Dick Enberg
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Dick Enberg (born January 9, 1935) is a sportcaster for CBS. Enberg's career spans 40 years, most of which spent with NBC. He moved to CBS in January 2000.
A native of suburban Detroit, Michigan, Dick Enberg, who is famed for his catch-phrase "Oh, my!", grew up near Pontiac, one of Detroit's suburbs. Upon graduating from high school, Enberg went to college first at Central Michigan University (where he was the 1957 student body president) and then at Indiana University (where he earned a doctorate). After graduating from college, Dick moved to Los Angeles to become an assistant baseball coach at Northridge State University (Cal State-Northridge).
Shortly thereafter, Dick became a sportscaster. At first Enberg called local minor league sports, but then became the play-by-play man for the (then) Los Angeles Rams, the (then) California Angels, and the UCLA Bruins. After every California Angels victory, Enberg would say "And the halo shines tonight."
He first earned national fame on the cartoon "Where's Huddles" (1970), then earned a breakthrough role as the host of "Sports Challenge" (1971).
His NBC connection began with "Baffle" (1973), and, upon the cancellation of "Three for the Money" (1975) became a full-time sportscaster for NBC, calling NFL games that year. Eventually he rose to become NBC's top play-by-play announcer.
Known as one of the most versatile play-by-play announcers in sports broadcasting, he has taken on assignments including NFL football (37 seasons), the Super Bowl (nine times), the Rose Bowl (nine times), the Orange Bowl (six times), the Olympic Games (1972, 1988, 1992, 1996), the French Open (18 times), Wimbledon (21 times), the U.S. Open Tennis Championships (five times), the Masters (five times), the PGA Championship (twice), the U.S. Open Golf Championship (five times), the Ryder Cup (three times), the American and National League Playoffs (three times), the World Series, heavyweight boxing championships (three times), the NCAA Men's Basketball Championship (nine times), the NBA Playoffs and the NBA All-Star Game. Along with football, baseball, tennis, golf, basketball and boxing, he has called gymnastics, figure skating, Breeders' Cup horse racing and track and field.
The last of Dick Enberg's Super Bowl broadcasts (which also was NBC's final NFL game) was held in San Diego, California, where he currently resides. After NBC lost NFL rights to CBS after Super Bowl XXXII, Enberg was seen rarely on the NBC, calling only a few sports events, including college basketball and tennis.
In 1999 he was replaced on NBC's golf coverage by Dan Hicks, and at year's end left NBC and joined CBS, not only to resume NFL football, but also to to call college basketball. In addition to the NFL & college basketball, he has called the U.S. Open tennis tournament for CBS.
Throughout his career, he has earned a series of national honors, including 13 Emmy Awards, nine Sportscaster of the Year Awards, the Ronald Reagan Media Award and the Victor Award as the top sportscaster of the past 25 years. Dick Enberg also became the only person to win national Emmy Awards as a sportscaster (1981, 1983, 1990, 1993), writer (1988, 1994, 1997, 1998, 1999 [2]) and producer (1978). Along with his 15 National Sportscaster Awards, Enberg also has been named the 1989 Tennis Play-by-Play Man of the Year (Tennis Magazine) and the 1989 NFL Press Box Award winner as football's top play-by-play announcer. Enberg was awarded the 1984 Eclipse Award (thoroughbred racing), the 1995 National Basketball Hall of Fame's Curt Gowdy Award, the 1999 Pro Football Hall of Fame's Pete Rozelle Award and a 1974 local Emmy Award for coverage of the Rose Bowl Parade. In 1973, he became the first American sportscaster to visit the People's Republic of China (USA vs. China basketball, Beijing).
Ultimately, Dick Enberg's steady and ubiquitous presense in American sports coverage earned him a spot on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1998. He also received the 2000 Lifetime Achievement Emmy Award.
