Much was made this weekend of Vin Scully's retirement after 67 years as the broadcast voice of the Dodgers. He was certainly the best to ever do that job and deserves every accolade written and spoken about him. Unfortunately, not enough attention was given to the retirement of another veteran sports broadcaster -- Dick Enberg.
He's been the voice of the San Diego Padres for seven years, but before that, he spent six decades behind the microphone and in front of the camera, doing play-by-play for baseball, football, basketball, tennis, and golf (he hosted three game shows, too), winning 13 Emmys and a slew of other awards along the way. In fact, Enberg and Curt Gowdy are the only two announcers to receive broadcasting awards from each of the Halls of Fame in professional baseball, basketball, and football.
I had the honor of talking with Enberg several times, and he was as good a guest as he was a host. Here's the audio of one of those conversations, along with what I wrote after watching him call a great match at the US Open.
Before he broadcast his final Padres game Sunday afternoon, the team honored the 81-year-old Enberg in a pregame ceremony, complete with his trademark phrase, "Oh, My!" carved into the outfield grass...