Kenny Albert

Kenny Albert

Albert in 2015
Born Kenneth Albert
(1968-02-02) February 2, 1968
New York City, U.S.
Years active 1990–present
Spouse(s) Barbara Wolf (1996–present)
Children 2 children
Parent(s) Marv Albert
Benita Oberlander
Relatives Al Albert (uncle)
Steve Albert (uncle)

Sports commentary career

Genre(s) Play-by-play
Sports NFL, NBA, MLB, NHL

Kenneth "Kenny" Albert (born February 2, 1968) is an American sportscaster, the son of sportscaster Marv Albert and the nephew of sportscasters Al Albert and Steve Albert. He is the only sportscaster who currently does play-by-play for all four major professional sports leagues in the United States and Canada (NFL, NBA, MLB, NHL).

Biography

Early life

Albert's parents gave him a tape recorder for his fifth birthday to practice his broadcasting.[1]

On his sixth birthday in 1974 his father took him along to a New York Rangers game. One of the statisticians had to leave in the middle of the game so he got to do the stats for the rest of the game. At 14, he became the official statistician for the New York Rangers on the radio. At 16, he wrote content for the New York Rangers program. Aside from his father, his idol was Vancouver Canucks play-by-play broadcaster Jim Robson.

From 1981 to 1986, Kenny, growing up in Sands Point, covered high school sports for the Port Washington News, an Anton Community Newspapers publication.[2]

He graduated from New York University[3] in 1990[4] with a degree in broadcasting and journalism. Albert worked in the sports department at WNYU Radio. He is a frequent guest on WNYU's sports talk program, The Cheap Seats.

He has also made many appearances on the popular New York sports internet radio show Sports Heaven with Mark and Evan.[5]

Broadcasting career

Albert is the radio voice of the New York Rangers, as well as a play-by-play announcer and field-level reporter for Fox's coverage of Major League Baseball,[3] the NFL,[3] and the Sugar Bowl. When Fox had the network contract for the National Hockey League in the 1990s, Albert also worked on Fox NHL Saturday telecasts. Albert also worked play-by-play for the NHL on NBC and formerly with Versus.

He has done work for NBC's Olympics coverage, as a play-by-play announcer for men's and women's ice hockey at the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, Italy, the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, and the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi. Previously, he handled TV play-by-play for the Washington Capitals and Washington Bullets (now the Washington Wizards), and was a part-time announcer on Washington Nationals telecasts in 2005. Additionally, he does TV play-by-play for Washington Redskins preseason games with Joe Theismann.[6]

Albert called the international broadcast of Super Bowl XLVI with Theismann.

Kenny Albert has also done college basketball for ESPN Plus, and is a substitute play-by-play announcer for televised New York Knicks games on MSG Network.[4]

For the 2011 playoffs, Albert broadcast for two playoff teams in the same market, doing the play-by-play for the New York Rangers on WEPN 1050 ESPN radio and filling on MSG Network doing play-by-play for the New York Knicks.[7]

Albert called Game 1 of the 2014 Stanley Cup Finals for NBC, filling in for Doc Emrick, who was dealing with a death in the family.[8]

Kenny Albert is known to some Chicago sports fans as "The Kiss of Death" to their teams.[9] Many games involving the Bears and Blackhawks with Albert announcing have ended in losses for both teams. Major games include Game 7 of the 2014 Western Conference Final between the Blackhawks and Kings and many Chicago Bears' games with Albert announcing since 2004.

He was the lead play-by-play announcer for the 2015 American League Division Series between the Texas Rangers and the Toronto Blue Jays. In the top of 7th inning of Game 5, he helped explain the rule regarding the errant throw by Toronto Blue Jays catcher, Russell Martin, which resulted in Texas scoring the go-ahead run. In the bottom of the inning, he called Jose Bautista's go-ahead home run in the bottom of the 7th inning of Game 5.[10]

In 2016, Albert was nominated for the Sports Emmy Award for Outstanding Sports Personality, Play-by-Play in a list that included fellow NFL on Fox announcer Kevin Burkhardt, fellow NHL announcer and eventual winner Mike Emrick, and even his own father.[11]

Four sports in four days

On October 25, 2009, Albert called the play-by-play of the Minnesota Vikings – Pittsburgh Steelers NFL game for Fox and then hosted the New York Yankees' locker room celebration after clinching the American League Championship Series that night. The following night he broadcast a Rangers game on radio and on October 28, he called the play-by-play of the New York Knicks season opener on MSG.[12]

Personal life

Kenny Albert currently resides in New Jersey with his wife for 20 years, Barbara, and their 2 daughters, Amanda & Sydney. Albert was introduced to his wife by close friend and Baltimore sports reporter, Jerry Coleman.[13]

Career timeline

Broadcasting partners

References

  1. ↑ http://www.mediabistro.com/fishbowlny/like-father-like-son-kenny-albert-talks-about-growing-up-with-legendary-dad_b56137
  2. ↑ The Voice of a Generation: Rangers’ Kenny Albert. Antonnews.com (2010-11-12). Retrieved on 2011-01-08.
  3. 1 2 3 http://www.nytimes.com/1996/08/11/style/kenny-albert-barbara-r-wolf.html
  4. 1 2 3 4 http://preview.msg.com/television/kenny-albert.html
  5. ↑ http://www.longislandexchange.com/press/2009/01/20/kenny-albert-joins-sports-heaven/
  6. ↑ 2011 Washington Redskins season#Game summaries
  7. ↑ http://blog.timesunion.com/sportsmedia/monroe-king-added-to-knicks-playoff-studio-team/6596/
  8. ↑ https://twitter.com/NBCSportsPR/status/473322719812288512
  9. ↑ http://firejerryangelo.org/2015/12/06/fuck-robbie-gould-and-kenny-albert-with-a-rusty-fence-post-49ers-26-bears-20/
  10. ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-UdsVO7HaJg
  11. ↑ http://www.prnewschannel.com/2016/04/04/nbc-sports-group-garners-28-sports-emmy-award-nominations/
  12. ↑ Kenny Albert wins travel trophy. Newsday.com (2009-11-01). Retrieved on 2011-01-08.
  13. ↑ http://www.foxsports.com/presspass/bios/on-air/kenny-albert
  14. ↑ MSG.com – Kenny Albert
Preceded by
Mike Emrick		 Stanley Cup Finals American network television play-by-play announcer
2014 (with Mike Emrick; Albert called Game 1) 		Succeeded by
Mike Emrick
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