As the defending Stanley Cup champion Florida Panthers attained a second consecutive Eastern Conference crown on Wednesday night, TNT Sports play-by-play announcer Kenny Albert was making history on the airwaves. According to data collected by Un/Necessary Sports Research, Albert was slated to pass his father, Marv, for second all time among announcers calling a national telecast for one of the four major professional sports (MLB, NBA, NFL, NHL). As Albert was behind the microphone under such a circumstance for the 1,482nd time in his professional career, he received congratulations from his colleagues both in the booth and in the studio during NHL on TNT Face Off.
Prior to the start of the game, studio host Liam McHugh revealed that TNT Sports had a special video to play for Albert regarding the milestone. It turned out that Marv, who called NBA games for a variety of networks over 55 years, including 22 years with then-Turner Sports, had recorded a special message for his son ahead of Game 5 in the series.
“Ever since Kenny was a kid, he’d have this thing about milestones,” Albert said. “How many wins consecutively he’d get in Monopoly, how many goals he’d score in street hockey, how many hamburgers he’d eat at one sitting. Very sad, but how about 1,481 consecutive national games. Those are the stats Kenny’s offering up. Kenny, congratulations. You are the Cal Ripken of sports broadcasting history on the national level.”
Over his 30-plus year career working in the sports media business, Albert has called games across the four major sports and currently serves as the lead NHL play-by-play announcer for TNT Sports. In addition, he will become the television play-by-play announcer for New York Rangers hockey on MSG Networks after spending the last 29 seasons working on the radio. Albert also fills in on New York Knicks basketball broadcasts on television and has called baseball and football games nationally for FOX Sports. In fact, Albert recently became the first NFL broadcaster to call 500 games in the regular season or postseason for one network, achieving the seminal milestone last October.
Eddie Olczyk, who has been working with Albert for the last five years on NHL broadcasts, asked his partner how he is able to maintain all of his different responsibilities. In response, Albert explained that despite the busy schedule, he has great partners and has been able to make it all work. Moreover, he expressed how he considers himself to be fortunate to be employed by the networks for which he calls games.
“I know you’re humble and you don’t like talking about yourself, so I will talk about you quickly,” McHugh explained. “It’s exactly what Edzo said. It’s from sport to sport to sport, and then occasionally, when I think we’re all resting, I turn the TV on and you’re doing boxing; and then I show up for a banquet that we have to be at, but you’re hosting the banquet; or I showed up a day at a kids’ summer camp at Hofstra to talk to students, and who walks in with his suitcase from the airport? Kenny Albert to talk to the kids in-between.”
“You, as I mentioned, are tireless, but more than that, you’re generous, and if I even tried to do what you do for a week, I’d be the most miserable person around – you are never, ever like that,” continued Olczyk. “You are the happiest person, and I think you’re a big energy guy, and you kind of get us all going all the time.”
Albert trails Dick Stockton by 62 broadcasts as the all-time leader in the category for most national games called across the four major sports. In addition to passing his father on the leaderboard Wednesday night, he also tied him with working 1,467 of those broadcasts as a play-by-play announcer. Kevin Harlan is the leader in that category, amassing 1,476 such national broadcasts across the four major sports working as a play-by-play announcer. Harlan will call Game 5 of the NBA Eastern Conference Finals on Thursday night between the New York Knicks and Indiana Pacers airing on TNT and Max starting at 8 p.m.
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