name	Al Michaels
birth date	November 12, 1944
birth place	Brooklyn, New York,
occupation	Sportscaster
spouse	Linda Michaels
parents	Jay and Lila
children	Steven and Jennifer }}

Alan Richard "Al" Michaels (born November 12, 1944) is an American television sportscaster. Now employed by NBC Sports after nearly three decades (1977–2006) with ABC Sports, Michaels is one of the most prominent members of his profession. He is perhaps best known for his many years of calling play-by-play of National Football League games, including nearly two decades with ''Monday Night Football''. He is also known for famous calls in other sports, including the Miracle on Ice at the 1980 Winter Olympics and the earthquake-interrupted Game 3 of the 1989 World Series.

Early life and education

Michaels was born in Brooklyn, New York, to Jay Michaels and Lila Roginsky/Ross. He grew up as a Brooklyn Dodgers fan. Coincidentally, at the time the Dodgers left Brooklyn, Michaels' family also moved to Los Angeles, California in 1958. Michaels attended Alexander Hamilton High School in L.A., with Joel Siegel, Michele Lee and Michelle Phillips, and was a baseball player. He graduated in 1962 and later attended Arizona State University, where he majored in radio and television and minored in journalism. He worked as a sports writer for ASU's independent student newspaper, ''The State Press''. He also was a member of Sigma Nu Fraternity.

Early career

Michaels' first job in television was with Chuck Barris Productions, choosing women to appear on ''The Dating Game''. His first sportscasting job came in 1964, when he was hired to do public relations for the Los Angeles Lakers. He was later hired by the team to serve eight games as a color commentator; he was fired after only four. Michaels, who had worked on the team's media guide, was also considered to be the first color commentator of the Los Angeles Kings, where he would have been with Jiggs McDonald. That assignment went to Ed Fitkin instead.

Michaels resumed his professional broadcasting career in 1968, calling the games of the Hawaii Islanders baseball team in the Pacific Coast League. He also called play-by-play for the University of Hawaii's football and basketball teams as well has high school football games, and was named Hawaii's "Sportscaster of the Year" in 1969. In 1970, Michaels appeared as attorney Dave Bronstein in an episode of ''Hawaii Five-O'' called "Run, Johnny, Run" (Air date: January 14, 1970); the episode also featured a young Christopher Walken.

In 1971, Michaels moved to Cincinnati, Ohio, where he became the lead announcer for the Cincinnati Reds of Major League Baseball. In 1972, the Reds won the National League Championship Series and advanced to the World Series. Michaels helped cover the Fall Classic for NBC, and also was the network's play-by-play man for the hockey coverage at the 1972 Winter Olympics in Sapporo, Japan.

In 1973, two days before he was assigned to call the regular-season NFL finale between the Houston Oilers and Cincinnati Bengals, Bill Enis died from a heart attack at the age of 39. NBC proceeded to bring Michaels in to replace Enis in the booth with Dave Kocourek.

In 1974, Michaels left the Reds for a similar position with the San Francisco Giants, and also covered basketball for UCLA. He left NBC that year and announced regional NFL games for CBS Sports in 1975 before signing with ABC Sports in January 1977.

ABC Sports

He initially joined ABC as the back-up announcer on ''Monday Night Baseball'' in 1977. The following year, he was promoted to be lead announcer and was at the network on a full-time basis. Over the next three decades, Michaels covered a wide variety of sports for ABC, including Major League Baseball, college football, ice hockey, track and field events, horse racing, golf, boxing, figure skating, and many events of the Olympic Games as well as the Olympic trials.

Episodes of ''Wide World of Sports'' featuring Michaels early in his ABC career have been featured at least two occasions on the ESPN Classic comedy series ''Cheap Seats''. At one point on ''Cheap Seats'', Michaels' then dark, curly hairstyle drew sarcastic comparisons to Quiet Riot lead singer Kevin DuBrow.

While at ABC, he aired many prominent events including serving as the studio host for the Stanley Cup Finals. Also, he served as host for the yearly Tiger Woods Monday night specials that aired in July or August.

The Miracle on Ice

Two of Michaels' more famous broadcasts were of the 1980 Winter Olympics ice hockey medal round match between the United States and the Soviet Union, and the attempted third game of the 1989 World Series.

In 1980, an unheralded group of college ice hockey players from the United States won the Gold Medal at the Olympic Winter Games. The medal round match on February 22—which, contrary to popular belief, did not yet assure the team of the gold medal—was of particular interest, as it was played against a heavily favored squad from the Soviet Union, and was in front of a partisan American crowd in Lake Placid, New York whipped into a patriotic fervor by the Cold War. Michaels' memorable broadcast of this game, including his interjection—''"Do you believe in miracles? YES!"''—as time expired on the 4-3 U.S. victory, earned the game the media nickname of ''The Miracle on Ice''.

Most assume that the game was broadcast live; but in reality, the game started at 5:05 p.m. Eastern Standard Time and ABC decided against pre-empting local and network news (on the East Coast) to carry the game live. Instead, most of it—including the entire third period—was broadcast within the regularly scheduled, prime-time telecast from 8:30 to 11 p.m. Eastern time (and on a six and a half hour delay on the West Coast from 8:30 to 11 p.m. Pacific Standard Time). Despite being on tape, the game was one of the highest-rated programs of the 1979-1980 television season and remains the most-watched ice hockey game in the history of American television.

Michaels along with broadcasting partner, Ken Dryden, recreated their Olympic commentary in the 2004 movie ''Miracle''. Although Michaels and Dryden recreated the bulk of their commentary for the film, the closing seconds of the game against the Soviet Union used the actual original ABC Sports commentary from 1980. Gavin O'Connor, the director of ''Miracle'', decided to use the last 10 seconds of Michaels' original ''"Do you believe in miracles?"'' call in the film because he felt he couldn't ask him to recreate the emotion he experienced at that moment. Thus they cleaned up the recording to make the transition to the authentic call as seamless as possible.

He later recalled, "When I look back, obviously Lake Placid would be the highlight of my career. I can't think of anything that would ever top it. I can't dream up a scenario."

Ironically, Michaels was only on this particular assignment because he had done one hockey game, eight years prior. The game in question was the gold medal game (the Soviet Union vs. Czechoslovakia) of the 1972 Winter Olympics (on NBC) in Sapporo, Japan. Other announcers on the ABC Sports roster such as Keith Jackson, Frank Gifford, and Howard Cosell had never done a hockey game before. Michaels recalled this during a ''Real Sports'' interview in January 2009. Michaels also apparently, beat out WABC-AM and New York Islanders commentator George Michael for the assignment.

''Major League Baseball on ABC''

1985 World Series

Perhaps Michaels' first historic call with ABC Sports while covering Major League Baseball occurred in what is now known by many as the Don Denkinger game. The Kansas City Royals trailed the St. Louis Cardinals 3 games to 1 in a series that was being panned for being low-scoring and dull. After a Royals win in St. Louis forced the action back to Kansas City, the sixth game was also low scoring. However this contest grew into a tense pitchers duel.

In the bottom of the 9th, pinch hitter Jorge Orta led off for the Royals against Cardinals pitcher Todd Worrell with Kansas City trailing 1-0 and hit a ground ball to first baseman Jack Clark. Clark threw over to pitcher Worrell, who was running over to cover first base in time to beat the speedy Orta. Worrell appeared to do just that. Yet the call from first base umpire Don Denkinger was safe.

This infamous and controversial leadoff single led to the Royals putting the tying run on third base and the winning run on second with one out for Dane Iorg. A dramatic finish and a play at the plate ensued. The Royals went on to win Game 7 11-0 and complete the 3 games to 1 comeback. However it was Denkinger's dubious 'safe' call, and not Iorg's (or Jim Sundberg's for his difficult slide past catcher Darrell Porter for the winning run for that matter) heroics that were most remembered in years to come.

1986 American League Championship Series

Even though the events of October 17, 1989 in San Francisco are widely considered to be the most memorable baseball-related moment of Al Michaels' career, three years earlier, he was on hand for what he says was ''"the greatest of all the thousands of games I've done."''

On October 12, 1986 at Anaheim Stadium, Michaels along with Jim Palmer called Game 5 of the American League Championship Series. The California Angels held a 3 games to 1 lead of a best-of-seven against the Boston Red Sox. In the game, the Angels held a 5-2 lead going into the ninth inning. Boston scored two runs on a home run by Don Baylor, closing the gap to 5-4.

When Donnie Moore came in to shut down the rally, there were two outs, and a runner on first base, Rich Gedman, who had been hit by a pitch. The Angels were one out from their first-ever trip to the World Series. But Dave Henderson hit a 2-2 pitch off Moore for a home run, giving the Red Sox a 6-5 lead. The Angels were able to score a run in the bottom of the ninth, pushing the game into extra innings. Moore continued to pitch for the Angels. He was able to stifle a 10^th inning Red Sox rally by getting Jim Rice to ground into a double play. Nevertheless, the Red Sox were able to score off Moore in the 11th-inning via a sacrifice fly by Henderson. The Angels could not score in the bottom of the 11th, and lost the game 7-6.

The defeat still left the Angels in a 3 games to 2 advantage, with two more games to play at Fenway Park. The Angels were not able to recover, losing both games by wide margins, 10-4 and 8-1. Game 7 of the 1986 ALCS ended with Calvin Schiraldi striking out Jerry Narron.

Despite the fact that ABC Sports (which in September 2006, became ''ESPN on ABC'') and ESPN had been under the same corporate umbrella (i.e. the Walt Disney Company) since 1996, Michaels never served as a regular commentator for ''ESPN Major League Baseball''. The only time that Al Michaels appeared in an ESPN booth of any kind was as a guest commentator on ''Wednesday Night Baseball'' in 2003 as part of ESPN's ''Living Legends Series''.

1989 World Series

On October 17, 1989, Michaels was in San Francisco, California, preparing to cover the third game of the 1989 World Series between the home team, the Giants, and the visiting Oakland Athletics. ABC's network telecast began with a recap of the first two games, both won by Oakland. Soon after Michaels handed off to his broadcast partner, Tim McCarver, who started assessing the Giants' chances for victory in the game, the Loma Prieta earthquake struck (at approximately, 5:04 p.m. local time). Michaels exclaimed "I'll tell you what—we're having an earth—" as the network feed was cut off. When ABC restored audio via telephone 15 minutes later, Michaels quipped, "Well folks, that's the greatest open in the history of television, bar none!". Michaels then reported from the ABC Sports production truck outside Candlestick Park on the earthquake, for which he later was nominated for an Emmy Award for news broadcasting. Michaels relayed his reports to Ted Koppel, who was stationed at the ABC News bureau in Washington, D.C.

According to Tim McCarver when the earthquake hit, he, Michaels and Jim Palmer immediately grabbed a hold of what they perceived to be the armrests. In reality, the announcers were clutching on each others' thighs and they were each left with bruises the next day. Years later (on a 1999 ''SportsCenter'' retrospective about the 1989 World Series earthquake to be exact), Al Michaels would boldly admit his strong belief that had the earthquake lasted much longer than 15 seconds, he would have been killed. Michaels added that the only time that he really had been scared during the earthquake was when he moved in a position which he perceived to be backward. The three announcers were sitting on a ledge with their backs turned and no bracing behind them.

''Monday Night Football''

Michaels' longest-running assignment was that of the lead play-by-play announcer on ABC's ''Monday Night Football'' telecasts, a position he held for 20 seasons beginning in 1986. Before that, his most notable NFL assignment for ABC was hosting (along with Jim Lampley) the pre-game coverage of Super Bowl XIX. In 1988, Michaels called his first Super Bowl. Three years later, Michaels was on hand to call the thrilling Super Bowl between the New York Giants and Buffalo Bills. Bills kicker Scott Norwood missed a potentially game-winning field goal, and thus, ensured the Giants victory.

The trio of Michaels, Dan Dierdorf (who joined ''MNF'' the year after Michaels' first), and Frank Gifford lasted until the 1997 season, when Gifford was replaced following disclosure of an extramarital affair. During the 1980s, Gifford would fill-in for Michaels on play-by-play whenever Michaels went on baseball assignments for the League Championship Series (1986 and 1988) or World Series (1987 and 1989).

Former Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Boomer Esiason (who had to personal conflicts with Michaels and therefore, left after the 1999 season) replaced Gifford in 1998, and Dierdorf was dropped after that season. Unexpectedly, comedian Dennis Miller joined the cast in 2000 along with Dan Fouts. In 2002, following Miller and Fouts' departure, John Madden joined Michaels in a well-received pairing.

In September 2004, during a New England Patriots game, Michaels commented on a coaching move, saying "After all, Massachusetts is home of the flip-flip." Michaels later apologized for the biased political comments.

National Basketball Association

After disastrous ratings in the 2003 NBA Finals, ABC decided to revamp their lead NBA broadcast team. Brad Nessler was re-assigned to the second broadcast team, where he was joined by Sean Elliott and Dan Majerle. Michaels was hired to replace Nessler as lead broadcaster of the NBA.

