Ian Eagle

Ian Eagle (/ˈaɪ.ən/; born February 9, 1969) is an American sports announcer. He calls National Football League (NFL) games on CBS and Brooklyn Nets games on the YES Network and hosts Full Court Press, a basketball talk show, with former player Kenny Smith on Sirius Satellite Radio. Other announcing experiences include NCAA men's basketball, tennis, the Army–Navy football games, the Army-Navy basketball games, boxing, and NCAA track and field for CBS. He is a graduate of Syracuse University, where he was initiated into the Alpha Epsilon Pi Fraternity. He is known as "Bird" or the "Birdman".

Biography

Parents

Eagle was born to entertainers Jack Eagle and Monica Maris. Jack, a former "Catskills comedian" and commercial actor, was best known for portraying "Brother Dominic" and "Mr. Cholesterol" in Xerox and Fleischmann's margarine television commercials respectively in the 1970s. Maris was a singer.

Early career

Eagle began his career by announcing football, basketball, and lacrosse for the Syracuse Orangemen on WAER, a student run radio station. While at Syracuse, he was in the Alpha Epsilon Pi fraternity. Following his graduation in 1990, Eagle began working for WFAN Radio in New York City as a producer. In 1992, WFAN gave him his own show (Bagels and Baseball). In 1993, Eagle was given pregame and postgame duties for the Jets. 1994 saw Eagle's first year as a Nets play-by-play radio announcer. A year later, he was made a TV announcer for SportsChannel, which later became Fox Sports Net New York (now MSG Plus). In 1997, WFAN made Eagle play-by-play announcer for Jets games.