Dick Enberg
Richard Alan Enberg was an American sportscaster. Over the course of an approximately 60-year career, he provided play-by-play of various sports for several radio and television networks, including NBC, CBS, and ESPN, as well as for individual teams, such as UCLA Bruins basketball, Los Angeles Rams football, and California Angels and San Diego Padres baseball.
Enberg was well known for his signature on-air catchphrases "Touch 'em all" and "Oh, my!". He also announced or hosted the Tournament of Roses Parade for many years, sometimes with the help of family members. Enberg retired from broadcasting in 2016, after seven seasons as the Padres' primary television announcer.
Early life and education
Enberg was born on January 9, 1935, in Mount Clemens, Michigan, as the first child to Belle Elizabeth and Arnie Enberg. His paternal grandparents were Finnish immigrants, whose original name was Katajavuori, which means juniper mountain. Before they lived in America, they changed their name to the Swedish-sounding Enberg. His mother was of English, French, German and Native American descent. He had a younger brother, Dennis. Enberg's family first moved to Bridgeport, Connecticut, when he was two years old, then to southern California in 1940 for several years, and then back to a farm near Armada, Michigan.Following high school in Armada, Enberg attended Central Michigan University, where he played college baseball and earned a bachelor's degree in 1957. In his senior year at Central Michigan, Enberg was elected president of the student body. During this time, he was employed at WSAM in Saginaw, Michigan, then a Detroit Tigers radio affiliate. Enberg then went on to graduate school at Indiana University Bloomington, where he earned master's and doctorate degrees in health sciences. While at Indiana, Enberg voiced the first radio broadcast of the Little 500, the bicycle racing event popularized in the film Breaking Away.
He was also the play-by-play announcer for Indiana Hoosiers football and basketball games and in 1961 called his first NCAA basketball tournament event, the championship game between Cincinnati and Ohio State. From 1961 to 1965, he was an assistant professor and baseball coach at Cal State Northridge, then known as San Fernando Valley State College. Enberg was also a member of the Phi Sigma Kappa fraternity.
Career in Los Angeles
In the late 1960s, Enberg began a full-time sportscasting career in Los Angeles, working for KTLA television and KMPC radio. After every Angels victory, he would wrap up his broadcast with "And the halo shines tonight" in reference to the "Big A" scoreboard at Anaheim Stadium and the halo at the top, which would light up for everyone in the area to see, particularly from the adjacent freeway. Enberg was named California Sportscaster of the Year four times during this period.In the 1960s, Enberg announced boxing matches at L.A.'s Olympic Auditorium. Enberg also presided over the Trophy presentation for Super Bowl VII in 1973.
In 1968, Enberg was recommended by UCLA athletic director J.D. Morgan to be the national broadcaster for the syndicated TVS Television Network to cover the "Game of the Century" between the Houston Cougars, led by Elvin Hayes, and the UCLA Bruins, led by Lew Alcindor.
In the 1970s, Enberg called the 1979 NCAA Championship game between Michigan State, led by Magic Johnson, and Indiana State, led by Larry Bird. He also hosted the syndicated television game show Sports Challenge and co-produced the Emmy Award-winning sports-history series The Way It Was for PBS.
NBC Sports (1975–1999)
In 1973, Enberg hosted the game show Baffle, which lasted just a year before being cancelled in 1974. A year later, producer Monty Hall hired Enberg to host the shorter-lived Three for the Money.In 1975, Enberg joined NBC Sports. For the next 25 years, he broadcast a plethora of sports and events for NBC, including the National Football League, Major League Baseball, the National Basketball Association, the U.S. Open golf championship, college football, college basketball, the Wimbledon and French Open tennis tournaments, heavyweight boxing, Breeders' Cup and other horse racing events, and the Olympic Games.
Enberg replaced Curt Gowdy as lead play-by-play announcer for the NFL on NBC in 1979, and on the network's telecast of the Rose Bowl in January 1980. He was in the booth in Pasadena for nine straight years, until ABC took over the broadcast in 1989.
''The NFL on NBC''
While on The NFL on NBC, Enberg called eight Super Bowls, the last being Super Bowl XXXII in January 1998. Enberg also anchored NBC's coverage of Super Bowl XIII in 1979. He also called three Canadian Football League games in 1982 during the NFL strike.Among the notable games called by Enberg was the 1986 Week 3 51–45 shootout between the New York Jets and Miami Dolphins and the 1987 AFC Championship Game between the Denver Broncos and Cleveland Browns.