For the first several weeks of the 2003–2004 season, Michaels had no partner. However, Doc Rivers, a critically acclaimed analyst when he worked with Turner Sports, became available after a 1–19 start by his Orlando Magic. Rivers was hired weeks before ABC's Christmas Day season opener. He and Michaels worked that game together, one of only six they did together during the regular season (all other games Rivers worked were with Brad Nessler). During the playoffs, the team worked every single telecast, including the 2004 NBA Finals, which saw great improvement in television ratings. During the 2004 NBA Playoffs, Doc Rivers was hired by the Boston Celtics. Though Rivers continued to work games with Michaels throughout the rest of the playoffs, ABC would have to find a new lead analyst for the 2004–2005 season.

Early in the 2004–2005 season, ABC found a new partner for Al Michaels. Memphis Grizzlies coach Hubie Brown, a broadcasting legend with CBS, TBS, and TNT, was forced into retirement due to health reasons and was soon after hired to replace Doc Rivers. Michaels and Brown began their partnership on Christmas Day 2004, working the highly anticipated Shaquille O'Neal-Kobe Bryant game. After that game, the two did not do a game together again until March 2005. Michaels became sporadic in NBA coverage, doing two games in early March, and then three more games in April. Brown worked every week of ABC's coverage, broadcasting some games with veteran broadcaster Mike Breen. For the 2005–2006 season, Al Michaels and Hubie Brown were slated to remain as ABC's number one broadcast team. The duo worked that year's Christmas Day game between the Los Angeles Lakers and Miami Heat and were expected to work the NBA Finals together as well. However, due to Michaels' impending departure to NBC, that plan did not come to fruition.

Replacing Michaels on ''The NBA on ABC'' was Mike Breen, who became the lead broadcaster for an over-the-air NBA package for the first time in his career. Breen worked 2006 NBA Finals with Hubie Brown, as well as all the main games ABC broadcast that year. This gave ABC its first consistent lead broadcaster since Brad Nessler, as Breen (unlike Michaels) did games every week.

Besides his inconsistent work, Michaels (despite being initially seen as adding credibility to ABC's NBA broadcasts in contrast to his predecessor, Brad Nessler) was criticized for apparently lacking the kind of enthusiasm and confidence (for instance, Michaels initially reacted to Amare Stoudemire's block of Tim Duncan's shot during the 2005 playoffs by calling it a "great, great contested shot") expected of a #1 play-by-play voice. Barry Horn of the ''Dallas Morning News'' said that Michaels was simply “not a basketball guy”. Meanwhile, Bill Simmons said during the 2005 Finals that Michaels “shows up for these games, does his job, then drives home thinking, "‘Only five weeks to the [NFL] Hall of Fame Game, I’m almost there!’"

Leaving ABC for NBC

In 2003, he was quoted as saying, "ABC Sports has been my professional home for the last 26 years, and I am delighted that will continue to be for several more. . ." after signing a long-term contract extension.

In 2005, it was announced that ''Monday Night Football'' would be moving from ABC to ESPN beginning with the 2006 season, and partner John Madden announced he would be joining NBC Sports, which had acquired the rights to ''Sunday Night Football'' games. Despite speculation that Michaels might be joining NBC as well, Michaels stated that he would continue as the ''MNF'' play-by-play announcer, stating, "I feel like I'm a creature of Monday night. I'm home and I'm staying home." Plans were for Michaels to be teamed with Joe Theismann (who would be coming over from ''Sunday Night Football'') on the Monday night telecasts.

At the time, then-ABC Television President Alex Wallau said "For 26 years Al has played a pivotal role here at ABC Sports, and for 17 of those years he's been the face and voice synonymous with television's most successful sports franchise, ''Monday Night Football''... It's Al's outstanding play-by-play coverage, coupled with his breadth of knowledge, experience and enthusiasm, that keep ''MNF'' fans invigorated, excited and coming back for more."

Also, then-ABC Sports President Howard Katz said "Al Michaels has been invaluable to the Network and we are thrilled to have him remain in our family,[...] "Al is the consummate professional and makes everyone around him better."

However, in the weeks leading up to Super Bowl XL, it was widely speculated that Michaels was attempting to get out of his contract with ESPN to join Madden at NBC. By this time, it was clear that NBC's ''Sunday Night Football'' would be the NFL's premier prime-time package, with ESPN's ''Monday Night Football'' relegated to secondary matchups similar to that network's previous Sunday night telecasts. Michaels added fuel to the fire by refusing to state his future plans, and he couldn't "respond to rumors ... because that would become a distraction." On February 8, 2006, ESPN announced that its ''Monday Night Football'' team would consist of Mike Tirico on play-by-play, with Theismann and Tony Kornheiser as analysts. ESPN explicitly stated that Michaels would not return to either ''Monday Night Football'' broadcasts or ABC's NBA broadcasts (on which Michaels had been lead NBA play-by-play man).

NBC Sports

"Traded" to NBC for Oswald the Lucky Rabbit

On February 9, 2006, NBC confirmed that Michaels would be joining Madden at the network to broadcast football on Sunday nights, thus ending Michaels' 20 year run on ''Monday Night Football'' and almost 30 years of service with ABC. In exchange for letting Michaels out of his contract with ABC and ESPN, NBC Universal sold ESPN cable rights to Friday coverage of the next four Ryder Cups, granted ESPN increased usage of Olympic highlights, and sold to parent company Disney the rights to Oswald the Lucky Rabbit, a cartoon character developed by Walt Disney himself (which he lost in 1928) but previously owned by Universal Pictures (now NBC Universal). NBC Sports chairman Dick Ebersol explained "We earn nothing from those rights; they've had no value in the United States."

Michaels had a bemused take on the "trade." After it was noted to Michaels that the Kansas City Chiefs gave the New York Jets a draft pick as compensation for releasing coach Herman Edwards from his contract, Michaels stated "Oswald is definitely worth more than a fourth-round draft choice. I'm going to be a trivia answer someday." However, in an article with the magazine ''Game Informer'', Warren Spector, a designer on the game ''Epic Mickey'', [slated for release on the Wii in 2010], stated that CEO Bob Iger wanted Oswald to be in the game so badly, he made this trade to get the rights of the character back.

Michaels began his new NBC tenure on August 6, 2006, with the network's telecast of the preseason Pro Football Hall of Fame Game, while his regular-season debut came on September 7 of that year. On February 1, 2009, Michaels called Super Bowl XLIII, his first Super Bowl telecast for NBC and seventh overall as a play-by-play announcer. Michaels is the third man to ever do play-by-play for an NBC broadcast of a Super Bowl, following the footsteps of Curt Gowdy and Dick Enberg.

2010 Winter Olympics

In March 2009, it was announced that Michaels would be serving as the daytime host for NBC's coverage of the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, British Columbia. It was Michaels' first involvement in an Olympic telecast since he called ice hockey at the 1988 Calgary Games for ABC, as well as his first non-NFL event for NBC. NBC Sports Chairman Dick Ebersol said that Michaels had previously expressed an interest in contributing to the network's Olympics coverage. Michaels also co-hosted NBC's coverage of the Closing Ceremony with Bob Costas.

MLB Network

On July 8, 2011, Michaels teamed up with Bob Costas (with the two announcers alternating between play-by-play and color commentary) to call a game between the New York Mets and San Francisco Giants on MLB Network. It was Michaels' first appearance on a baseball telecast since 2003 (when he served as a guest commentator on an ESPN game, as previously mentioned) and his first as a primary announcer since Game 5 of the 1995 World Series on ABC. (Michaels had called Games 1, 4 and 5 of that series with Jim Palmer and Tim McCarver, while Costas called Games 2, 3 and 6 with Joe Morgan and Bob Uecker for NBC.) Michaels and Costas also made appearances on SportsNet New York and Comcast SportsNet Bay Area during the game's middle innings, since the MLB Network broadcast was blacked out in the Mets' and Giants respective home markets.

Awards and honors

Michaels has won numerous awards during his career, including the Emmy Award for Outstanding Sports Personality (Play-by-Play Host) five times, the NSSA Award from the National Sportscasters and Sportswriters Association three times (he was also inducted into their Hall of Fame in 1998), and "Sportscaster of the Year" once each from the American Sportscasters Association and the Washington Journalism Review. In October 2004, Michaels was awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Legacy

Michaels is the only sportscaster to be a play-by-play voice or host for the Olympics, plus the championships of the four major American pro sports, having called the Super Bowl, World Series, NBA Finals and Stanley Cup Finals, which he only hosted (Gary Thorne handled the play-by-play on those occasions). Baseball Hall of Famer Bob Wolff has also called the championships of the four majors, with the difference that Wolff's initial NFL Championship coverage came before the Super Bowl era. Also, Marv Albert has called the Super Bowl (for Westwood One Radio), NBA Finals (for NBC on television and for the New York Knickerbockers) on radio and Stanley Cup Finals (for the NHL Network syndicated television package and for the New York Rangers on radio). While Marv Albert also took part in NBC's World Series coverage, he only served in a hosting/interviewing capacity and not a play-by-play voice (which were instead, handled by Vin Scully).

Michaels has also called boxing matches, including exciting matchup of "Marvelous" Marvin Hagler vs. Thomas "The Hitman" Hearns for the undisputed middleweight championship of the world. In addition, Michaels has served as host for all three Triple Crown races and the Indianapolis 500. He also served as a fill-in commentator for ABC's ''Pro Bowlers Tour'' in the late 1970s when original commentator Chris Schenkel was on assignment.

Personal

Michaels is the eldest child of Jay and Lila Michaels. Michaels has a younger brother, David and a younger sister, Susan.

Michaels currently resides in Los Angeles, California. Since August 27, 1966, Al Michaels has been married to his wife Linda. Al and Linda have two children together, Steven (President and CEO of Asylum Entertainment in Los Angeles) and Jennifer. He is a Los Angeles Kings season ticket holder.

Al's younger brother, David is a television producer. David Michaels has produced such programs as NBC's coverage of the Olympic Games, Triple Crown and Fox Sports Net's ''Beyond the Glory'' series.

In popular culture

It was Michaels who explained to Peter Jennings that Jennings had been the victim of a prank call in the final hour of O. J. Simpson's Bronco chase, after the Bronco had pulled into Simpson's driveway and parked. The prankster, claiming to be watching Simpson inside the van, described what he said to be the scene in perfect Stepin Fetchit dialect, then signed off with ''"...and Baba Booey to y'all."'' Michaels, unlike Jennings, understood the prankster's use of the term as an association of being a Howard Stern fan. Michaels himself is a Howard Stern fan, and has discussed that prank call as a guest on Stern's show.

As previously mentioned, Michaels had an acting role in a 1970 episode of ''Hawaii Five-O'', and has appeared as himself in the films ''Jerry Maguire'' and ''BASEketball'', as well as on several TV shows including ''Coach'' and ''Spin City''. Also as previously mentioned, his call of the U.S. hockey team's victory in the 1980 Olympics can be heard in the 2004 film ''Miracle''. Michaels re-recorded all his original play-by-play coverage for the film, except for the immortal line.

Brian d'Arcy James portrayed Michaels in the 2002 television movie ''Monday Night Mayhem''. Michaels has also been lampooned on several occasions by noted impressionists, Frank Caliendo and Billy West. Michaels, along with Harold Ramis, Ray Romano and Kermit the Frog, was briefly lampooned on the ''Family Guy'' episode "Mother Tucker", the joke being that all four have similar voices.

Al Michaels was also the featured voice in ''Hardball 4'', a popular computer baseball game for PC. Al Michaels along with John Madden, is featured on the ''Madden NFL'' series from ''Madden NFL 2003'' to ''Madden NFL 09''.

