The Cal 100 -- No. 98 Roxy Bernstein
We count down the top 100 individuals associated with Cal athletics, based on their impact in sports or in the world at large – a wide-open category. See if you agree.
No. 98: Roxy Bernstein
Cal Sports Connection: Sports director of the student radio station while attending Cal
Claim to Fame: TV and radio sportscaster of countless national and West Coast professional and college sports events
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He signs his name Allen Bernstein, although everyone knows him as Roxy, a nickname bestowed upon him before he was born.
When his mother was pregnant with a boy who would officially carry the name of Allen Samuel Bernstein in honor of his great grandfather, Roxy’s father, an avid golfer who had a caddy named Roxy, awoke one night when Roxy’s mother got up. In his sleep-addled state his father said, “Where you going, Roxy?” Thus, as soon as he was born he became known as Roxy, the name that everyone knows, including Bill Walton.
Long before Bernstein and Walton became entertaining Pac-12 basketball sidekicks, Bernstein learned his trade as a student at Cal, where he was sports director of the student radio station and covered baseball, basketball and football.
A year after graduating from Cal in 1996 with a degree in American Studies, Bernstein became the voice of Cal basketball at the age of 23. In his first broadcast of a Golden Bears game on Feb. 22, 1997, Ed Gray broke the Cal single-game scoring record with a 48-performance at Washington State, doing so in just 25 minutes of playing time.
Bernstein went on to a host of assignments from there, broadcasting college and professional sports. He was the voice of the Miami Marlins in 2005, 2006 and 2007 while still handling Cal basketball in the winter from 1997 to 2014.
He has done play-by-play work in college basketball, football, baseball and the NHL for ESPN and the Pac-12 Network. He has also broadcast Oakland A’s games and hosted a radio sports talk show as well as stints broadcasting San Francisco Giants games.
But lately the 50-year-old Bernstein is best known for his college basketball TV broadcasts while partnered with Bill Walton, the king of the non sequitur. Here’s how Bernstein describes what it’s like to work with Walton: “Strap on your seatbelt and get ready for a bucking bronco ride, because you never know what’s coming next. . . . It’s fun.”
See how Roxy tries to keep Walton from going off the rails:
But sometimes Roxy joins the former basketball great off the rails:
---No. 99: Softball star and judge Veronica Nelson
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Cover photo of Bill Walton and Roxy Bernstein by Kirby Lee, USA TODAY Sports
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