Al Michaels

Al Michaels

Alan Richard Michaels is an American television sportscaster. Michaels is known for his many years calling play-by-play of National Football League games. He is also known for famous calls in other sports, including the Miracle on Ice at the 1980 Winter Olympics and the earthquake-interrupted Game 3 of the 1989 World Series. Michaels was born to a Jewish family in Brooklyn, New York.

About Al Michaels in brief

Summary Al MichaelsAlan Richard Michaels is an American television sportscaster. Michaels is known for his many years calling play-by-play of National Football League games, including ABC Monday Night Football from 1986 to 2006 and NBC Sunday Night Football since 2006. He is also known for famous calls in other sports, including the Miracle on Ice at the 1980 Winter Olympics and the earthquake-interrupted Game 3 of the 1989 World Series. Michaels’ move from ABC to NBC in 2006 was notable as it was part of an agreement between the two networks’ parent companies, The Walt Disney Company and NBCUniversal, respectively, that allowed Disney to take ownership of the intellectual property of Oswald the Lucky Rabbit from NBCUniversal. Michaels was born to a Jewish family in Brooklyn, New York, to Jay Leonard Michaels and Lila RoginskyRoss. He grew up as a Brooklyn Dodgers fan. In 1958, Michaels’ family moved to Los Angeles, the same year the Dodgers left Brooklyn. Michaels attended Arizona State University, where he majored in radio and television and minored in journalism. He worked as a sports writer for ASU’s independent student newspaper, The State Press, and called Sun Devils football, basketball, and baseball games for the campus radio station. Michaels’s first job in television was with Chuck Barris Productions, choosing women to appear on The Dating Game. In 1970, Michaels appeared as attorney Dave Bronstein in an episode of Hawaii Five-O called ‘Run, Johnny, Run’ ; the episode also featured a young Christopher Walken.

He was named Hawaii’s ‘Sportscaster of the Year’ in 1969. Michaels covered a wide variety of sports for ABC, including Major League Baseball, college football, college basketball, ice hockey, track and field events, horse racing, golf, boxing, figure skating, road cycling, and many events of the Olympic Games as well as the Olympic trials. While at ABC, he aired prominent occasions on the ESPN Classic comedy series Cheap Seats. He served as the studio host for the Stanley Cup Finals from 2000–2002. He called the no-hitter by John Candelaria on August 9, 1976. He signed with ABC Sports in January 1977. Michaels initially joined ABC as the back-up announcer on Monday Night Baseball in 1976. The following year, he was promoted to the network on a full-time basis. In 1972, after the Reds won the National League Championship Series and advanced to the World Series, Michaels helped to cover the Fall Classic for NBC Sports. In 1973, after NBC announcer Bill Enis died from a heart attack at the age of 39 two days before he was to call the regular-season NFL finale between the Houston Oilers and Cincinnati Bengals, Michaels was brought in to replace Enis in the booth with Dave Kocourek. In 1974, Michaels left the Reds for a similar position with the San Francisco Giants and also covered basketball for UCLA, replacing Dick Enberg on the Bruins’ tape-delayed telecasts of their home games, during a period when UCLA was in the midst of an 88-game winning streak.