''Major League Baseball on NBC''
In 1977, Enberg provided play-by-play for Game 2 of the American League Championship Series and Game 4 of the National League Championship Series Series alongside Don Drysdale. Two years later, Enberg teamed with Wes Parker and Sparky Anderson to call the ALCS for NBC. And then in 1981, Enberg alongside Tom Seaver, called the National League Division Series between the Montreal Expos and Philadelphia Phillies and then, the NLCS between Montreal and the Los Angeles Dodgers.According to his autobiography, Oh My!, Enberg was informed by NBC that he would become the lead play-by-play voice of Major League Baseball Game of the Week beginning with the 1982 World Series and through subsequent regular seasons. He wrote that on his football trips, he would read every Sporting News to make sure he was current with all the baseball news and notes. Then he met with NBC executives in September 1982, and they informed him that Vin Scully was in negotiations to be their lead baseball play-by-play man and would begin with NBC in the spring of 1983.
According to the book, Enberg wasn't pleased about the decision but the fact that NBC was bringing in Scully, arguably baseball's best announcer, was understandable. Enberg added that NBC also gave him a significant pay increase as a pseudo-apology for not coming through on the promise to make him the lead baseball play-by-play man. Enberg returned to the Angels' radio booth to call 40 games in 1985, citing a desire to reconnect with the sport, which he has described as having been "in my DNA since I was in diapers".
Enberg hosted NBC's pregame shows of the 1985 National League Championship Series with Joe Morgan. It was Enberg who broke the news to most of the nation that Vince Coleman was injured before Game 4. NBC even aired an interview with one of the few people who actually saw the incident, a Dodger batboy. Enberg was also in Toronto to do the pregame for Games 1 and 7 of the 1985 American League Championship Series alongside Rick Dempsey.
NBC planned to use Enberg as one of its announcers for The Baseball Network coverage in 1994, but the players' strike that year ended the season before he had the opportunity to call any games.
Wimbledon Championships
As NBC's voice of the Wimbledon Tennis Championships, the last tournament for him being in 1999, Enberg regularly concluded NBC's coverage of the two-week event with thematically appropriate observations accompanied by a montage of video clips.CBS Sports (2000–2014)
Enberg was hired by CBS Sports in 2000, serving as a play-by-play announcer for CBS's NFL, college basketball, and US Open Tennis coverage. For several years he also contributed to CBS's coverage of The Masters and PGA Championship golf as an interviewer and essayist.Enberg during his tenure at CBS, was notably on the call alongside Dan Dierdorf for an NFL game between the New England Patriots and New York Jets on September 23, 2001. It was during this game that New York linebacker Mo Lewis injured the Patriots' starting quarterback Drew Bledsoe. Bledsoe's injury resulted in Tom Brady becoming New England's quarterback, beginning the Brady–Belichick era for the Patriots that saw them enjoy nearly two decades of dominance and win six Super Bowl titles. As a result, Lewis' hit on Bledsoe is often noted for its impact on NFL history.
One of the more notable games Enberg also called was the 2005 AFC Divisional matchup between the Pittsburgh Steelers and Indianapolis Colts that saw the Steelers go on to upset the Colts 21–18 en route to their victory in Super Bowl XL in what is considered one of the biggest upsets in NFL history. Coincidentally, Enberg also called a previous playoff game between the two teams for NBC, the 1995 AFC Championship Game, a 20–16 Steelers victory that is often marked as one of the NFL's greatest games.
Another enduring element of Enberg's broadcasting legacy was his ability to provide warm and poignant reflections on the sporting events he covered. Enberg Essays, as they came to be known, were a regular feature of CBS's coverage of college basketball's Final Four.
On March 27, 2010, Enberg called his final college basketball game for CBS, an East Regional tournament final featuring the Kentucky Wildcats versus the West Virginia Mountaineers. After becoming the Padres' play-by-play announcer, Enberg said he hoped to continue calling late-season NFL games for CBS, but his name was omitted from the network's announcing roster for 2010. He continued to call the US Open for CBS through 2011.
Enberg returned to call one match and serve as an essayist during the 2014 US Open, to help commemorate CBS's last year covering the event before ESPN took over in 2015.
On September 14, 2009, Juan Martín del Potro defeated Roger Federer to win the Men's US Open Championship. Enberg hosted the post-match ceremony during which del Potro requested to address his fans in Spanish. Enberg declined the request saying that he was running out of time but went on to list the corporate sponsored prizes del Potro won. A couple of minutes later, Del Potro made the same request again and only then Enberg relented saying "Very quickly, in Spanish, he wants to say hello to his friends here and in Argentina". An emotional del Potro finally spoke a few sentences in Spanish to a cheering crowd. Many viewers expressed disappointment with Enberg and CBS over the interview. A CBS executive later defended Enberg, noting that the contract with the United States Tennis Association required that certain sponsors receive time during the ceremony.