Former NBA coach and longtime broadcaster Hobey Brown is calling NBA games in his final season, ESPN president of content Burke Magnus announced.
“We’re going to give Hobie one last shot at a game,” Magnus said of the 91-year-old Brown. “SI Media with Jimmy Traina” The podcast
“He deserves it. We think the world of him. I think it’s absolutely remarkable that he still calls games at over 90 years old.”
Magnus added that ESPN plans to honor Brown at some point during the regular season to “send him off in style.”
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ESPN broadcasters Hubie Brown (left) and Ryan Ruocco during the NBA game between the San Antonio Spurs and the Los Angeles Lakers at Staples Center. (Kirby Lee/USA TODAY Sports)
While Brown played little league, he went into high school basketball coaching in 1955, where he was an assistant at William & Mary and Duke. Will spend a decade before taking jobs.
Brown returned to the NBA in 1972, joining the Milwaukee Bucks staff to help coach a team that included Oscar Robertson, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and others.
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Brown spent two years with Milwaukee before moving to the ABA in 1974 to lead the Kentucky Colonels. He spent two more years there before the ABA merged with the NBA before the 1976-77 campaign.
Back in the league, Brown spent five years coaching the Atlanta Hawks, ending his coaching career with five seasons with the New York Knicks and three seasons with the Memphis Grizzlies.
ESPN broadcaster Hobey Brown during the NBA game between the Indiana Pacers and the Phoenix Suns at the US Airways Center. (Mark J. Rebilas/USA Today Sports)
As Brown bounced from coaching gig to coaching gig, he would take broadcasting jobs in between. For example, after being fired by the Knicks, he was a regular television broadcaster.
Brown was part of the NBA on CBS before Turner Sports bought the league’s media rights in the early 1990s. He joined the Grizzlies in 2002, 16 years after his previous coaching job with the Knicks, although he left the job 12 games into the 2004–05 season for medical reasons.
From there, Brown returned to broadcasting, joining ABC for coverage of the league, including calling the 2005 and 2006 NBA Finals. He hasn’t left ABC/ESPN since.
Basketball has been a true passion for Brown, who continues to provide expert analysis during broadcasts. However, his personal life has been in turmoil of late. His wife Claire died in June aged 87. Heart complications also took his son Brendan earlier this month at age 54.
ESPN broadcaster Hobey Brown during the NBA game between the Los Angeles Lakers and the Los Angeles Clippers at Staples Center. (Kirby Lee/USA TODAY Sports)
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Brown is a member of the National Sports Media Association Hall of Fame and the College Basketball Hall of Fame for his contributions to the sport. He was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2005.
