Former NBA coach and longtime broadcaster Hubie Brown is in his final season calling NBA games, ESPN President of Content Burke Magnus announced.
“We’re going to give Hubie one last shot at the game,” Magnus said of the 91-year-old Brown on the “SI Media with Jimmy Traina” podcast.
“He deserves it. We think the world of him. I think it’s amazing how well he’s still calling games at 90-plus years old.”
Magnus added that ESPN intends to honor Brown at some point during the regular season to “send him off in style.”
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ESPN’s Hubie Brown (left) and Ryan Ruocco during the NBA game between the San Antonio Spurs and the Los Angeles Lakers at Staples Center. (Kirby Lee/USA Today Sports)
While Brown played in the league for a while, he entered high school basketball coaching in 1955, where he would spend a decade before eventually taking assistant jobs at William & Mary and Duke.
Brown returned to the NBA in 1972, joining the staff of the Milwaukee Bucks to help train a team that included Oscar Robertson, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and others.
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Brown spent two years with Milwaukee before moving to the ABA in 1974 to manage the Kentucky Colonels. He spent two more years there before the ABA merged with the NBA before the 1976-77 campaign.
Back in the league, Brown spent five years coaching the Atlanta Hawks, five seasons with the New York Knicks and finished his coaching career with the Memphis Grizzlies for three seasons.
ESPN’s Hubie Brown during the NBA game between the Indiana Pacers and the Phoenix Suns at the US Airways Center. (Mark J. Rebilas/USA Today Sports)
While Brown bounced from coaching gig to coaching gig, he took on broadcasting jobs during his time. After being fired by the Knicks, for example, he was a regular television host.
Brown was part of the NBA on CBS before Turner Sports bought the league’s media rights in the early 1990s. He joined the Grizzlies in 2002, 16 years after his previous coaching job with the Knicks, although he sat out 12 games into the 2004-05 season for medical reasons.
From there, Brown returned to broadcasting again, joining ABC to cover the league, including calling the 2005 and 2006 NBA Finals. He hasn’t left ABC/ESPN since.
Basketball has been a true passion for Brown, who continues to provide expert analysis during broadcasts. However, his personal life has been in turmoil lately. His wife, Claire, died aged 87 in June. Heart problems also claimed his son, Brendan, earlier this month at the age of 54.
ESPN broadcaster Hubie Brown during the NBA game between the Los Angeles Lakers and the Los Angeles Clippers at the Staples Center. (Kirby Lee/USA Today Sports)
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Brown is a member of the National Sports Media Association Hall of Fame and the College Basketball Hall of Fame for his contributions to the game. He was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2005.
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