The Post’s Steve Serby chatted with the legendary Brooklyn-born play-by-play man, who turned 70 Sunday.
Q: Top events you’ve covered in your legendary career?
A: What stands out to me is not the actual game itself, but the first time I saw the Dream Team (Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson, Larry Bird, Charles Barkley, Karl Malone) lined up and ready to go in the ’92 Olympics in Barcelona.
Willis (Reed) limping onto the court for Game 7 in ’70 and hitting the two shots. I knew he was going to play. I did an interview with him on the pregame show and was there when he took the shot to his thigh. He said he was going to play.
Q: What did you say on the air when you saw him hobble out?
A: “Here comes Willis!” The crowd went berserk. They were cheering the shots he hit in warmups.
Q: Was that a goosebump moment?
A: Oh yeah. That was one of the epic moments in NBA history.
Q: And then when Willis hit his two shots?
A: That’s the loudest I’ve ever heard the Garden.
Q: Other memories?
A: The Olympics in Seoul in ’88, Roy Jones getting robbed of a decision, one of many controversial firestorms there.
The Rangers winning the Stanley Cup in ’94, and just watching people around me who were in tears.
Jordan hitting six 3-point shots in the NBA Finals against Portland, and looking over to us (Magic Johnson and Mike Fratello) with an expression of, “I can’t believe I’m doing this!” Czar (Fratello) claims he was just looking at him.
Doing the Giants’ Super Bowl with Westwood One when Eli Manning scrambled and David Tyree (made) that catch . . . that was chilling also.
Q: Favorite radio call?
A: Eli Manning to Tyree. It was a difficult angle and I happened to have a good sight line. You could easily blow it on radio. Somehow, Tyree was able to hold the ball on top of his helmet . . . . You don’t believe what you’re seeing.
Q: Favorite television call?
A: It’s usually a game-winning shot where you make the call and get out and let the crowd do the rest: Robert Horry against Sacramento in the conference finals; the NBA Finals shot by (John) Paxson to beat Phoenix; Steve Kerr did the same for both Chicago and San Antonio in the NBA Finals.
Q: “Yesss, and it counts!” How did that develop?
A: A friend of mine would call games in the schoolyard, where we’d play 3-on-3. Sid Borgia was a very animated referee in the NBA; when a guy would go to the basket and get fouled, he would go, “Yes, and it counts!” He got a kick out of Borgia doing it. I can recall early in my career in a Knick playoff game, Dick Barnett hit a fallback baby jumpshot and I just said, “Yesss!” It seemed to just fit. I’d hear it thrown back at me from players and fans. It’s a feel as to when it comes up.
Q: “Kick save and a beauty!” How did that one begin?
A: It just happened to come out one night.
Q: Working with Bill Parcells at NBC?
A: We played initials with baseball and NBA players. He would research it, he’d try to come up with obscure names. He’d be very annoyed if I got it, and it would ruin his day. If I didn’t get it, I’d hear about it all season. He was great to be around. I loved his sense of humor.
Q: Fratello?
A: A walking punchline . . . one of my closest friends, and someone who should be back coaching in the NBA.
Q: Boomer Esiason?
A: I thoroughly enjoyed working with him at Westwood One — one of his 76 on-air jobs, which is a new record for a left-handed quarterback.
Q: Rex Ryan?
A: He’s such a colorful personality. He’s provided a huge lift for the (Jets) franchise and for the league.
Q: George Steinbrenner?
A: I had a good relationship with him. He was Mr. Backpage who certainly came through.
Q: Your TNT interview last year with President Obama?
A: He wanted to do it on the basketball court at the White House. He comes out and he yells, “Yes, and it counts!” He told me when he stays up late at night and reads, he’ll have the game on in the background. I said, “I’m basically your background noise,” and he said, “You might say that.” He had a really good sense of humor. It was like talking hoops with a knowledgeable fan.
Q: The ’69 Mets?
A: One of those magical teams that thrilled the city.
Q: You were standing at the side of the Mets dugout getting ready for the NBC postgame show when Mookie Wilson’s roller trickled through Bill Buckner’s legs in ’86.
A: Because of the angle of the dugout location, you couldn’t see it at first. You just saw a groundball toward Buckner at first. There was a delayed reaction because they couldn’t believe it, and they went crazy. I interviewed Ray Knight after the game. Ray was shaking with excitement, and I remember I was holding him up as I was doing the interview on the field. I thought he was going to collapse.
Q: Donnie Walsh and the Knicks parting ways?