Notable broadcasts

1972: World Series

1973: NLCS

1980: Miracle on Ice''

1985: World Series

1986: ALCS

1988: NLCS

1987: World Series

1988: Super Bowl XXII

1989: Earthquake World Series

1991: Super Bowl XXV

1993: Stanley Cup Finals Play-by-Play

2000: Super Bowl XXXIV

2003: Super Bowl XXXVII

2004: Christmas Day Game between Los Angeles Lakers and Miami Heat (first meeting between Shaquille O'Neal and Kobe Bryant since O'Neal's departure from the Lakers)

2004: NBA Finals

2005: NBA Finals

2006: Super Bowl XL

2009: Super Bowl XLIII

Career timeline

1968–1970: Hawaii Islanders Play-by-Play 1971–1973: Cincinnati Reds Play-by-Play

1971–1974: ''NFL on NBC'' Play-by-Play

1972 and 1980–1988: Winter Olympics Hockey Play-by-Play (NBC 1972, ABC 1980–1988)

1973–1975: UCLA Basketball Play-by-Play 1974–1976: San Francisco Giants Play-by-Play

1975: ''NFL on CBS'' Play-by-Play

1976–1989, 1994–1995: ''MLB on ABC'' Play-by-Play

1977–1985: ''College Football on ABC'' Play-by-Play

1984: Summer Olympics Play-by-Play for Track and Field and road bicycle racing (ABC)

1986–2005: ''ABC Monday Night Football'' Play-by-Play

1986–2000: Kentucky Derby Host (ABC)

1986–2000: Preakness Stakes Host (ABC)

1986–2000: Belmont Stakes Host (ABC)

1987–1989: ''College Basketball on ABC'' Play-by-Play

1989–1992: Sugar Bowl Play-by-Play (ABC)

2000–2002: ''NHL on ABC'' Stanley Cup Finals Host

2003–2005: ''NBA on ABC'' Lead Play-by-Play

2006–present: ''NBC Sunday Night Football'' Play-by-Play

2010: Winter Olympics Daytime host (NBC)

See also

Sigma Nu LEADership learning program

References and notes

External links

MNF's Michaels, Madden may reunite on NBC

An Interview with NBC’s Al Michaels

Interview with Al Michaels about the 1989 World Series earthquake

Category:1944 births Category:Living people Category:American horse racing announcers Category:American sports journalists Category:American radio sports announcers Category:American television sports announcers Category:Arizona State Sun Devils football Category:Arizona State University alumni Category:Boxing commentators Category:Bowling broadcasters Category:California Republicans Category:Cincinnati Reds broadcasters Category:College basketball announcers in the United States Category:College football announcers Category:Figure skating commentators Category:Golf writers and broadcasters Category:Hawaii Rainbow Warriors basketball Category:Hawaii Warriors football Category:Major League Baseball announcers Category:Motorsport announcers Category:National Basketball Association broadcasters Category:National Football League announcers Category:National Hockey League broadcasters Category:Los Angeles Lakers broadcasters Category:New York Republicans Category:San Francisco Giants broadcasters Category:Sports Emmy Award winners Category:Sportspeople from Brooklyn Category:UCLA Bruins basketball

de:Al Michaels he:אל מייקלס ja:アル・マイケルズ

Name	Howard Stern
Birth name	Howard Allan Stern
Birth date	January 12, 1954
Birth place	Jackson Heights, New York City, New York, U.S.
Occupation	Radio personality, television host, author, actor, photographer
Years active	1975–present
Spouse	Alison Berns (1978–2001; div.)Beth Ostrosky (2008–present)
Party	Libertarian during 1994 Governor of New York campaign
Website	www.howardstern.com }}

Howard Allan Stern (born January 12, 1954) is an American radio personality, television host, author, actor, and photographer best known for his radio show, which was nationally syndicated from 1986 to 2005. He gained wide recognition in the 1990s where he was labeled a "shock jock" for his outspoken and sometimes controversial style. Stern has been exclusive to Sirius XM Radio, a subscription-based satellite radio service, since 2006. The son of a former recording and radio engineer, Stern wished to pursue a career in radio at the age of five. While at Boston University he worked at the campus station WTBU before a brief stint at WNTN in Newton, Massachusetts.

He developed his on-air personality when he landed positions at WRNW in Briarcliff Manor, WCCC in Hartford and WWWW in Detroit. In 1981, he was paired with his current newscaster and co-host Robin Quivers at WWDC in Washington, D.C. Stern then moved to WNBC in New York City in 1982 to host afternoons until his firing in 1985. He re-emerged on WXRK that year, and became one of the most popular radio personalities during his 20-year tenure at the station. Stern's show is the most-fined radio program, after the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) issued fines to station licensees for allegedly indecent material that totaled $2.5 million. Stern has won ''Billboard's'' Nationally Syndicated Air Personality of the Year award eight times, and is one of the highest-paid figures in radio.

Stern describes himself as the "King of All Media" for his ventures outside radio. Since 1987, he has hosted numerous late night television shows, pay-per-view events and home video releases. He embarked on a five-month political campaign for Governor of New York in 1994. His two books, ''Private Parts'' (1993) and ''Miss America'' (1995), spent 20 and 16 weeks respectively on ''The New York Times'' Best Seller list. The former was adapted into ''Private Parts'' (1997), a biographical comedy film that starred Stern and his radio show staff that earned $41.2 million in domestic revenue. Stern performs on its soundtrack which topped the ''Billboard'' 200 chart.

Early life and education

Stern was born on January 12, 1954 into a Jewish family who lived in Jackson Heights, Queens in New York City. His parents Ben and Ray (née Schiffman) are children of Austro-Hungarian immigrants, and his sister Ellen is four years older than he. The family moved to the hamlet of Roosevelt on Long Island in 1955, where Stern developed an interest in radio at five years of age. While Ray was a homemaker and later an inhalation therapist, Ben was a co-owner of Aura Recording, Inc., a recording studio in Manhattan where cartoons and commercials were produced. When he made occasional visits with his father, Stern witnessed actors Wally Cox, Don Adams and Larry Storch voice his favorite cartoon characters, which influenced him to later talk on the air rather than play records. Ben was also an engineer at WHOM, a radio station in Manhattan. On completion of sixth grade, Stern left Washington-Rose Elementary School for Roosevelt Junior-Senior High School. In June 1969, the family moved to nearby Rockville Centre and Stern transferred to South Side High School.

Stern spent the first two of four years at Boston University in the College of Basic Studies. In 1973, he started to work at WTBU, the campus radio station where he spun records, read the news, and hosted interviews. He also hosted a comedy program with three fellow students called ''The King Schmaltz Bagel Hour''. Stern gained admission to the School of Public Communications in 1974 and earned a diploma in July 1975 at the Radio Engineering Institute of Electronics in Fredericksburg, Virginia which allowed him to apply for a first class FCC radio-telephone license. With the license, Stern made his professional debut at WNTN in Newton, Massachusetts, performing airshift, newscasting and production duties between August and December 1975. He graduated magna cum laude from Boston University in May 1976 with a degree in Communications and now funds a scholarship at the university.

Career

Early professional radio career (1976–1981)

After his graduation in 1976, Stern declined an offer to work evenings at WRNW, a progressive rock station in Briarcliff Manor, Westchester County, New York. He was unsure of his talent, and questioned his future in the professional industry. Stern took creative and media planning roles at Benton & Bowles, a New York advertising agency, followed by a job in selling radio time to advertisers. He realized the mistake of declining on-air work and contacted WRNW a second time where he agreed to work covering shifts over the Christmas holiday period. Stern was hired full time in 1977 and worked a four-hour midday shift, six days per week a $96 weekly salary. He subsequently worked as the station's production and program director for an increased salary of $250.

In 1979, Stern spotted an advertisement for a "wild, fun morning guy" at rock station WCCC in Hartford, Connecticut. He submitted a more outrageous audition tape with Robert Klein and Cheech and Chong records mixed with flatulence routines and one-liners. Stern was hired with no change in salary with a more intense schedule. After four hours on the air he voiced and produced commercials for another four. On Saturdays, following a six-hour show, he did production work for the next three. As the station's public affairs director he also hosted a Sunday morning talk show which he favoured. In the summer of the 1979 energy crisis, Stern held a two-day boycott of Shell Oil Company which attracted media attention. Stern left WCCC a year later after he was declined a pay increase. Fred Norris, the overnight disc jockey, has been Stern's producer and writer since 1981.

Management at rock outlet WWWW in Detroit, Michigan praised Stern's audition tape in their search for a new morning man. Stern was hired for the job which he started on April 21, 1980. He learned to become more open on the air and "decided to cut down the barriers...strip down all the ego...and be totally honest", he later told ''Newsday''. His efforts earned him a ''Billboard'' award for "Album-Oriented Rock Personality of the Year For a Major Market" and the Drake-Chenault "Top Five Talent Search" title. The station however, ran into problems after Stern's quarterly Arbitron ratings had decreased while it struggled to compete with its stronger rock competitors. In January 1981, WWWW switched to a country music format much to Stern's dislike, who left the station soon after. He received offers to work at WXRT in Chicago and CHUM in Toronto, but did not take them.

Washington and WNBC New York (1981–1985)

Stern moved to Washington, D.C. to host mornings at rock station WWDC on March 2, 1981. He wanted to develop his show further, and looked for a co-worker with a sense of humor to riff with on news and current events. The station paired Stern with Robin Quivers, a newscaster and consumer affairs reporter from WFBR in Baltimore. Though he felt restricted and controlled by management who enforced a strict format, Stern had the second highest rated morning radio program in January 1982. Impressed with his ratings success, Stern was approached by NBC with an offer to work afternoons at WNBC in New York City. After he signed a five-year contract worth $1 million in March, Stern's relationship with WWDC management worsened, and his contract with the station was terminated on June 25. He had more than tripled the station's morning ratings during his stay. In its July issue ''The Washingtonian'' named Stern the area's best disc jockey. Stern released ''50 Ways to Rank Your Mother'', a comedy album of his radio bits. The record was re-released as ''Unclean Beaver'' in November 1994.

On April 2, 1982, a news report by Douglas Kiker on raunch radio featuring Stern aired on ''NBC Magazine''. The piece stimulated discussion among NBC management to withdraw Stern's contract. When he began his afternoon program in September, management closely monitored Stern, telling him to avoid talk of a sexual and religious nature. In his first month, Stern was suspended for several days for "Virgin Mary Kong", a segment featuring a video game where a group of men pursued the Virgin Mary around a singles bar in Jerusalem. An attorney was hired to man a "dump button", and cut Stern off the microphone should potentially offensive areas be discussed. This became the task of program director Kevin Metheny, who Stern nicknamed "Pig Virus". On May 21, 1984, Stern made his first appearance on ''Late Night with David Letterman'', launching him into the national spotlight. A year later he claimed the highest ratings at WNBC in four years with a 5.7% market share.

On September 30, 1985, Stern and Quivers were fired for what management termed "conceptual differences" regarding the show. said program director John Hayes, who Stern nicknamed "The Incubus". In 1992, Stern believed Thornton Bradshaw, chairman of WNBC's owner RCA, heard his "Bestiality Dial-a-Date" segment and ordered his firing. Stern and Quivers kept in touch with their audience throughout October and November where they toured club venues with a stage show.

K-Rock, early television endeavors and Fartman (1985–1992)

Stern signed a contract with Infinity Broadcasting worth around $500,000 and returned to afternoons on its New York rock station WXRK on November 18, 1985. The show moved to mornings on February 18, 1986 and entered national syndication on August 18 when WYSP in Philadelphia first simulcast the program. In the New York market ''The Howard Stern Show'' was the highest-rated morning program for seven consecutive years between 1994 and 2001. In 1994, ''Billboard'' magazine added the "Nationally Syndicated Air Personality of the Year" category to its annual radio awards based on entertainment value, creativity and ratings success. Stern was awarded the title from 1994 to 2002.

In May 1987, Stern recorded five television pilots for Fox when the network planned to replace ''The Late Show'' hosted by Joan Rivers. The series was never picked up; one executive having described the show as "poorly produced", "in poor taste" and "boring". Stern hosted his first pay-per-view event on February 27, 1988 named ''Howard Stern's Negligeé and Underpants Party''. Over 60,000 homes purchased the two-hour special that grossed $1.2 million. On September 7, 1989, over 16,000 fans packed out Nassau Coliseum for ''Howard Stern's U.S. Open Sores'', a live event that featured a tennis match between Stern and his radio show producer, Gary Dell'Abate. Both events were released for home video. From 1990 to 1992, Stern was the host of ''The Howard Stern Show'', a Saturday night program on WWOR-TV. The series ran for 69 episodes to 65 markets nationwide. In February 1991, Stern released ''Crucified by the FCC'', a collection of censored radio segments following the first fine issued to Infinity by the FCC over alleged indecency. He released a third video tape, ''Butt Bongo Fiesta'', in October 1992 that sold 260,000 copies for a gross of over $10 million. He returned to Saturday night television that November with ''The Howard Stern "Interview"'', a one-on-one celebrity interview series on E!.

Stern appeared at the 1992 MTV Video Music Awards as Fartman, a fictional superhero that first appeared in the ''National Lampoon'' humor magazine series. According to the trademark he filed for the character that October, he first used Fartman in July 1981. Stern rejected multiple scripts for a proposed summer 1993 release of ''The Adventures of Fartman'' until a verbal agreement was reached with New Line Cinema. Screenwriter J. F. Lawton had prepared a script before relations soured over the film's rating, content and merchandising rights and the project was abandoned.

''Private Parts'', E! show and run for Governor (1993–1994)

In 1993, Stern signed a $1 million advance contract with Simon & Schuster to publish his first book. Co-authored with Larry Sloman and edited by Judith Regan, the release of ''Private Parts'' on October 7 saw its first printing of 225,000 copies being sold within hours of going on sale. It became the fastest-selling title in the history of Schuster after five days. In its eighth printing two weeks later, over one million copies had been distributed. Stern embarked on a book signing tour that attracted an estimated 10,000 fans at a Barnes & Noble store on Fifth Avenue in New York. In its first run, ''Private Parts'' spent 20 weeks on ''The New York Times'' Best-Seller list. Stern has written forewords for ''Steal This Dream'' (1998), a biography of Abbie Hoffman, ''Disgustingly Dirty Joke Book'' (1998) by Jackie Martling, ''Too Fat to Fish'' (2008) by Artie Lange, and ''Dear Mrs. Fitzsimmons: Tales of Redemption from an Irish Mailbox'' (2010) by Greg Fitzsimmons.

