By Kristian Hernández, Senior Editor
Tuesday, December 3, 2024 – 11:50 am
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Leading up to the 2024 Sports Broadcasting Hall of Fame ceremony on Dec. 17 at the New York Hilton, SVG is profiling the 10 inductees in this year’s class. For more information, CLICK HERE.
Longevity in the sports-broadcasting industry can be hard to obtain, but a select few have withstood the test of time. One of those iron horses is NBA on ESPN analyst Hubie Brown, a beloved member of the basketball fraternity who has experienced nearly everything you can in the game.
A state champion at the high school level and four-year standout at Niagara University as a player, a coach for more than four decades, and an analyst honored by induction into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame and the admiration from the entire community, he still, at 91 years old, exhibits the fervor and enthusiasm that will have an enduring impact well beyond his much-deserved retirement at the end of the 2024-25 season.
“Hubie Brown is one of the most respected and beloved basketball legends we’ve ever known,” says ESPN Chairman Jimmy Pitaro. “From coaching Kareem Abdul-Jabbar to calling a Victor Wembanyama game and everything in between, Hubie has truly done it all. Beyond his basketball brilliance, Hubie is defined by his grace, class, and kindness. We’re proud that he will take his rightful place in the Sports Broadcasting Hall of Fame.”
When Brown’s basketball life transitioned to coaching in the professional ranks, he broke into the NBA as head coach of the Atlanta Hawks in 1976. He received the first of his two NBA Coach of the Year Awards in his second year there, and the club made three consecutive playoff appearances from 1977 to 1980, including its first division title in a decade. Brown would eventually move on from the Hawks in 1981 but would soon spur the current trend of active coaches and players lending their talents to a network.
“I was fortunate enough to have USA Network contact me and offer me an opportunity,” he says. “I was hesitant [to join] because I was lacking experience, but their selling point was that, since I was coach and I’d done so many basketball clinics, it would all work out.”
Brown’s first foray in broadcasting was alongside Al Albert, the youngest brother of Sports Broadcasting Hall of Famer Marv Albert. Leaning on his coaching pedigree was second nature in understanding how a play unfolds, but conveying those thoughts eloquently in a brief time on-air was a new skill that needed to be developed. Like a head coach relying on help from assistants in a pinch, Brown called on a familiar face to put him through his paces before his first season with Albert: play-by-play radio announcer Eddie Doucette, the voice of the Milwaukee Bucks for 16 years and an announcing fixture for four other NBA franchises, five MLB clubs, and other nationally broadcast sports. The two had become friends during Brown’s short stint as an assistant coach for the Bucks.
“Eddie was the one who suggested me to the network,” says Brown. “[I was assigned to] an exhibition doubleheader, so he flew in and did the two games with me.”
The experience was a crash course and a fast-tracked education on the fly. Getting accustomed to the technology used to communicate with the producer and director in the truck was a challenge, and finding the right balance of cadence, fluidity, and delivering tidbits in small pockets would come over time.
“You have to discipline yourself to explain what’s happening in 5-8 seconds and get out of the way for the play-by-play announcer,” Brown says. “Every announcer has a different pace and different terminology and interpretation, so, every time you work, you learn each person’s tendencies without disturbing the telecast.”
Further refinement turned elements that required attention into skills deployed automatically. In his first year, his knowledge and ability to describe the action in real time led to an appearance on CBS Sports’ pre/postgame and halftime coverage of the NBA Finals with coach Kevin Loughery. He was able to stay on with CBS Sports on a part-time basis after accepting the head-coaching job with the New York Knicks in 1982. He split his time between the hardwood — where he mentored fellow Naismith Basketball Hall of Famers Bernard King, Patrick Ewing, and assistant coach Rick Pitino — and the broadcast booth during the Knicks’ offseason. It was a symbiotic situation: his on-air analysis made him a better coach, and his coaching prowess influenced his approach to assignments behind the mic.
“Listening to Hubie diagnose and forecast X’s and O’s in real time on telecasts has been trailblazing for our industry,” says NBA on ESPN play-by-play announcer Ryan Ruocco. “The verve he has for the game of basketball is evident to the viewer.”
