Yes: Marv Albert, NBA’s ‘Soundtrack,’ Retiring Before Finals

NEW YORK (AP) — Marv Albert is retiring after the NBA’s Eastern Conference finals, ending a broadcasting career spanning nearly 60 years. He has been with Turner Sports for 22 years, 19 as an NBA play-by-play announcer. Albert will call the series for TNT.

Albert, known for his signature “Yes!” call, turns 80 next month. He has covered everything from football and boxing to hockey, baseball, and tennis. But he is linked most to basketball, having called 13 NBA Finals and 25 All-Star Games for NBC and Turner, along with the Dream Team’s romp to the gold medal in the 1992 Olympics.

Albert became the voice of the New York Rangers in 1965 and the Knicks two years later. He was on the radio call-in 1970 when the Knicks won their first championship, a memorable moment in NBA history after an injured Reed emerged from the locker room moments before Game 7 against the Los Angeles Lakers at Madison Square Garden.

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“My 55 years of broadcasting the NBA has just flown by and I’ve been fortunate to work with so many wonderful and talented people,” Albert said. “Now, I’ll have the opportunity to hone my gardening skills and work on my ballroom dancing.”

Albert was also fired by NBC in 1997 after pleading guilty to assault in a lurid sex case, when a longtime lover accused him of biting her on the back more than a dozen times and forcing her to perform oral sex.

Albert also called eight Super Bowls and eight Stanley Cup Finals.