Stern hosted his second pay-per-view event, ''The Miss Howard Stern New Year's Eve Pageant'', on December 31, 1993. It broke the subscriber record for a non-sports event previously held by a New Kids on the Block concert in 1990. Around 400,000 households purchased the event that grossed an estimated $16 million. Stern released the program on VHS in early 1994 as ''Howard Stern's New Year's Rotten Eve 1994''. Between his book royalties and pay-per-view profits, Stern's earnings in the latter months of 1993 totalled around $7.5 million. In its 20th anniversary issue in 1993, ''Radio & Records'' named Stern the most influential air personality of the past two decades.

On March 21, 1994, Stern announced his candidacy for Governor of New York under the Libertarian Party ticket, challenging Mario Cuomo for re-election. He planned to reinstate the death penalty, stagger highway tolls to improve traffic flow, and limit road work to night hours. At the party's nomination convention in Albany on April 23, Stern won the required two-thirds majority on the first ballot, receiving 287 of the 381 votes cast (75.33%). James Ostrowski finished second with 34 votes (8.92%). To place his name on the November ballot, Stern was obliged to state his home address and to complete a financial disclosure form under the Ethics in Government Act of 1987. After denying to disclose his financial information, Stern was denied an injunction on August 2. He withdrew his candidacy two days later. Cuomo was defeated in the gubernatorial election on November 8 by George Pataki, who Stern backed. Pataki signed "The Howard Stern Bill" that limited construction on state roads to night hours in New York and Long Island, in 1995.

In June 1994, robotic cameras were installed at WXRK studios to film ''The Howard Stern Show'' for a condensed half-hour show on E!. ''Howard Stern'' ran for 11 years until the last taped episode aired on July 8, 2005. In conjunction with his move to satellite radio, Stern launched Howard Stern on Demand, a subscription video-on-demand service, on November 18. The service was relaunched as Howard TV on March 16, 2006.

''Miss America'' and ''Private Parts'' film (1995–1997)

On April 3, 1995, three days after the shooting of singer Selena, Stern's comments regarding her death and Mexican Americans caused an uproar in the Hispanic community. He criticized her music and gunfire sound effects were played over her songs. "This music does absolutely nothing for me. Alvin and the Chipmunks have more soul...Spanish people have the worst taste in music. They have no depth". On April 6, Stern responded with a statement in Spanish, stressing his comments were made in satire and not intended to hurt those who loved her. A day later, Justice of the Peace Eloy Cano of Harlingen, Texas issued an arrest warrant on Stern for disorderly conduct.

In 1995, Stern signed a deal with ReganBooks worth $3 million to write his second book, ''Miss America''. He wrote about his cybersex experiences on the Prodigy service, a private meeting with Michael Jackson, and his suffering with obsessive-compulsive disorder. Released on November 7, the book sold 33,000 copies at Barnes & Noble stores on the same day which set a new one-day record. ''Publishers Weekly'' reported over 1.39 million copies were sold by the year's end and ranked it the third best-selling book of 1995. ''Miss America'' spent a total of 16 weeks on ''The New York Times'' best-seller list.

Production for a film adaptation of ''Private Parts'' began in May 1996 with all shooting complete in four months. Its premiere was held at The Theatre at Madison Square Garden on February 27, 1997, where Stern performed "The Great American Nightmare" with Rob Zombie. Making its general release on March 7, ''Private Parts'' topped the box office sales in its opening weekend with a gross of $14.6 million, and went on to earn a total of $41.2 million in domestic gross revenue. The film holds a "fresh" rating on Rotten Tomatoes, a website that aggregates film reviews. 79% of critics gave ''Private Parts'' a positive review based on a sample of 48 reviews, with an average score of 6.6 out of 10. For his performance, Stern won a Blockbuster Entertainment Award for "Favorite Male Newcomer" and was nominated for a Golden Satellite Award for "Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture (Comedy)" and a Golden Raspberry Award for "Worst New Star". The soundtrack to ''Private Parts'' sold 178,000 copies in its first week of release, topping the ''Billboard'' 200 chart.

Stern filed a $1.5 million lawsuit against Ministry of Film Inc. in October 1997, claiming it recruited him for a film titled ''Jane'' starring Melanie Griffith while knowing it had insufficient funds. Stern, who was unpaid when production ceased, accused the studio of breach of contract, fraud and negligent representation. A settlement was reached in 1999 with Stern receiving $50,000.

Return to Saturday night television and productions (1998–2004)

In August 1998, Stern returned to Saturday night television with ''The Howard Stern Radio Show''. Broadcast across the country on CBS affiliates, it featured radio show highlights along with material unseen in his nightly E! show. The show competed for ratings with comedy shows ''Saturday Night Live'' on NBC and ''MADtv'' on Fox. Concerned with its risqué content, affiliates began to leave the show after two episodes. Making its launch on 79 stations on August 22, 1998, this number was reduced to 55 by June 1999. A total of 84 episodes were broadcast. The final re-run aired on November 17, 2001, to around 30 markets.

In 1994, Stern launched the Howard Stern Production Company for original and joint production and development ventures. He intended to make a film adaptation of ''Brother Sam'', the biography of the late comedian Sam Kinison. In September 1999, UPN announced the production of ''Doomsday'', an animated science-fiction comedy series executively produced by Stern. Originally set for a 2000 release, Stern starred as Orinthal, a family dog. The project was eventually abandoned. From 2000 to 2002, Stern was the executive producer of ''Son of the Beach'', a sitcom which ran for three seasons on FX. In late 2001, Howard Stern Productions was reportedly developing a new sitcom titled ''Kane''. The pilot episode was never filmed. In 2002, Stern acquired the rights to comedy films ''Rock 'n' Roll High School'' (1979) and ''Porky's'' (1982). He filed a $100 million lawsuit in March 2003 against ABC and the producers of ''Are You Hot?'', claiming the series was based on his radio segment called "The Evaluators". A settlement was reached on August 7.

Stern announced in early 2004 of talks with ABC to host a prime time interview special, which never materialized. In August 2004, cable channel Spike picked up 13 episodes of ''Howard Stern: The High School Years'', a second animated series Stern was to executive produce. On November 14, 2005, Stern announced the completion of episode scripts and 30 seconds of test animations. Stern eventually gave the project up. In 2007, he explained the episodes could have been produced "on the cheap" at $300,000 each, though the quality he demanded would have cost over $1 million. Actor Michael Cera was cast as the lead voice.

Satellite radio and ''America's Got Talent'' (2004–present)

On October 6, 2004, Stern announced the signing of a five-year contract with Sirius Satellite Radio, a medium free from FCC regulations, that started in January 2006. His decision to leave terrestrial radio occurred in the aftermath of the controversy surrounding the Super Bowl XXXVIII halftime show in February that caused a crackdown on perceived indecency in broadcasting. The incident prompted tighter control over content by station owners and managers to which Stern felt "dead inside" creatively. Stern hosted his final broadcast on terrestrial airwaves on December 16, 2005. During his 20 years at WXRK his show had syndicated in 60 markets across the United States and Canada and gained a peak audience of 20 million listeners.

With an annual budget of $100 million for all production, staff and programming costs, Stern launched two channels on Sirius in 2005 named Howard 100 and Howard 101. He assembled the Howard 100 News team that covered stories about his show and those associated with it, and a new dedicated studio was constructed at Sirius' headquarters in New York. On January 9, 2006, the day of his first broadcast, Stern and his agent received 34.3 million shares of stock from the company worth $218 million for exceeding subscriber targets set in 2004. A second stock incentive was paid in 2007, with Stern receiving 22 million shares worth $82.9 million.

On February 28, 2006, CBS Radio (formerly Infinity Broadcasting) filed a lawsuit against Stern, his agent and Sirius. The suit claimed Stern had misused CBS broadcast time to promote Sirius for unjust enrichment during the last 14 months of his terrestrial radio contract. In a press conference held hours before the suit was filed, Stern said it was nothing more than a "personal vendetta" against him by CBS president Leslie Moonves. A settlement was reached on May 25, with Sirius paying $2 million to CBS for control of Stern's 20-year broadcast archives. In the same month, ''Time'' magazine included Stern in its Time 100 list. He also ranked seventh in Forbes' Celebrity 100 list in June 2006, and reappeared in 2011 at number 26.

Stern signed a new contract with Sirius to continue his show for five more years in December 2010. Following the agreement, Stern and his agent filed a lawsuit against Sirius on March 22, 2011, for allegedly failing to pay stock bonuses promised to them from the past four years while helping the company exceed subscriber growth targets. Sirius said it was "surprised and disappointed" by the suit. In May, Stern announced that he would be broadcasting on a reduced schedule, alternating between three-day and four-day working weeks. On December 15, 2011, Stern announced that he will replace Piers Morgan as a judge for the seventh season of ''America's Got Talent''. Filming will take place in New York and will start in February 2012.

FCC fines

From 1990 to 2004, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has fined owners of radio stations that carried ''The Howard Stern Show'' a total of $2.5 million for indecent programming.

Personal life

Stern married his first wife, Alison (née Berns), on June 4, 1978 at Temple Ohabei Shalom in Brookline, Massachusetts. They have three daughters: Emily Beth (b. 1983), Debra Jennifer (b. 1986) and Ashley Jade (b. 1993). On October 22, 1999, Stern announced their decision to separate. The marriage ended in 2001 with an amicable divorce and settlement. In 2000, Stern began to date model Beth Ostrosky, co-host of ''Casino Cinema'' from 2004 to 2007. She also frequently appeared in the American edition of ''FHM''. On February 14, 2007 Stern announced their engagement. They married on October 3, 2008, at Le Cirque restaurant in New York City.

While attending Boston University, Stern developed an interest in Transcendental Meditation, which he practices to this day. He credits it with aiding him in quitting smoking and achieving his goals in radio. Stern interviewed the late Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, founder of the technique, twice. Stern also plays on the Internet Chess Club, and has taken lessons from chess master Dan Heisman, although he has recently claimed to have quit playing. Howard's latest passion is photography, where he does private shoots for friends and secured his first paid 'gig' shooting a layout for ''Hamptons'' magazine in July 2011. Stern has also shot photographs for ''WHIRL'' magazine and the North Shore Animal League.

Filmography

Films

{|class="wikitable" style="font-size: 90%;" border="2" cellpadding="4" background: #f9f9f9; |- align="center" ! style="background:#B0C4DE;" | Year ! style="background:#B0C4DE;" | Film ! style="background:#B0C4DE;" | Role ! style="background:#B0C4DE;" | Notes |- | 1986 | ''Ryder, P.I.'' | Ben Ben Wah - T.V. Commentator | |- | 1997 | ''Private Parts'' | Himself | Blockbuster Entertainment Award for "Favourite Male Newcomer" (1998) Nominated – Golden Raspberry Award for "Worst New Star" (1998)Nominated – Golden Satellite Award for "Best Male Actor Performance in a Comedy or Musical" (1998) |}

Home video releases

{|class="wikitable" style="font-size: 90%;" border="2" cellpadding="4" background: #f9f9f9; |- align="center" ! style="background:#B0C4DE;" | Year ! style="background:#B0C4DE;" | Title ! style="background:#B0C4DE;" | Role ! style="background:#B0C4DE;" | Notes |- | 1988 | ''Howard Stern's Negligeé and Underpants Party'' | rowspan="4"| Himself/Host |- | 1989 | ''Howard Stern's U.S. Open Sores'' | |- | 1992 | ''Butt Bongo Fiesta'' | |- | 1994 | ''Howard Stern's New Year's Rotten Eve 1994'' | |}

Television

{|class="wikitable" style="font-size: 90%;" border="2" cellpadding="4" background: #f9f9f9; |- align="center" ! style="background:#B0C4DE;" | Year ! style="background:#B0C4DE;" | Title ! style="background:#B0C4DE;" | Role ! style="background:#B0C4DE;" | Notes |- | 1981 | ''Petey Greene's Washington'' | Himself | |- | 1987 | ''Nightlife'' | Himself | |- | 1984–1993 | ''Late Night with David Letterman'' | Himself | Multiple appearances |- | 1987 | ''The Howard Stern Show'' | Himself - Host | Series of 5 pilot episodes that never aired |- | 1988 | ''The New Hollywood Squares'' | Announcer - Guest | |- | 1990–1992 | ''The Howard Stern Show'' | Himself - Host | |- | 1992 | ''1992 MTV Video Music Awards'' | Fartman | |- | 1992–1993 | ''The Howard Stern "Interview"'' | Himself - Host | |- | 1993 | ''The Larry Sanders Show'' | Himself | Season 2, episode 18 |- | 1993 | ''The Jon Stewart Show'' | Himself | Season 1, episode 1 |- | 1994–2005 | ''Howard Stern'' | Himself - Host | |- | 1997 | ''Saturday Night Live'' | Himself | Season 22, episode 14 |- | 1998 | ''The Magic Hour'' | Himself | |- | 1998 | ''The Roseanne Show'' | Himself | Season 1, episode 54 |- | 1998–2001 | ''The Howard Stern Radio Show'' | Himself - Host |- | 2001 | ''The Concert for New York City'' | Himself |- | 2004 | ''Extra'' | Himself | |- | 2005–present | ''Howard Stern On Demand'' | Himself - Host | Known as ''Howard TV'' since March 2006 |- |2011 | ''Piers Morgan Tonight'' | Himself - Guest | Episode 2 |- |2011 | ''The Daily Show with Jon Stewart'' | Himself - Guest | Season 16, episode 29 |- |2011 | ''The Late Show with David Letterman'' | Himself - Guest | Season 18, episode 3439 |- |2012–present | ''America's Got Talent'' | Himself | New judge, replacing Piers Morgan |}

