Kenny Albert was in his mid-20s and, without his knowledge, Fox Sports executives were listening to tapes of him making calls to college lacrosse teams.
Albert, now 56, joined Fox Sports in its first year covering the NFL in 1994 and will be called up for the network’s 500th game on Sunday at 1 p.m. ET when the Eagles host the Browns. It is scheduled to be done.
Fox believes Albert is the first person to be in the booth for 500 NFL games on a single network.
Before Fox entered the NFL, Albert primarily called Washington Capitals games, and in a recent interview he told the Post that being a pro football broadcaster was far from his mind. He said it was “the farthest thing I’ve ever done.”
A few years after being hired, Albert said one of the factors was that George Krieger, a former Fox Sports executive who had worked with the likes of David Hill, Ed Goren and Larry Jones, asked him about his son, who was a high school lacrosse player. I learned that there was someone there.
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“George happened to ask my friend Jodi Shapiro, who ran Home Team Sports, where I worked in Washington, D.C., to send me a VHS tape of a college lacrosse game,” Albert said. said, emphasizing that this kind of content has been widely available for many years. online.
“Apparently, that’s what he heard me do, thanks to the lacrosse tape.”
This led to Albert’s NFL audition at Fox.
Fox’s stable of play-by-play announcers has taken an attractive turn as the network hired veteran Pat Summerall after successfully plucking the NFC package from CBS. Pat Summerall by this time had already forged a legendary partnership with John Madden from his time at CBS with Top Team and Dick Stockton.
Fox then fielded four broadcasters in their 20s: Albert, Joe Buck, Tom Brennaman, and Kevin Harlan.
The young crew members all had important pedigrees. Albert, Buck, and Brennaman were the sons of famous sports broadcasters Marv, Jack, and Marty, respectively, and Harlan’s father, Bob, was president of the Packers at the time.
Albert took the job at age 26 with no NFL experience and never had much involvement in football. He worked several high school and Division III college games for Cox Cable on Long Island, as well as competing at Wagner College. 1980s.
At Fox, Albert first worked with former NFL defensive back Ron Pitts for one season and then with Hall of Fame offensive tackle Anthony Munoz for one season. He was followed by former Falcons linebacker and defensive end Tim Green for seven years.
Greene, who has become a prolific author with children’s books on the New York Times bestseller list, is currently battling ALS, and last week Albert attended an event in Atlanta to benefit Greene’s Tackle ALS Foundation. Participated in
After Green, Albert worked with Brian Baldinger for four years.
He then spent 10 years with Darryl “Moose” Johnston, and for much of that time Tony “Goose” Siragusa was in the field as a hybrid analyst and sideline reporter.
Albert echoed the sentiments expressed by many announcers in the past. They felt a sense of kinship with the broadcast partners and production staff because of the time they spent traveling together.
“It really becomes like a family. In 31 years, I’ve never spent a weekend at home unless there was a local game,” Albert said.
“At one point I realized that for the eight years that Moose and Goose and I worked together, we were literally together 60 days a year. With Goose, who we tragically lost two years ago, , he always wanted to live life to the fullest. He never wanted to sit still. More than many games we called together, I remember him. Some, when we had downtime on Saturdays, Goose was like a camp counselor. He always wanted to do something in the city we were in.”
Tours include a jet boat tour of Niagara Falls to see a Bills game, a race car ride at 150 mph on a NASCAR track in Charlotte, and a swamp boat tour of New Orleans where you can pet baby alligators. I did.
Albert then spent three years with Rondo Barber, and his partner for the past five seasons has been Jonathan Vilma.
Along the way, he also worked on the game with the likes of Troy Aikman, John Lynch, Charles Davis, Bill Mars, Tiki Barber, Sean Jones, and Greg Olsen.
Memorable moments when Albert made the call included Terrell Owens stomping on the Cowboys’ star, a game called by George Teague, and Bill Cowher at halftime after a misjudged 12 people on the field. included a Polaroid photo tucked into the referee’s shirt, and Michael. Vick, whose career with the Falcons was beginning to blossom, stormed to a 46-yard touchdown in overtime to defeat the Vikings.
Albert also talked about the Eagles’ infamous tie with the Bengals, a game in which Donovan McNabb admitted he didn’t even know there was a tie, and Eli Manning and Drew Brees teaming up for an NFL-record 13 touches. He also mentioned a game in which he made a down pass.
In addition to the NFL, Albert is currently calling several MLB games for Fox.
He calls NHL games on the TNT package and has been the broadcaster for the past nine Olympics on NBC.
Albert is also the voice of Rangers radio on ESPN New York, and fills in for the Knicks’ Mike Breen at MSG for about 15 games a year.
All these years later, he said he still has a “vivid” memory of the first NFL game he called for Fox. The game featured head coaches Buddy Ryan and Chuck Knox, and pitted the Rams against the Cardinals.
“It’s really crazy that it’s been 31 years. I don’t know where the time has gone. It’s almost surreal,” Albert said.