A: I thought it was ridiculous. I don’t know all the behind-the-scenes specifics, but I would have wanted to keep Donnie there two, three more years. He was on the right track. I really do feel he felt they gave up way too much for Carmelo Anthony. I think it became a matter of there’s a new Garden, we want to raise ticket prices. . . . It was a marketing decision more than it was a personnel decision, although Carmelo is a big-time scorer. Donnie is one of the most respected guys in the business . . . it’s a shame.
Q: An Isiah Thomas return?
A: How could that possibly happen with the resume you’re looking at?
Q: How would you describe the Isiah years with the Knicks?
A: Not a pretty picture.
Q: When Phil Jackson played on the ’69-70 Knicks, did you think he would one day be a coach?
A: I don’t think anyone thought that, even though he was close with Red Holzman. I always would kid him and say, “I can see you as the television and movie critic for the Village Voice,” and he would laugh.
Q: Do you think he’ll coach again?
A: He insists that he will not return, although friends of his feel that he will tire of Montana.
Q: Could you see him coaching the Knicks one day?
A: He loves New York, and it would be full circle for him. However, they would have to be in immediate position to be a championship contender, and there are certainly no guarantees there.
Q: LeBron James?
A: Potentially one of the greatest of all time. I don’t agree with what Scottie Pippen said that he passed Jordan. I can’t see how you can say that at this point in his career. Jordan won six championships!
Q: Memories from your days as visiting ballboy before you were Knicks ballboy?
A: Being in the locker room when Red Auerbach would talk to and inspire his Celtics. And I’ll never forget how Wilt Chamberlain would arrange this with me before the game — he would ask me to go out and get him four hot dogs for halftime. I’d get them late in the second quarter at the concession stand. I’d give them to Wilt and he would just engulf them.
Q: Mustard and sauerkraut?
A: I don’t think they had sauerkraut at the Garden then. He did ask for mustard. . . . He was very pleased when the hot dogs arrived.
Q: Knicks ballboy was a fun job?
A: We’d have mops and take care of certain wet spots on the floor. We used to really take our time just to get a little more TV exposure that way.
Q: Ebbets Field?
A: I worked there as an office boy the year before they (the Brooklyn Dodgers) left. It was a summer job where I was in the ticket office for the most part. They were playing 9, 10 games in Jersey City in Roosevelt Stadium on the way to their departure. Sparing no expense (chuckles), they would send me on the Hudson Tubes (PATH) with thousands of dollars worth of tickets for that night’s game from the Dodger offices on Montague Street to the box office at Roosevelt Stadium. . . . The kick for me was I got to go back home to Brooklyn on the Dodger team bus because they had their cars parked at Ebbets Field. I’d end up sitting sometimes next to Jackie Robinson. That was quite a thrill. It gave me a lot of insight being around the players. You’re talking about Campy (Roy Campanella), (Duke) Snider, Robinson, (Pee Wee) Reese and (Gil) Hodges . . . that’s some group.
Q: What was it like sitting next to Jackie Robinson?
A: He was usually very quiet. I got to know him better early in my broadcasting career when I hosted the Met and Yankee pre- and postgame shows on WHN radio. He would be a frequent guest.
Q: Did he remember you?
A: (Chuckles) I had to remind him. He told me he would do the show with me although he found me very annoying as a kid.
Q: You never met Vin Scully as a youngster?
A: One of the perks of my office-boy job would be receiving two free tickets in an overhanging booth to the right of where Scully was doing the game. I’d bring a huge tape recorder with me and I’d call the games on my fictitious radio station, WMPA (Marvin Philip Aufrichtig). I’d bring a friend with me — he’d be the color man. We were little kids! I got called in by (Dodgers owner) Walter O’Malley’s assistant; a lot of his fellow executives were sitting in the booth, and my slightly over-enthusiastic play-by-play was not appreciated (chuckles).
Q: When did WMPA begin?
A: When I was in the sixth grade or so. We had all kinds of programming going.
Q: Who else was working on WMPA?
A: Friends, and (younger brothers) Al and Steve.
Q: What was it like for you when the Dodgers left for Los Angeles?
A: I got a form letter from Walter O’Malley asking if I would like to move to L.A. with the team. I happened to be in the seventh grade at the time. Undoubtedly they sent the letter to everyone on the staff. I asked my parents if I could go. They said “No!” (chuckles).
Q: Was it a sad day when they left?
A: It was. I went to their last game, I remember that. It was not a good crowd.
Q: You were a kid panelist on Howard Cosell’s weekly ABC radio show “All League Clubhouse.” How did that happen?
A: I was doing an interview for my school newspaper — the Lincoln Log — with a Ranger player named Don (Bones) Raleigh, an excellent center, at practice. Cosell saw me and said, “Hey, kid — would you like to be on a radio show?” I said, “Sure.” He used to call home and talk to my mother to make sure I was on the subway and headed to the studio.