Discography

{|class="wikitable" style="font-size: 90%;" border="2" cellpadding="4" background: #f9f9f9; |- align="center" ! style="background:#B0C4DE;" | Year ! style="background:#B0C4DE;" | Album ! style="background:#B0C4DE;" | Label ! style="background:#B0C4DE;" | Notes |- | 1982 | ''50 Ways to Rank Your Mother'' | Wren Records | Re-released as ''Unclean Beaver'' (1994) on Ichiban/Citizen X labels |- | 1991 | ''Crucified By the FCC'' | Infinity Broadcasting | |- | 1997 | ''Private Parts: The Album'' | Warner Brothers | ''Billboard'' 200 Number-one album from March 15–21, 1997 |}

Bibliography

References

Sources

External links

Official Website

''The Howard Stern Show'' on Sirius XM Radio

Category:1954 births Category:Living people Category:People from Jackson Heights, Queens Category:Actors from New York City Category:American actor–politicians Category:American actors Category:American comedians Category:American libertarians Category:American people of Austrian-Jewish descent Category:American people of Hungarian-Jewish descent Category:American radio personalities Category:American talk radio hosts Category:American television personalities Category:American television producers Category:American television talk show hosts Category:American writers Category:Boston University alumni Category:Free speech activists Category:Jewish comedians Category:Jewish comedy and humor Category:Obscenity controversies Category:People from Nassau County, New York Category:People self-identifying as substance abusers Category:Photographers from New York Category:Radio personalities from New York City Category:Reality television judges Category:Religious skeptics Category:Sirius Satellite Radio Category:Transcendental Meditation practitioners

bg:Хауърд Стърн da:Howard Stern de:Howard Stern es:Howard Stern fr:Howard Stern gl:Howard Stern he:הווארד סטרן nl:Howard Stern ja:ハワード・スターン no:Howard Stern pl:Howard Stern pt:Howard Stern ru:Стерн, Говард simple:Howard Stern fi:Howard Stern sv:Howard Stern uk:Говард Стерн

Name	Dick Enberg
Birth date	January 09, 1935
Birth place	Mount Clemens, Michigan
Occupation	Sportscaster
Spouse	Jeri Taylor (1959-1975)Barbara Hedbring (1983-present)
Children	}}

Richard Alan "Dick" Enberg (born January 9, 1935) is an American sportscaster. His current duties include play-by-play for San Diego Padres telecasts on 4SD and coverage of the US Open tennis tournament for CBS. He is well-known for his signature catchphrase ("Oh, my!") that he uses after exciting and outstanding athletic plays.

Biography

Early life and education

Enberg was born in Mount Clemens, Michigan. Following high school in Armada, Michigan, he played college baseball and earned a bachelor's degree in 1957 at Central Michigan University. Enberg then went on to graduate school at Indiana University, 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."

Dick Enberg is also a member of the fraternity Phi Sigma Kappa.

Early career

In the late 1960s, Enberg began a full-time sportscasting career, calling radio broadcasts for the California Angels of Major League Baseball, the Los Angeles Rams of the National Football League, and UCLA Bruins basketball. After every Angels victory, he would wrap up his broadcast with, "And the halo shines tonight." This was in reference to the "Big A" scoreboard, and the halo at the top, which would light up for everyone in the area to see, particularly from the stadium-adjacent freeway. Enberg was named California Sportscaster of the Year four times.

In the 1960s, Enberg announced boxing matches at L.A.'s Olympic Auditorium.

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 and the UCLA Bruins. Enberg continued to call the occasional UCLA game for TVS through the early 1970s, usually teaming with Rod Hundley.

In the 1970s, Enberg hosted the syndicated television game show ''Sports Challenge'', and co-produced the Emmy Award-winning sports-history series ''The Way It Was'' for PBS.

"Raindrops Keep Fallin' On My Head"

In the 1970 opening conference game in Pauley Pavilion, Oregon went into a stall against the UCLA Bruins. Enberg had run out of statistics and began to fill his radio broadcast with small talk. The movie ''Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid'' had just been released, and Enberg was humming the tune to "Raindrops Keep Fallin' On My Head", but did not know the words. Two nights later, at the Oregon State game, many students brought the lyrics to the song. Enberg promised that he would sing the song if UCLA won the conference championship. He sang the song following the final game of the season. The event was recorded in the ''Los Angeles Times'' and was later recounted in the book ''Pauley Pavilion: College Basketball's Showplace'' by David Smale. During the 2006 NCAA Men's Basketball Championship broadcast, there was a short feature on the event.

NBC

In 1973, Enberg hosted the game show ''Baffle'', which lasted just a year before being canceled 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 would pick up the network's telecast of the Rose Bowl Game in 1980. He would be in the booth in Pasadena every year until ABC picked up the broadcast in 1988.

''The NFL on NBC''

While on ''The NFL on NBC'', Enberg called eight Super Bowls (alongside the likes of Merlin Olsen, Bob Trumpy, Phil Simms and Paul Maguire), the last being Super Bowl XXXII in January 1998. Enberg also anchored NBC's coverage of Super Bowl XIII (that particular game was called by Curt Gowdy) in 1979. He also called three Canadian Football League games in 1982 during the NFL strike.

''Major League Baseball on NBC''

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 (where he shared the play-by-play duties with Joe Garagiola alongside analyst Tony Kubek) 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 (teaming with Joe Garagiola while Tony Kubek would team with Bob Costas) and would begin with the network in the spring of . Therefore, rather than throw him in randomly for one World Series, Enberg wrote that he hosted the pregame/postgame shows while the team of Joe Garagiola and Tony Kubek did the games.

According to the book, Enberg wasn't pleased about the decision (since he loved being the California Angels' radio and television voice in the 1970s and was eager to return to baseball) 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 would go on to call some cable TV broadcasts for the Angels in 1985, citing a desire to reconnect with the sport.

NBC planned to use Enberg as one of its announcers for The Baseball Network coverage in , 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 (alongside Bud Collins and, later, John McEnroe), Enberg regularly concluded the network's coverage of the two-week event with thematically appropriate observations accompanied by a montage of video clips.

CBS

Enberg was hired by CBS Sports in 2000, calling the US Open tennis tournament and (through 2010) the network's NFL and college basketball coverage. For several years he also contributed to CBS' coverage of The Masters and PGA Championship golf.

Another enduring element of Enberg's broadcasting legacy is his ability to provide warm and poignant reflections on the sporting events he covers. ''Enberg Essays'', as they came to be known, were a regular feature of CBS' 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. Enberg had 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.

2009 US Open controversy

On September 14, 2009, Juan Martín del Potro upset Roger Federer to win the Men's US Open Championship. Enberg hosted the post-match ceremony during which a victorious 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.

ESPN

Beginning in 2004, Enberg served as a play-by-play announcer for ESPN2's coverage of the Wimbledon and French Open tennis tournaments, adding the Australian Open the following year. Enberg came to ESPN on lease from CBS, where he already calls the US Open, the one Grand Slam tournament not covered by ESPN until 2009. At the 2004 French Open, Enberg called a match per day and also provided his "Enberg Moments". At Wimbledon in 2004, he participated in a new one-hour morning show called ''Breakfast at Wimbledon''. ESPN asked CBS for permission to use Enberg during the summer of 2004 at both the French Open and Wimbledon. Enberg then surprised his new bosses by volunteering for the 2005 Australian Open in January 2005. "I've never been to Australia," he said. "At my age then [69], to be able to work a full Grand Slam is something I'd like to have at the back of my book." Enberg stopped calling the French Open after 2009 due to his Padres commitments, though he continued to call the Wimbledon and Australian Open tournaments over the next two years. In June 2011, it was reported that Enberg's ESPN contact had ended and that the 2011 Wimbledon tournament would be his final one for the network.

San Diego Padres

In December 2009, Enberg was hired as a television play-by-play announcer by the San Diego Padres, signing a multi-year deal to call 110–120 games a season for channel 4SD. Enberg teams with Mark Grant and (occasionally) Tony Gwynn on the Padres' telecasts.

In his debut season as a Padres broadcaster, Enberg took some criticism from fans over a perceived lack of enthusiasm for the home team. Told that he was regarded by some viewers as getting "too excited" over plays by opposing players, Enberg responded, "I find that a real compliment." He did move to placate the critics, however, by limiting the use of his signature home run call of "Touch 'em all!" to home runs hit by Padres players.

Other appearances

In 2006 and 2007, Enberg called Thursday night and postseason NFL games for Westwood One radio. Also in 2006, he began narrating a documentary style television series for Fox Sports Net called ''In Focus on FSN''.

In addition to his career in sports broadcasting, Enberg hosted three game shows besides the aforementioned ''Sports Challenge'': ''The Perfect Match'' in 1967, ''Baffle'' on NBC from 1973 through 1974, and ''Three for the Money'' on NBC in 1975. He also lent his voice to the animated CBS cartoon series ''Where's Huddles?'' (1970), the film ''Rollerball'' (1975), and the American-dubbed version of the animated UK Christmas special ''Hooves of Fire'' (2002); made appearances in the films ''Two-Minute Warning'' (1976), ''Gus'' (1976), ''Heaven Can Wait'' (1978), ''The Naked Gun'' (1988), and ''Mr. 3000'' (2004); and appeared as himself in episodes of such television programs as ''The King of Queens'' and ''CSI: NY''. In addition, Enberg was seen in a series of commercials for GTE during the 1980s and early 1990s, and was the voice of the announcer in the classic ''Talking FootBall'' game from Mattel.

Career timeline

1957–1961: Indiana Hoosiers football play-by-play

1957–1961: Indiana Hoosiers men's basketball play-by-play

1961–1965: assistant professor and baseball coach at California State University, Northridge

1966–1977: UCLA Bruins men's basketball play-by-play

1966–1977: Los Angeles Rams radio play-by-play

1967–1968: ''The Perfect Match'' host

1969–1978, 1985: California Angels radio & TV play-by-play

1971–1979 ''Sports Challenge'' host

1973–1974: ''Baffle'' host

1975: ''Three for the Money'' host

1975–1981: NCAA Basketball on NBC play-by-play

1977–1998: ''NFL on NBC'' play-by-play

1977–1982: ''MLB on NBC'' play-by-play

1979, 1981–1999: Wimbledon play-by-play (NBC)

1980–1988: Rose Bowl play-by-play (NBC)

1983–1989: ''MLB on NBC'' studio host

1988: 1988 Summer Olympics Gymnastics play-by-play (NBC)

1990–1999: ''NBA on NBC'' play-by-play

1992: 1992 Summer Olympics host (NBC)

1995–1999: ''PGA Tour on NBC'' host

1996: 1996 Summer Olympics contributor (NBC)

1998–1999: ''Notre Dame Football on NBC'' play-by-play

2000–2010: ''NFL on CBS'' Play-by-Play (2000–2005 #2) (2006–2010 #3)

2000–2010: ''NCAA Basketball on CBS'' play-by-play

2000–present: US Open (tennis) play-by-play (CBS)

2000–2006: The Masters contributor (CBS)

2000–2006: PGA Championship contributor (CBS)

2004–2011: Wimbledon and Australian Open play-by-play (ESPN2)

2004–2009: French Open play-by-play (ESPN2)

2006–2007: ''Westwood One Thursday Night Football'' play-by-play

2006–present: ''In Focus on FSN'' narrator

2010–present: San Diego Padres TV play-by-play

Honors

Enberg has garnered many awards and honors over the years, including 13 Emmy Awards (as well as a Lifetime Achievement Emmy), nine National Sportscaster of the Year awards from the National Sportscasters and Sportswriters Association (and induction into that organization's Hall of Fame), five "Sportscaster of the Year" awards from the American Sportscasters Association, the Pro Football Hall of Fame's Pete Rozelle Award, the NBA's Curt Gowdy Award, and a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Enberg is the only sportscaster thus far to win Emmys in three categories (broadcasting, writing, and producing), and in 1973 became the first U.S. sportscaster to visit the People's Republic of China.

Enberg was inducted into Central Michigan University's Athletics Hall of Fame in 1993. (source: cmuchippewas.com) The university named an academic center for him in 2007.

Enberg was raised in Armada, Michigan and was responsible for the naming of the Armada High School yearbook, the Regit (Tiger spelled backwards), a name it has to this day. A hallway in the Macomb Academy of Arts and Sciences, which is run by Armada school district and shares the building with its administration office, was named after him.