At the midpoint of the ’80s, Brown began his upward trajectory in sports broadcasting, working with Sports Broadcasting Hall of Famers Brent Musburger, during the 1985 NBA Playoffs, and Verne Lundquist, when Brown was hired full-time by CBS Sports in December 1986.
He committed himself whole-heartedly to the process. “It’s important to have your own way of preparing to call a game and being ready for unexpected plays that might happen,” he explains. “You need to be on top of everything and diagnose what you’re seeing before you lose the audience’s attention.”
In 1988, Brown was slotted into the lead-analyst role with Dick Stockton to call his first NBA Finals, with courtside reporting by Sports Broadcasting Hall of Famers Lesley Visser and James Brown. In 1990, he would be the last analyst to grace the CBS airwaves during the broadcaster’s last NBA Finals. His career would take him to TNT Sports as lead NBA analyst, where he crossed paths with Sports Broadcasting Hall of Famers Charles Barkley and Ernie Johnson Jr. of Inside the NBA.
Although his move to TNT Sports was fruitful, Brown’s love for coaching never died, and, in 2002, he accepted the head-coaching job at the Memphis Grizzlies.
“Hubie is the smartest basketball mind of this, and any, generation,” says NBA on ESPN Director Ken Dennis. “That knowledge has always been apparent in his coaching and broadcasting the sport he loves.”
After leaving the Grizzlies in 2004, Brown joined his current network, ESPN, during a new golden age of the NBA. Second-year player LeBron James was just getting started, the San Antonio Spurs had won their first of three titles in five years the season prior, and beautiful partnerships with Sports Broadcasting Hall of Famer Al Michaels and industry stalwarts Mike Tirico and Mike Breen were about to begin.
With both game and league growing, international fans tuned into the NBA Finals, one of the most highly pressured environments that Brown has ever worked in. “Any NBA Finals game brings in a lot of fans,” he notes, “but, when our broadcast was open to countries that were watching during the early hours of the morning, that’s a lot of pressure. When crowning a champion is at stake, you never want to give your second-best game, which is easier said than done.”
As the league became a global commodity, the way the game is played changed as well. Three-point shooting became more important to the offense, advanced statistics affected coaching styles, and more athletic players skyrocketed the entertainment value of both regular-season and playoff games. Adapting has been an essential ingredient to Brown’s success, prompting the broadcast veteran to hit the books once again to integrate the nuances into his lexicon.
“Rules change,” he adds. “Because of that, the tempo is never the same from game to game. You also need to present the game differently as an analyst compared with a coach. You’re speaking to 12 players when you coach, but, when you’re on a broadcast, you’re speaking to millions of people around the world.”
From a production perspective, the NBA’s shift toward analytics and a different style of play prompted deployment of new on-air elements. ESPN has become a network that’s bullish on augmented-reality graphics, real-time shot trackers, and more, but Brown’s traditional analysis roots each broadcast in providing the fan the best product possible.
“His wisdom, guidance, and credibility improve every production that he touches,” says Tim Corrigan, VP, production, ESPN. “His preparation to this day speaks to why he was so successful in coaching for decades.”
This constant work on his craft has earned Brown the esteem of former and current stars around the league. “Whether it’s interactions with Kobe Bryant, LeBron James, or Gregg Popovich,” says Ruocco, “the obvious respect Hubie garners from the luminaries of the NBA is striking. We will all feel the impact of Hubie Brown’s teaching forever.”
Players come and go, technologies are swapped in and out, and different organizations lift the Larry O’Brien Trophy year after year, but Brown has been a constant in a sport that is always evolving — even after he calls his final game.
“I have deep admiration and love in my heart for Hubie because, when you work with him, you become part of his family,” says NBA on ESPN play-by-play announcer Dave Pasch. “I enjoyed every game I worked with him. He loved to teach basketball and is phenomenal at teaching the audience. I always learned from him on the air, but he also had many choice words of wisdom about life that I treasure.”
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