers from the game, here are the names most would agree are legends behind the mic. The requirements for this list are a good voice, a quick mind, basketball savvy, a sense of humor, and a sense of history for the game.

CHICK HEARN

The voice of the Los Angeles Lakers for more than four decades, Hall-of-Famer Chick Hearn is considered to be far and away the best of the best when talking about basketball broadcasting. He was loud, opinionated, and completely himself, and although he loved the takers, (he announced a record 3,338 consecutive games by himself), he wasn't a homer. He was a master of the spoken word. He was playful, calling himself "Chickie Baby," and was responsible for much of the NBA vernacular that exists today. He came up with "slam dunk," "air ball," "finger roll," and "no harm, no foul."

Hearn had a series of Chick-isms that he'd deliver throughout the game that NBA fans around the county still can recite by heart. When a ball-handler faked out a defender, "he put him in the popcorn machine." If someone was being a hotshot, "the mustard's off the hot dog." And his most famous phrase came at the end of many a Laker victory: "You can put this one in the refrigerator. The door's closed, the lights out, the eggs are cooling, the butter's getting hard, and the Jell-O is jiggling."

There have been many notable names associated with the Lakers, but none more identifiable than Chick Hearn.

JOHNNY MOST

Basketball announcers didn't get much more passionate than Johnny Most, as anyone growing up in Boston could tell you. Most was more of a Celtics in than any of his listeners, and cheered on the team with a unique style whether the team won or lost. Fans loved him for his devotion to the team, yet his homer tendencies didn't get in the way of calling a great game.

Most brought the audience into the game with his gifted descriptions of the floor action. He is best known for what is arguably the most famous radio call in the history of hoops--that of the closing seconds of Game 7 of the 1965 Eastern Conference finals between the defending champion Celtics and the Philadelphia 76ers. "Greer is putting the ball in play ... he gets it out ... and Havlicek steals it! Over to Sam Jones. Havlicek stole the ball! It's an over! It's all over! Johnny Havlicek is being mobbed by the fans. It's all over! Johnny Havlicek stole the ball."

Most bled Celtic green, it's only fitting that he is immortalized with one of the greatest moments in Celtics history.

MARV ALBERT

While most kids dreamed of becoming sports stars when they grow up in New York, Marc Albert wanted to be the man announcing their games. He honed his craft at Syracuse University and out of college began working under Marty Glickman, serving as Glickman's writer, producer, and backup announcer.

Albert achieved his dream by becoming the voice of the Knicks and is one of the most beloved announcers in New York and in the basketball world today. "I basically started by doing a bad Marry Glickman imitation," he says. "I had a lot of respect for his work and a lot of that infiltrated to my early days on the air."

Albert eventually found his own style and voice and became an important part of Knicks basketball. Of course, it is Albert and his trademark "Yes?" that is imitated by so many today. He currently does play-by-play at TNT and MSG (in addition to working other sports on TV and radio) and continues to be the voice of the Knicks.

MARTY GLICKMAN

For more than 30 years Glickman wasn't just the voice of the Knicks, he was the voice of an entire sport. Beginning in the 1940s Glickman became the first major broadcaster to call NBA games, and his voice was associated with everything basketball. The old Paramount newsreels, the annual Converse highlight films, the old interview shows from the '50s--all Glickman. He was considered one of the best describers of the court on radio.

"He recognized that you had to be specific by saying things like 'right corner, right wing, top of the key.' He came up with the term 'the key.' He gave aspiring announcers a blueprint for calling a game," says ESPN announcer Bill Walton. "He made 'swish' a part of the NBA's vernacular."

Glickman called the first All-Star Game in 1951, worked the big college games of his day, and even after his career calling Knicks games ended, he resurfaced in the early '70s as the voice of the ABA's New York Nets. And no matter what game he was at, he started every broadcast with his familiar introduction of "Hello, fans! I'm Marty Glickman."

AL McGUIRE

As a college coach, Al McGuire constructed a winning system at Marquette University for 13 year's that included an NIT championship in 1970 and an NCAA title in 1977. He left the school after that 1977 win with a career record of 302-80 and faced his next challenge--the broadcast booth. For the next 16 years McGuire teamed with Dick Enberg and Billy Packer on NBC Sports and offered his very opinionated, yet respected, views of the games.