Indiana University awarded Enberg an honorary doctorate of humane letters in 2002. He would be inducted into the Indiana University Intercollegiate Athletics Hall of Fame in the fall of 2006.

Enberg also received an honorary doctorate of humane letters from Marquette University in 2009, and also gave the commencement address as the university's May 2009 commencement ceremony.

In 1997, the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA) honored Enberg with an award in recognition of his longtime support of the organization's Academic All-America program. The Dick Enberg Award is given annually to a person whose actions and commitment have furthered the meaning and reach of the Academic All-America Teams Program and/or the student-athlete while promoting the values of education and academics. Enberg continues to be an avid supporter of the program, often lending his voice to video presentations related to CoSIDA's annual Academic All-America Hall of Fame ceremony.

Personal

Dick Enberg's surname is of Swedish origin. While starting out at KTLA-TV, Enberg was pressured into changing his name professionally to "Dick Breen" out of fear that "Enberg" would be seen as too ethnic sounding (i.e. Jewish).

During an ESPN television broadcast from the Wimbledon tennis championships on June 24, 2010, Enberg said his father was born in Finland, and changed his name from the Finnish "Katajavuori" to the Swedish equivalent Enberg on arrival in the US as he felt it would be a more simple name. The surname means "juniper mountain". Dick Enberg said it pleased him that Jarkko Nieminen was doing so well as Finland is close to his heart and it is a small nation with little tennis facilities. The story of his surname is also detailed in his autobiography, ''Oh My!''.

Enberg is the father of actor Alexander Enberg and musician Andrew Enberg by former wife Jeri Taylor. He is currently married to Barbara Hedbring and they have one son, Ted Enberg, and two daughters, Nicole and Emily.

Enberg penned a one-man theatrical play titled ''COACH'', as a tribute to his former television broadcast partner and late friend, Al McGuire, the extraordinary college basketball coach and commentator. It debuted at Marquette University's Helfaer Theater in 2005. It drew positive reviews as an accurate portrayal of the eccentric coach. At the 2007 NCAA Final Four in Atlanta, Enberg presented three performances of ''COACH'' at the Alliance Theater. Those attending the April 1 matinée included Hall of Famers coach Dean Smith (whom McGuire defeated in the 1977 NCAA Championship in Atlanta) and former UCLA All-American center Bill Walton. The play was then performed at Hofstra University, near Al's old neighborhood on Long Island in New York. It has since been booked in San Diego, Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Chicago, Portland, Maine, {[North Carolina]} and {[Indiana}]. The most recent performance was at the New York Athletic Club in Manhattan. Actor Cotter Smith portrays McGuire in the one-man show.

References

Bibliography

1989 |pages= |chapter= |chapterurl= |quote= }}

External links

CBS Biography: Dick Enberg

Academic center named for Enberg

Category:1935 births Category:Living people Category:American game show hosts Category:American horse racing announcers Category:American people of Finnish descent Category:American people of Swedish descent Category:American radio sports announcers Category:American television sports announcers Category:Boxing commentators Category:California Angels broadcasters Category:Canadian Football League announcers Category:Central Michigan University alumni Category:College basketball announcers in the United States Category:College football announcers Category:Figure skating commentators Category:Golf writers and broadcasters Category:Indiana University alumni Category:Los Angeles Rams broadcasters Category:Major League Baseball announcers Category:National Basketball Association broadcasters Category:National Football League announcers Category:Notre Dame Fighting Irish football broadcasters Category:People from Macomb County, Michigan Category:People from San Diego, California Category:San Diego Padres broadcasters Category:Sports Emmy Award winners Category:American people of Swedish descent Category:Tennis commentators Category:UCLA Bruins men's basketball

Name	Cris Collinsworth
Currentnumber	80
Position	Wide receiver
Birth date	January 27, 1959
Birth place	Dayton, Ohio
Heightft	6
Heightin	5
Weight	192
Highschool	Astronaut High SchoolTitusville, Florida
College	University of Florida
Draftyear	1981
Draftround	2
Draftpick	37
Debutyear	1981
Debutteam	Cincinnati Bengals
Finalteam	Cincinnati Bengals
Finalyear	1988
Pastteams	Cincinnati Bengals (–)
Highlights	First-team All-SEC (1978, 1979, 1980) First-team All-American (1980) First-team Academic All-American (1980) University of Florida Athletic Hall of Fame Pro Bowl (1981, 1982, 1983) Second-team All-Pro (1981, 1982, 1985) First-team All-Pro (1983)
Statlabel1	Receptions
Statvalue1	417
Statlabel2	Receiving Yards
Statvalue2	6,698
Statlabel3	Touchdowns
Statvalue3	36
Nfl	COL717780
Pfr	CollCr00
Dbf	COLLICRI01 }}

Anthony Cris Collinsworth (born January 27, 1959) is a former American college and professional football player who was a wide receiver in the National Football League (NFL) for eight seasons in the 1980s. He played college football for the University of Florida, and thereafter, he played his entire professional career for the Cincinnati Bengals of the NFL. Collinsworth now works as an Emmy Award-winning television sportscaster.

Early life

Collinsworth was born in Dayton, Ohio but moved to Titusville, Florida with his family as a child. He attended Astronaut High School in Titusville, Florida where he was high school football All-American quarterback and the Florida High School Athletic Association (FHSAA) Class 3A 100-yard-dash state champion for the Astronaut War Eagles in 1976.

College career

Collinsworth's exceptional height and quickness attracted the attention of college football coaches throughout the South. He received an athletic scholarship to attend the University of Florida in Gainesville, Florida, where he played for coach Doug Dickey and coach Charley Pell's Florida Gators football teams from 1977 to 1980. He was recruited as a quarterback by Doug Dickey's staff and in his first game as a Gator, Collinsworth threw a 99-yard touchdown pass to Derrick Gaffney against the Rice Owls, which remains tied for the longest touchdown pass in NCAA history.

He later switched to wide receiver as the Gators transitioned from a run-oriented option offense to an offensive scheme that employed more passing. As a Gator wide receiver, he was a first-team All-Southeastern Conference (SEC) selection in 1978, 1979 and 1980, and a first-team All-American, a first-team Academic All-American, and a team captain in 1980. During his career at Florida, he caught 120 passes for 1,977 yards and fourteen touchdowns, while also scoring two rushing touchdowns and one on a kickoff return.

As a senior in 1980, Collinsorth was a member of the Gators team that posted the biggest one-year turnaround in the history of NCAA Division I football—from 0–10–1 in 1979 to an 8–4 bowl team in 1980.

While he was an undergraduate, Collinsworth was also an active member of the Alpha Tau Omega Fraternity (Florida Alpha Omega Chapter), and was inducted into the University of Florida Hall of Fame. He graduated from Florida with a bachelor's degree in accounting in 1981, and was inducted into the University of Florida Athletic Hall of Fame as a "Gator Great" in 1991.

Professional career

After college, Collinsworth was drafted by the Cincinnati Bengals in the second round (thirty-seventh pick overall) of the 1981 NFL Draft, and spent his entire eight-year NFL career with the Bengals. He surpassed 1,000 yards receiving four times (in 1981, 1983, 1985, and 1986) and was named to the Pro Bowl in 1981, 1982 and 1983. At six feet, five inches in height, Collinsworth often created mismatches against much smaller cornerbacks. In addition to his height advantage, Collinsworth was a legitimate deep threat due to his speed.

In Super Bowl XVI, Collinsworth caught four passes for 107 yards, but committed a costly fumble when he was hit by San Francisco defensive back Eric Wright.

In 1985, Collinsworth signed with the Tampa Bay Bandits of the United States Football League, but the contract was voided when he failed the physical due to a bad ankle. He returned to the Bengals and played for them until the end of the 1988 season, catching three passes for forty yards in Super Bowl XXIII, the final game of his career. He finished his eight-season NFL career with 417 receptions for 6,698 yards and thirty-six touchdowns in 107 games.

Broadcasting career

After his retirement as an NFL player, Collinsworth began a broadcasting career as a sports radio talk show host on Cincinnati station WLW. Initially, he was a guest host for Bob Trumpy (also a Bengals alumnus), but took over the show full-time as Trumpy accepted more television assignments. He then became a reporter for HBO's (now Showtime's) ''Inside the NFL'' in 1989.

In 1990, he became a part of the NBC network's NFL broadcasts, as well as some of the college programming. He joined the NBC pregame show in 1996.

In 1998, Collinsworth joined the ''NFL on Fox'' team after NBC lost their broadcast rights to CBS. After several years as a color commentator on the ''Fox NFL Sunday'' pregame show, Collinsworth was assigned to the network's lead game broadcasting crew (teaming with Joe Buck and Troy Aikman) in 2002. He worked on Fox's Super Bowl XXXIX telecast three years later. Collinsworth was also the host of the television show ''Guinness World Records Primetime'' during his stay at Fox.

In 2006, Collinsworth could be seen on three networks during football season. In addition to co-hosting ''Inside the NFL'' on HBO, he returned to NBC as a studio analyst for that network's Sunday night NFL coverage and did color commentary on the NFL Network. He also served as color commentator for NFL Network Thursday night games (and one Saturday-night game) alongside play-by-play man Bryant Gumbel and Bob Papa.

In the NBC broadcasts of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, Collinsworth appeared alongside Bob Costas as a commentator on numerous occasions. Collinsworth and Costas paired again during the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, Canada. He also continued his work on ''Inside the NFL'' when it debuted on its new home on Showtime.

Collinsworth is also the color commentator on ''Madden NFL 09'' and ''Madden NFL 10'' with Tom Hammond, as well as in ''Madden NFL 11'' with Gus Johnson.

It was announced on April 16, 2009 that Collinsworth would replace John Madden on NBC's ''Sunday Night Football''.

Colinsworth is the host of ''Inside the Vault'' on WGN America.

Honors

Collinsworth received a Sports Emmy Award in April 1998 as "Outstanding Studio Analyst" and his second in 1999. In 2001, he was inducted into the Academic All-America Hall of Fame. He was also recognized with his third and fourth Sports Emmy Awards in 2003 and 2004 as "Outstanding Sports Personality/Studio Analyst." In May 2006, he added a fifth with an Emmy Award again in the category "Outstanding Sports Personality/Studio Analyst" for his work on HBO. Collinsworth served as a correspondent for NBC Sports coverage of the 2008 Summer Olympics.

Personal life

Collinsworth currently lives in Fort Thomas, Kentucky, with his wife Holly , and their four children. He received his law degree from the University of Cincinnati College of Law in 1991.

His son, Austin Collinsworth, plays football at the University of Notre Dame.

On March 12, 2011, it was reported that Collinsworth was rescued after a restaurant that he was eating in began to float down the flooded Ohio River. He was among eighty-three people eating at Jeff Ruby's restaurant in Covington, Kentucky which floats atop the river, when it tore loose from its moorings and began to drift.

See also

1980 College Football All-America Team

Florida Gators

Florida Gators football, 1970–1979

Florida Gators football, 1980–1989

History of the Cincinnati Bengals

List of Alpha Tau Omega brothers

List of Florida Gators football players

List of University of Cincinnati people

List of University of Florida alumni

References

Bibliography

Carlson, Norm, ''University of Florida Football Vault: The History of the Florida Gators'', Whitman Publishing, LLC, Atlanta, Georgia (2007). ISBN 0794822983.

Golenbock, Peter, ''Go Gators! An Oral History of Florida's Pursuit of Gridiron Glory'', Legends Publishing, LLC, St. Petersburg, Florida (2002). ISBN 0-9650782-1-3.

Hairston, Jack, ''Tales from the Gator Swamp: A Collection of the Greatest Gator Stories Ever Told'', Sports Publishing, LLC, Champaign, Illinois (2002). ISBN 1-58261-514-4.

McCarthy, Kevin M., ''Fightin' Gators: A History of University of Florida Football'', Arcadia Publishing, Mount Pleasant, South Carolina (2000). ISBN 978-0-7385-0559-6.

Nash, Noel, ed., ''The Gainesville Sun Presents The Greatest Moments in Florida Gators Football'', Sports Publishing, Inc., Champaign, Illinois (1998). ISBN 1-57167-196x.

