Biography of Dick Enberg

After twenty-five years with NBC TV Sports, where he began in 1975 as the play-by-play man on college basketball, Dick Enberg joined CBS Sports in January 2000 where he serves as play-by-play announcer for The NFL on CBS, as well as college basketball and the U.S. Open Tennis Championships. He also contributes to The Masters and the PGA Championship.
Over the span of his long career, he garnered a series of national honors and awards, including 9 Emmy Awards; 9 Sportscaster of the Year Awards; Ronald Reagan Media Award; and Victor Award (top Sportscaster for past 25 years). His versatility is reflected in the fact that he is the only person to win a National Emmy as a sportscaster, writer, and producer.

In February of 1998, he became only the fourth sportscaster to be honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. In May of 1997, he was honored as the first recipient of the Enberg Award by the GTE Academic All-America Hall of Fame. The award represents lifetime achievement in education and athletics, and will be presented by the Hall of Fame on an annual basis.

In April of 1996, Enberg was inducted into the National Sportscasters and Sportswriters Hall of Fame. He was inducted into the Michigan Sports Hall of Fame in 1995, and also received the Curt Gowdy Media Award from the National Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield, Massachusetts.

He has been described as NBC's decathlete" for the wide range of events he has reported. His play-by-play assignments have included: Super Bowl (8 times); Rose Bowl (9 times); Orange Bowl (6 times); World Series (1 time); American and National League Playoffs (3 times); French Open (16 times); Wimbledon (19 times); NCAA Basketball Finals (5 times); Heavyweight Boxing Championships (3 times); U.S. Open Golf Championship (4 times); Ryder Cup (2 times); NBA Playoffs and NBA All-Star Games. Along with football, baseball, tennis, golf, basketball, and boxing, his assignments also included gymnastics, figure skating, Breeder's Cup horse racing, track and field, golf, and Olympic Games.

He began his full-time sportscasting career in 1965 in Los Angeles, becoming the radio TV voice of the California Angels, UCLA basketball, and the Los Angeles Rams. Before joining NBC in 1975 he was named four times as California Sportscaster of the Year. He hosted the long-running national series, Sports Challenge, and co-­produced the Emmy-award winning PBS series, The Way It Was.

Along with his 15 National Sportscaster Awards, he has also been awarded 1989 Tennis Play-by-Play Man of Year (Tennis Magazine);1989 NFL Press Box Award winner as football's top play-by-play announcer; 1984 Eclipse Award (thoroughbred racing); and a 1974 local Emmy for coverage of the Rose Bowl Parade. In 1973, Enberg became the first American sportscaster to visit the People's Republic of China (USA vs. China basketball, Peking).

The Armada, Michigan, native began broadcasting while he was a student at Central Michigan University. He earned his master’s and Ph.D. degrees at Indiana University. Prior to his sportscasting career, he was an assistant professor and assistant baseball coach at California State University Northridge (1961-65). He is currently actively involved in fund-raising for education and is on the Board of Trustees of Suomi College and the State of California Community Colleges. Enberg has been named as a distinguished alumnus by both Central Michigan and Indiana University, and in 1993 was inducted into the Central Michigan University Athletic Hall of Fame. Since 1985, he has served as the spokesperson for the Academic All-America program.