- published: 16 Jul 2012
- views: 2164
Gary Bender is a retired American sportscaster and 2008 inductee in to the Kansas Sports Hall of Fame. He officially retired, April 13, 2011, from Fox Sports Arizona network after 18 years calling the NBA's Phoenix Suns games.
Bender, a native of Ulysses, Kansas, began his broadcasting career calling games of the University of Kansas' football and basketball programs in the 1960s. He also spent years as a broadcaster in Wisconsin and called all of the Wisconsin Athletic Association championship games, as well as Green Bay Packers radio and Milwaukee Brewers television in the early 1970s.
He did play-by-play for the NFL on CBS from 1975 to 1986 (among his partners were Johnny Unitas, Sonny Jurgensen and John Madden, all members of the Pro Football Hall of Fame), the 1981 NBA Finals along with color commentators Rick Barry and Bill Russell, both members of the Basketball Hall of Fame.
He was CBS' first play-by-play announcer for the network's coverage of the NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Tournament, calling the Final Four in 1982, 1983 and 1984. In 1982 and 1983, he was CBS' lead college football play-by-play man.
I’ve faced traffic fines and tons of highway lines
Been through bar room fights and chased by flashing
lights
Another two bit town but I’ll just hang around
You said life on the road has made our love run cold
I don’t know if you’re alive or dead
I’m home
I’m home
I’m home
Finally off the road
I rack up lonely nights with girls and neon lights
Stare at endless sky and watch the miles tick by
Some old man at the bar he swears you won’t get far
I’ll spend an hour on the phone but still I’m all alone
I don’t know if you’re alive or dead
I’m home
I’m home
I’m home
Finally off the road
You said the world won’t wait for you.