External links

NFL.com writer profile

HBO: Inside the NFL

Category:1959 births Category:Living people Category:All-American college football players Category:American Conference Pro Bowl players Category:American football wide receivers Category:American sports radio personalities Category:Cincinnati Bengals players Category:College football announcers Category:Florida Gators football players Category:National Football League announcers Category:Notre Dame Fighting Irish football broadcasters Category:Parade High School All-Americans (football) Category:People from Dayton, Ohio Category:People from Brevard County, Florida Sports Emmy Award winners Category:Tampa Bay Buccaneers broadcasters Category:University of Cincinnati College of Law alumni

Name	Cal Ripken, Jr.
Position	Shortstop / Third baseman
Bats	Right
Throws	Right
Birth date	August 24, 1960
Birth place	Havre de Grace, Maryland
Debutdate	August 10
Debutyear	1981
Debutteam	Baltimore Orioles
Finaldate	October 6
Finalyear	2001
Finalteam	Baltimore Orioles
Stat1label	Batting average
Stat1value	.276
Stat2label	Hits
Stat2value	3,184
Stat3label	Home runs
Stat3value	431
Stat4label	Runs batted in
Stat4value	1,695
Teams	Baltimore Orioles (–)
Highlights	19× All-Star (1983, 1984, 1985, 1986, 1987, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001) World Series champion () 2× Gold Glove Award winner (1991, 1992) 8× Silver Slugger Award winner (1983, 1984, 1985, 1986, 1989, 1991, 1993, 1994) 2× AL MVP (1983, 1991) 1982 AL Rookie of the Year 2× MLB All-Star Game MVP (1991, 2001) 1992 Roberto Clemente Award 1992 Lou Gehrig Memorial Award 1991 Home Run Derby winner Baltimore Orioles #8 retired Major League Baseball All-Century Team Other awards and records
Hofdate
Hofvote	98.53% (first ballot) }}

Calvin Edwin "Cal" Ripken, Jr. (born August 24, 1960), nicknamed "Iron Man", is a former Major League Baseball shortstop and third baseman. He played his entire 21-year baseball career for the Baltimore Orioles (1981–2001).

Ripken is perhaps best known for breaking New York Yankees first baseman Lou Gehrig's record for consecutive games played, a record many deemed unbreakable. He surpassed the 56-year-old record when he played in his 2,131^st consecutive game on September 6, 1995, between the Orioles and the California Angels in front of a sold-out crowd at Oriole Park at Camden Yards. To make the feat even more memorable, Ripken hit a home run in the previous night's game that tied Gehrig's record and another home run in his 2,131st game, which fans later voted as Major League Baseball's "Most Memorable Moment" in MLB history. Ripken played in an additional 501 straight games over the next three years, and his streak ended at 2,632 games when he voluntarily removed his name from the lineup for the final Orioles home game of the 1998 season. His record 2,632 straight games spanned over seventeen seasons, from May 30, 1982, to September 20, 1998.

A 19-time All-Star and member of the 3000 hit club, Ripken is considered one of the best shortstops and third basemen to ever play the game. At (1.93 m), 225 lb. (102.27 kg), he pioneered the way for taller, larger shortstops to be successful in that position. When inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 2007, he was a first ballot inductee with the third highest voting percentage (98.53%) in Hall of Fame history, behind Tom Seaver (98.84%) and Nolan Ryan (98.79%).

He is a best-selling author and the President and CEO of Ripken Baseball, Inc., whose goal is to grow the love of baseball from a more grassroots level. Established in 2001, Ripken Baseball represents Cal and his brother Bill's business and philanthropy dealings and focuses on several subsidiaries: Ripken Management and Design, Youth Camps and Clinics, Cal Ripken, Sr. foundation, Ripken Professional Baseball, with three minor-league teams—the Aberdeen IronBirds (affiliated with the Orioles); the Augusta GreenJackets (affiliated with the San Francisco Giants); and the Charlotte Stone Crabs (affiliated with the Tampa Bay Rays)—and Ironclad Authentics.

Personal life

Ripken was born to Cal Sr. and Violet "Vi" Ripken in Havre de Grace and was raised in Aberdeen, Maryland, in a baseball family. His father, Cal Sr., was a long-time coach in baseball who managed the Orioles in the late 1980s. Ripken attended Aberdeen High School as did his brother Billy, who later played second base for various teams, including the Orioles. He has two other siblings, Ellen and Fred. Ripken married the former Kelly Geer at Towson United Methodist Church on Friday, November 13, 1987. They have a daughter, Rachel (b. 11/22/1989), and a son, Ryan (b. 7/18/1993).

Playing career

1981–82

Ripken, as a member of the Rochester Red Wings (the Orioles Triple-A farm club at the time), played in the longest professional baseball game. Ripken started at third base and played all 33 innings against the Pawtucket Red Sox in a game that took parts of three days to complete. He made his big-league debut in a strike year. Ripken split time between shortstop and third base in 1981 and 1982, but he started to achieve prominence right away. Ripken homered in his very first at bat of the first game of the Orioles 1982 season against Kansas City and he hit 28 home runs that year en route to the American League's Rookie of the Year Award. Ripken would eventually win the shortstop job from veteran Mark Belanger, an eight-time Gold Glover. Ripken began his consecutive-games-played streak on May 30, 1982, and broke Lou Gherig's "unbreakable" record 14 years later in what would be seen by many as a bright spot following the devastating 1994 strike. For example, the writeup in the 1996 ''Sporting News Baseball Guide'' called it "what almost everyone considered the high point of the major league season."

1983

Ripken took an even bigger step forward in 1983, when he earned the first of his 19 All-Star berths and was named the American League Most Valuable Player (MVP) in 1983, hitting .318 with 27 home runs and 102 RBI. His fielding percentage that year was .970. He would go on to hit at least 20 home runs in each of the next eight seasons, for a total of ten consecutive years (1982–1991).

The Orioles defeated the Chicago White Sox in the ALCS before beating the Philadelphia Phillies four games to one in the 1983 World Series. In the series Ripken hit just .167 with no homers and only one RBI. Although not contributing significantly in the World Series with his bat, he made a number of key plays defensively at shortstop, including the final out of the series on a Garry Maddox lineout in Game 5.

1987

1987 was a family affair year for Ripken as his father, Cal Ripken, Sr., became manager of the Orioles. That year, he became the first manager to write two of his sons into the lineup card when both Ripken Jr and his brother and fellow Oriole, Billy Ripken, played in the same game. Later in the season, Ripken Sr. decided to take Ripken out of the game on September 14, in a blow out loss to the Toronto Blue Jays at Exhibition Stadium. Replacing him in the eighth inning was current Rangers Manager Ron Washington, thus ending Ripken's streak of 8,243 consecutive innings.

1991

While Ripken narrowly missed out on a Gold Glove in 1990—when he made just three errors in 162 games—he had a career year in 1991. Ripken led the American League with 111 hits and a .348 batting average at the All-Star Break. He finished the season by hitting .323/.374/.566 over 650 plate appearances, with 34 HR and 114 RBI. In addition to that, Ripken hit 46 doubles, stole a career-high 6 bases and was caught once, and hit 5 triples, while posting his career lowest strikeout rate and lowest number of strikeouts in a season with 600 or more plate appearances. His 1991 season is the fourth-greatest in baseball history (second among non-pitchers) as measured by WARP3 at 17.0 wins, bested only by Walter Johnson's 1913 (18.1 wins), Babe Ruth's 1923 (18 wins), and Amos Rusie's 1894 season (17.6 wins).

Ripken won his second AL MVP award, the Gold Glove Award, 1991 All Star Game MVP award (going 2 for 3 including a 3-run home run off Dennis Martínez), the Gatorade Home Run Derby contest (hitting a then record 12 home runs in 22 swings, including 7 consecutive homers to start the contest), Louisville Slugger "Silver Slugger Award", AP Player of the Year Award, and The Sporting News Player of the Year Award. The only other player in MLB history to win all those awards in the same season, excluding the Home Run Derby, was Maury Wills in 1962.

Ripken became the first player ever to win the Home Run Derby and be named All Star Game MVP in the same year. The only other player that has accomplished this feat is Garret Anderson of the Anaheim Angels in 2003. He was the first AL MVP in MLB history to win the award while playing with a sub .500 club. The Orioles finished in 6th place that year with a 67–95 record.

At the end of the 1991 season, Memorial Stadium, the Orioles' home since 1954, saw its last MLB game against the Detroit Tigers. Ripken was the last Oriole to bat at Baltimore's Memorial Stadium, hitting into a double play against Detroit's Frank Tanana on Oct. 6, 1991.

1993

Ripken achieved a personal milestone on July 10, 1993, when he collected his 2,000th career hit, during a game at Oriole Park against the Chicago White Sox. This came on the Saturday of "All-Star Weekend", just prior to the All-Star Game played at Camden Yards on July 13.

1995

On September 6, 1995, many baseball fans within and out of the United States tuned in to cable TV network ESPN to watch Ripken surpass Lou Gehrig's 56-year-old record for consecutive games played (2,130 games). The game, between the Orioles and the California Angels, still ranks as one of the network's most watched baseball games (Baseball's most-watched game was Game 7 of the 1986 World Series). Cal's children, Rachel and Ryan, threw out the ceremonial first balls. Both President Bill Clinton and Vice President Al Gore were at the game. President Clinton was in the WBAL local radio broadcast booth when Ripken hit a home run in the fourth inning, and called the home run over the air. When the game became official after the Angels' half of the fifth inning, the numerical banners that displayed Ripken's streak on the wall of the B&O; Warehouse outside the stadium's right field wall changed from 2130 to 2131.

Everyone attending (including the opposing Angels and all four umpires) erupted with a standing ovation lasting more than 22 minutes, one of the longest standing ovations for any athlete; ESPN did not go to a commercial break during the entire ovation. During the ovation, Ripken did a lap around the entire Camden Yards warning track to shake hands and give high-fives to the fans. The humble superstar had to be convinced by his teammates (who in fact playfully shoved him out of the dugout) to take a victory lap around the stadium, shaking hands and creating a highlight reel moment that's been replayed repeatedly in the ensuing years.

"It was very spontaneous. I was feeling a sense of anxiety that it was unfair to stop the game in the middle of the game. You felt for the pitchers—it's almost like a rain delay. I just kept saying to myself, 'okay, let's get the game started. Thank you very much. I'll celebrate it as much as you want after it's over, but let's stay with the game.

"Bobby Bonilla and Rafael Palmeiro pushed me out of the dugout and said, 'Hey, if you don't do a lap around this thing, we'll never get the game started.' I thought it was a ridiculous sort of thing, ...but as I started to do it, the celebration of 50,000 started to be very one-on-one and very personal. I started seeing people I knew. ...Those were the people that had been around the ballpark all those years, and it was really a wonderful human experience."

1996

On June 14 at Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City against the Royals, Ripken broke the world record of consecutive games played of 2,216. The record had been held by Sachio Kinugasa of Japan. Kinugasa was at the game to watch Ripken break his record. On July 15, Ripken was moved to third base as an experiment, with Manny Alexander taking the shortstop position. In the first inning, Ripken dove for a grounder down the line and threw from his knees to get the runner out at first. This was the first time someone other than Cal Ripken had started a game at shortstop for the Orioles since 1982.

Following the 1996 season, Cal Ripken released an autobiography, titled ''The Only Way I Know.''

1997–98

The Orioles signed free agent shortstop Mike Bordick from Oakland and moved Ripken back to third base permanently.

On September 20, 1998, before the final home game of the season against the New York Yankees, Ripken decided to end his streak at 2,632 games, having surpassed Gehrig's previous record by 502 games. Rookie third baseman Ryan Minor started in his place (at first he thought it was a rookie prank). Realizing that the streak was coming to an end, the fans, his teammates, and the visiting Yankees (with David Wells being the first to notice that Ripken was not playing during batting practice) gave Ripken an ovation after the game's first out was recorded. Ripken later stated that he decided to end the streak at the end of the season to avoid any off-season controversy about his playing status, and to end the streak entirely on his own terms while he still could.

1999–2000

In 1999, Ripken had his statistically best season since 1991. Although he was injured at both the beginning and the end of the 1999 season; and, also mourned the loss of his father and former coach Cal Ripken, Sr. only a few days before 1999's opening game, he managed to hit 18 homers in only 332 at-bats (one HR every 18.4 AB's) while hitting a career high .340. He had the best individual game of his career, going 6 for 6 with 2 homers off John Smoltz and tying a club record with 13 total bases against the Atlanta Braves on June 13, 1999.

Ripken's 1999 season ended early due to injury when he was only 9 hits away from joining the 3000 hit club. He finally achieved the milestone early in the 2000 season when he singled off reliever Héctor Carrasco in a game against the Minnesota Twins on April 15, 2000, in the Metrodome. Ripken had a good night at the plate, getting three hits, the third of which was the milestone. The Twins distributed a commemorative certificate to the fans as they left the Metrodome after the game.

2001

In June 2001, Ripken announced he would retire at the end of the season. He was voted the starting third baseman in the All-Star game at Safeco Field on July 10, 2001, in Seattle. In a tribute to Ripken's achievements and stature in the game, shortstop Alex Rodriguez (unknowingly foreshadowing his own future) insisted on exchanging positions with third baseman Ripken for the first inning, so that Ripken could play shortstop as he had for most of his career. In the third inning, Ripken made his first plate appearance and was greeted with a standing ovation. Ripken then homered off the first pitch from Chan Ho Park. Ripken ended up with All Star MVP honors. He is one of four players in MLB history with multiple All Star Game MVP Awards (1991 and 2001).

