Legendary NBA Coach, Broadcast Icon Announces Retirement
The Washington Wizards and the rest of the NBA are preparing to say goodbye to a basketball icon.
On a recent episode of SI Media with Jimmy Traina, ESPN content president Burke Magnus revealed that former NBA coach and broadcaster Hubie Brown, 91, would call one last game before retiring.
“We are going to give Hubie one last shot on a game. He deserves that,” Magnus said h/t Awful Announcing. “We think the world of him. I think it’s absolutely remarkable the level he still calls games at age 90-plus… we’re going to honor Hubie this year during the regular season at some point to be determined and send him off in style. I don’t think there’s a single human being that’s ever had a longer association with professional basketball.”
Brown began his NBA coaching career in 1972 as an assistant coach with the Milwaukee Bucks, who were led by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. He then became the head coach for the ABA's Kentucky Colonels from 1974-76. When the leagues merged, he became the head coach of the Atlanta Hawks from 1976-81. A year later, he joined the New York Knicks from 1982-87. During that time he became a broadcaster and became successful at an entire new medium.
While he returned to coaching in 2002 with the Memphis Grizzlies for two seasons, he has continued to establish a legacy in broadcasting, and he'll complete that legacy with one final game later this year.