Q: Your father had a grocery store in Brighton Beach?
A: I sold used comic books in the front of the store. Not a profitable enterprise.
Q: Your baseball card collection?
A: It was extensive. I’d send postcards to players to get autographs. From what I remember, Stan Musial wrote a nice little note.
Q: Do you still have the baseball cards and autographs?
A: Unfortunately my mom tossed them on one of her many cleaning sprees.
Q: Roller hockey on Kensington Street in Manhattan Beach?
A: You’d be on a breakaway and a car would come around the corner. Not a good thing.
Q: The basketball courts where the likes of Connie Hawkins, Art Heyman and Alan Seiden played?
A: I was strictly a spectator watching. It would be 10-deep watching some of those games.
Q: How was your game?
A: I had a decent jumpshot — with major screens. My strong game was ping pong. Relentless . . . steady.
Q: Favorite athlete to cover?
A: It would have to be Michael Jordan, just for all the significant moments that he was part of that ended up part of my broadcasting career through the ’90s when I was at NBC. Michael also was really good with us before games. He was the best sound byte out there.
Q: One sporting event you’d like to see happen and work?
A: Pacquiao-Mayweather. The enormity of that would be off the charts.
Q: Football Giants games in New Haven from
1973-76 with Sam Huff
on radio?
A: I learned a lot from Sam. I’d been a spotter for Marty (Glickman), who was the longtime Giants announcer before me. Sam took it to another level with just going over formations and plays.
Q: Wellington Mara?
A: One of the nicest people I’ve ever known in sports. His son John, now the co-owner of the Giants, was a spotter for me, and did a sensational job. I’ve mentioned to him, “Any time you’re available, we might be able to find a spot for you.”
Q: O.J. Simpson?
A: O.J. would be on the field preparing for his sideline pregame report on NBC. Paul Maguire and I broadcast the games, and when we rehearsed the open, O.J. would have a headset on and be listening. Paul would make a couple of insightful points. O.J. would use those points in his pregame report, and Paul would go nuts.
Q: What would Maguire do to address the problem?
A: During rehearsal, Paul decided to counter with fictitious reports hoping O.J. would use the erroneous information, which did occur. And Paul would be on the floor.
Q: The Albert Achievement Awards?
A: It started on Channel 4, but what helped that were appearances on David Letterman. Sitting down with Dave was like having a shoot-the-breeze conversation with Al or Steve. You never knew what Dave would ask. I always enjoyed that.
Q: Your son Kenny?
A: I’m proud of all my (four) kids. When they were young, I would switch off taking them on trips. Kenny actually kept stats for me at the age of 6. He officially retired from his statistical duties in ’92 after the Barcelona Olympics. He carved out his own path working in Baltimore and Washington before coming to New York.
Q: You never pushed him?
A: No. I would never do that.
Q: What’s it like listening to him do games?
A: I get a kick out of it and I think he does a terrific job.
Q: Does he remind you of a young Marv Albert?
A: There are some similarities. And he actually had his own imaginary radio station — WKGA (Kenny Gary Albert). When (Knicks radio analyst) John Andariese would come over to the house, Kenny would ask John to come to his room, which was a sports museum, and suddenly Kenny would be interviewing John on his tape recorder for his fictitious radio station. John didn’t realize that he was on a pregame show that was going nowhere. In fact, John would be looking for a gift for the appearance.
Q: Your wife Heather?
A: She has changed my life in every way. And of most importance, she makes excellent tortellini soup.
Q: Marty Glickman?
A: When I was growing up, he was the play-by-play announcer in New York. I ended up working for him. He just guided me into my career. He was so giving of his time. Just a wonderful man. He was like a second father to me.
Q: Three dinner guests?
A: Obama, Clint Eastwood, Ted Turner.
Q: Favorite movie?
A: “Shawshank Redemption.”
Q: Favorite actor?
A: Daniel Day Lewis.
Q: Favorite actress?
A: Meryl Streep.
Q: Favorite entertainers?
A: James Blunt; Michael Buble; Sarah McLachlan; Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons.
Q: Favorite meal?
A: Ribeye steak at Prime 112 in South Beach.
Q: Favorite NYC restaurant?
A: Cipriani.
Q: The basketball Hall of Fame?
A: One of the great honors of my career.
Q: Is it hard to believe that today is your 70th birthday?
A: Oh it’s ridiculous. It’s really the 10th anniversary of my 60th. 70 is the new 69, you know that . . . I feel between 40 and 45.
Q: How would you sum up what it’s been like being you?
A: These were dreams that I had, and you just don’t think these things can happen. I’m finding that this is the best time of my life.