The Orioles planned to retire Ripken's #8 in a ceremony before the final home game of the 2001 season, on October 6. Ripken's final game was originally set to be played at Yankee Stadium; however, the September 11, 2001 attacks led to the postponement of a week's worth of games. The games missed were added on to the end of the season's schedule. Since all the games the Orioles missed were at home, this changed the location of Ripken's final game to Oriole Park, much to the delight of Orioles fans. Cal Ripken ended his career in the on deck circle in the bottom of the ninth inning. Long-time teammate Brady Anderson, also playing in his last game for the Orioles, swung and missed a fastball high and tight on a 3–2 count to end the game. After the game, Ripken gave a speech thanking the fans for their support over 20 seasons.

Post-baseball life

2001–2005

Ripken has made donations to many charity causes, including donations supporting research on Lou Gehrig's disease. Along with his brother Billy, he formed the Cal Ripken Sr. Foundation to give underprivileged children the opportunity to attend baseball camps around the country and learn the game. The Foundation is a branch of Ripken Baseball. In addition to controlling these camps and Ripken's minor league teams, Ripken Baseball operates for-profit camps and designs ballfields for youth, college, and professional teams. Cal Ripken youth leagues compete with Little League and are growing in importance while Little League shrinks. He gives speeches about his time in baseball and some of the lessons he has learned. Between 2001 and 2004, inclusive, Ripken served as commissioner of the White House Tee Ball Initiative of President George W. Bush, in which capacity he worked to promote the value of teamwork amongst players and volunteership amongst the public and helped to teach tee ball fundamentals to teams of children at the White House.

Ripken retired on October 6, 2001. He is a part owner of the New York-Penn League's Aberdeen IronBirds, the Short-season Class A affiliate Minor League Baseball team within the Orioles' system. The team plays at Ripken Stadium in Cal's hometown of Aberdeen, Maryland.

On June 28, 2005, he announced that he was purchasing the Augusta GreenJackets of the South Atlantic League, a Class A affiliate of the San Francisco Giants.

In 2005, the Orioles honored Ripken on the 10th anniversary of his 2,131st consecutive game. After the top of the 5th inning, the numbers 2130 on the warehouse behind the stadium changed to 2131, just as they did on September 6, 1995.

2007

In 2007, Ripken, along with Andre Agassi, Muhammad Ali, Lance Armstrong, Warrick Dunn, Mia Hamm, Jeff Gordon, Tony Hawk, Andrea Jaeger, Jackie Joyner-Kersee, Mario Lemieux, and Alonzo Mourning founded Athletes for Hope, a charitable organization, which helps professional athletes get involved in charitable causes and inspires millions of non-athletes to volunteer and support the community.

On January 9, 2007, Ripken was elected to the Hall of Fame, appearing on 537 out of 545 of the ballots cast (98.53%), eight votes short of a unanimous selection. His percentage is the third highest in history, behind Tom Seaver who received 98.84 percent of the vote and Nolan Ryan who received 98.79 percent, and the highest ever for a regular position player. Tony Gwynn, who appeared on his first ballot, was chosen alongside Ripken. Both Hall of Fame-Elects were formally inducted on July 29, 2007. The induction ceremony was attended by a record 75,000 people including special guests of Ripken: Ernie Tyler, John Travolta, Richard Gere and Brett Herman. On January 10, 2007, Ripken expressed interest in purchasing the Baltimore Orioles if current owner Peter Angelos were to sell the team. He has yet to be approached about the potential purchase of the team. At a National Press Club speech in Washington D.C. on April 13, 2007, he denied having an interest in purchasing the Orioles due to lack of sufficient funds.

Ripken is still a popular figure in Baltimore and Washington, DC area advertising, and frequently appears in regional commercials for Comcast cable and internet service. His appearance at a Washington Capitals game on February 10, 2007, prompted a standing ovation from the crowd.

In April 2007, he released two books, ''Get in the Game'', described as a motivational guide to success, and ''The Longest Season'', a children's book about the Orioles' 1988 season. He writes a weekly youth sports advice newspaper column in the ''Baltimore Sun'' which is syndicated nationwide and has produced a line of baseball training videos.

On April 9, 2007, Ripken announced a partnership with the recently formed "Reviving Baseball in the Inner City" program, with the donation of US$1 million in cash and equipment from the Cal Ripken Sr Foundation.

On August 13, 2007, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice announced that Ripken has been named Special Sports Envoy for the US State Department and that he will be going to China in October: "...we're just delighted that somebody of Cal Ripken's stature is going to be someone who will go out and represent America so well and represent what we consider to be American values, but universal values; that hard work and diligence and the willingness to really put it all on the line every day is something that kids need to learn," said Rice.

In October 2007, Ripken began working as a studio analyst for TBS Sports during the 2007 Major League Baseball playoffs.

2008

On February 28, 2008, Ripken announced his venture into the massively multiplayer online sports game market with "Cal Ripken's Real Baseball".

On March 30, 2008, I-395 Eastern's Branch in Baltimore, from I-95 to Conway Street, was named ''Cal Ripken Way''.

On May 31, 2008, Ripken received an honorary Doctor of Humanities degree from the University of Delaware and served as the university's commencement speaker.

Ripken added to his baseball business portfolio in August 2008, purchasing the Vero Beach Devil Rays of the Florida State League with plans to move the team to the Gulf Coast city of Port Charlotte. The team debuted in its new city in 2009 as the Charlotte Stone Crabs.

2009

On May 2, 2009, Ripken, his wife, and several friends attended the Kentucky Derby, as they do every year. In this race he placed a bet on the race horse Mine That Bird claiming that the horse's name appealed to him given his career with the Orioles along with the jockey's name, Calvin Borel. The gelding also wearing saddle cloth number "8" post position, with odds set at 50 to 1, went on to win the race. This is the first time since 1913 that a horse won the Kentucky Derby after being given such odds. Ripken has not disclosed his winnings.

On May 8, 2009, "A Shortstop in China" premiered on the Mid-Atlantic Sports Network. The hour-long special chronicles Ripken's October 2008 trip to China to share the game of baseball with youth and coaches while nurturing American-Chinese diplomacy.

Return to the Orioles

In the summer of 2010, reports started to come alive that Ripken would be rejoining the Orioles organization. Ripken was quoted in a July 17 Associated Press article as saying he would consider rejoining the Orioles part time as an advisor, and full time after his son graduates from high school in 2012.

Legacy

At 6 ft 4 in, 225 lb (1.93 m, 102 kg), Ripken was a departure from the prototypical shortstop of the time—small, fleet-of-foot players who played a defensively difficult position but often did not post the home run and batting average totals that an outfielder might. Power hitting shortstops such as Alex Rodriguez, Nomar Garciaparra and Miguel Tejada are often seen to be part of Ripken's legacy.

Nonetheless, Ripken demonstrated the ability to play excellent defense at shortstop, and as a result remained a fixture there for well over a decade, leading the league in assists several times, winning the Gold Glove twice, and, in 1990, setting the MLB record for best fielding percentage in a season at his position. Though not a flashy fielder, Ripken displayed excellent fundamentals, and studied batters and even his own pitching staff so he could position himself to compensate for his lack of physical speed, even calling pitches at times. Ripken's legacy as a fielder is reflected by his place near the top of almost every defensive statistical category—he holds at least one all-time record (for either season, career, or most seasons leading the league) in assists, putouts, fielding percentage, double plays, and fewest errors. Ripken's career range factor was 4.73 (and as high as 5.50 for a single season), a mark few shortstops have reached.

Ripken's power, which led to records like the most home runs by shortstop and 13th for career doubles, had consequences. His propensity to drive the ball often led to his grounders getting to fielders quickly for tailor-made double-play balls. In 1999, Ripken passed Hank Aaron as the player who had grounded into the most double plays in his career. Ripken is second on the fielding side for double plays by a shortstop.

Billy and Cal Ripken are one of only four two-brother combinations in major league history to play second base/shortstop on the same club, Baltimore Orioles, during the 1980s. The others are Garvin and Granny Hamner, for the Philadelphia Phillies in 1945; the twins Eddie and Johnny O'Brien, with the Pittsburgh Pirates in the mid-1950s, and Frank and Milt Bolling, for the Detroit Tigers in 1958.

On September 23, 2001, the NASCAR Winston Cup series and MBNA re-named the fall race at Dover International Speedway in Dover, Delaware, naming the race the MBNA Cal Ripken Jr. 400. The race paid tribute to the legacy of Ripken, who was in attendance greeting the competing drivers as they crossed the stage during driver introductions. Driver Bobby Labonte had a special paint scheme on his #18 Interstate Batteries car featuring Baltimore Orioles colors along with Ripken's retirement seal. The race was won by Dale Earnhardt Jr., who was then driving the #8 car (coincidentally matching Ripken's jersey number). Cal Ripken is most known for holding the Iron Man record.

Awards and records

Baseball

1981: Participated in the longest professional baseball game ever played at 33 innings, 8 hours and 25 minutes.

1982: American League Rookie of the Year

1983: American League Most Valuable Player

1983: American League Silver Slugger Award (SS)

1984: American League Silver Slugger Award (SS)

1985: American League Silver Slugger Award (SS)

1986: American League Silver Slugger Award (SS)

1989: American League Silver Slugger Award (SS)

1991: American League Most Valuable Player

1991: MLB All-Star Game Most Valuable Player

1991: American League Gold Glove Award (SS)

1991: American League Silver Slugger Award (SS)

1992: Roberto Clemente Award

1992: Lou Gehrig Memorial Award

1992: American League Gold Glove Award (SS)

1993: American League Silver Slugger Award (SS)

1994: American League Silver Slugger Award (SS)

1995: ''Sports Illustrated'' magazine's "Sportsman of the Year"

1995: ''The Associated Press'' "Athlete of the Year"

1995: ''The Sporting News''' "Sportsman of the Year"

1999: Ranked Number 78 on ''The Sporting News''' list of the 100 Greatest Baseball Players

1999: Elected to the Major League Baseball All-Century Team.

2001: MLB All-Star Game Most Valuable Player

Beat Lou Gehrig's Consecutive Games Streak

2001: Commissioner's Historic Achievement Award

2001: Ranked third greatest shortstop all-time in the ''The New Bill James Historical Abstract''.

2001: Uniform number (8) retired by the Baltimore Orioles

2007: Elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame by 98.53 percent of voters. The highest percentage of votes ever for a position player, as well as third highest overall.

2007: Inducted to the Baseball Hall of Fame on July 29 with the San Diego Padres' great Tony Gwynn in front of a record crowd of 75,000 people

Most consecutive games played at 2,632 (World record until 2005, current MLB record)

Most consecutive innings played at 8,243 (World record until 2005, current MLB record)

Most grounded into double plays at 350

Most home runs by a shortstop at 345

Most double plays by a shortstop, American League, at 1,682

All-time leader in MLB All-Star fan balloting (36,123,483) Most American League, MLB All-Star team selections (19) – 1983–2001

Most MLB All-Star Game appearances at shortstop (15) – 1983–1996, 2001

Most consecutive MLB All-Star Game starts (17) Most plate appearances by one player in one game at 15 (Triple-A game tied with Tom Eaton and Dallas Williams).

Baltimore Orioles

Games Played: 3,001

Consecutive games: 2,632

At bats: 11,551

Hits: 3,184

Runs: 1,647

RBI: 1,695

Extra Base Hits: 1,078

Doubles: 603

Home runs: 431 (Baltimore has had five members of the 500 home run club on its roster, but none have hit more with the Orioles than Ripken)

Total Bases: 5,168

Walks: 1,129

Strikeouts: 1,305

Assists: 8,212

Double Plays: 1,682

See also

MLB consecutive games played streaks

DHL Hometown Heroes

List of MLB individual streaks

List of top 300 Major League Baseball home run hitters

List of major league players with 2,000 hits

List of Major League Baseball doubles records

List of Major League Baseball players with 400 doubles

List of Major League Baseball players with 1000 runs

List of Major League Baseball players with 1000 RBI

List of Major League Baseball doubles champions

3000 hit club

Hitting for the cycle

List of Major League Baseball runs scored champions

List of second-generation Major League Baseball players

References

External links

"The Ripken Way The Fundamentals of Defense – Full Movie"

Baltimore ''Sun'' Gallery and archive – Cal Ripken Jr.

Ripken Baseball

"The most powerful-hitting middle infielders of all time" from ''The Hardball Times''

Cal Ripken Baseball Card Timeline OriolesCards.com

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Category:1960 births Category:Living people Category:American League Most Valuable Player Award winners Category:American League All-Stars Category:Baltimore Orioles players Category:Gold Glove Award winners Category:Major League Baseball All-Star Game MVPs Category:Major League Baseball announcers Category:Minor league baseball executives Category:Baseball players from Maryland Category:Major League Baseball players with retired numbers Category:Major League Baseball Rookie of the Year Award winners Category:Major League Baseball shortstops Category:Major League Baseball third basemen Category:National Baseball Hall of Fame inductees Category:People from Baltimore, Maryland Category:People from Harford County, Maryland Category:Rochester Red Wings players

de:Cal Ripken junior es:Cal Ripken, Jr. fr:Cal Ripken, Jr. ko:칼 립켄 주니어 it:Cal Ripken, Jr. ja:カル・リプケン pt:Cal Ripken Jr. simple:Cal Ripken, Jr. zh:小卡爾·瑞普肯