 |
Bob Rathbun | |
|---|---|
| Born | Robert Courtland Rathbun November 25, 1954 Wakefield, Rhode Island, U.S. |
| Occupation(s) | Television broadcaster, Atlanta Hawks |
Robert Courtland Rathbun (born November 25, 1954) is an American sportscaster, motivational speaker, and author. He has been the television play-by-play announcer for Atlanta Hawks and Atlanta Dream basketball games on Bally Sports South since 1996.
Rathbun is a 1976 graduate of Catawba College in Salisbury, North Carolina and began his career as a sports director for WSTP Radio in Salisbury, North Carolina, in 1973.
Rathbun served as the lead broadcaster for ESPN covering ArenaBowl '87, the inaugural championship game of the Arena Football League, alongside Lee Corso in 1987. He has also done broadcast work for both the Washington Bullets and Baltimore Orioles. His baseball experience includes play-by-play gigs with Tidewater Tides, and the Richmond Braves.
From 1992 to 1994, Rathbun worked as a radio broadcaster for the Detroit Tigers. Rathbun and Rick Rizzs replaced legendary Tigers' voice Ernie Harwell and his partner Paul Carey. Rathbun was very unpopular with Detroit fans.[ citation needed ] At the end of the 1994 season, Rizzs and Rathbun were fired.
Rathbun served as the play-by-play announcer on Atlanta Braves baseball games on Fox Sports Net (formerly SportsSouth) from 1997 to 2006.
He is currently the play-by-play announcer for the NBA's Atlanta Hawks, and the WNBA Atlanta Dream. He is currently partnered with Dominique Wilkins, a nine-time NBA All-Star and player for the Hawks. In addition, Rathbun also serves as the play-by-play announcer for Southeastern Conference football games on FSN South and Atlantic Coast Conference college basketball and football games for Raycom Sports.
Prior to the Hawks' December 5, 2022 game against the Oklahoma City Thunder, Rathbun had a medical emergency live on-air. Hawks' sideline reporter Lauren Jbara filled in for him in the game. Mike Morgan was hired to fill in for Rathbun for the next few Hawks games before he returned on December 19.
Rathbun was inducted in the Catawba College Sports Hall of Fame in 2006, and a recipient of the Distinguished Alumni Award in 1988.
After being named Virginia Sportscaster of the Year six separate times, he was awarded the same honor in Georgia in 1998. In 2008, he was named to the Virginia Sports Hall of Fame. [1]
Harry Christopher "Skip" Caray Jr. was an American sportscaster, best known for his long career as a radio and television play-by-play announcer for the Atlanta Braves of Major League Baseball. He was the son of baseball announcer Harry Caray, and the father of St. Louis Cardinals play-by-play announcer and former fellow Braves broadcaster Chip Caray; another son, Josh Caray, is the play-by-play announcer for the minor league Rocket City Trash Pandas.
William Earnest Harwell was an American sportscaster, known for his long career calling play-by-play of Major League Baseball games. For 55 seasons, 42 of them with the Detroit Tigers, Harwell called the action on radio and/or television. In January 2009, the American Sportscasters Association ranked Harwell 16th on its list of Top 50 Sportscasters of All Time.
Robert George Uecker is a retired American professional baseball catcher who is the primary broadcaster for the Milwaukee Brewers of Major League Baseball (MLB).
Lindsey Nelson was an American sportscaster best known for his long career calling play-by-play of college football and New York Mets baseball.
Charles Herbert Carneal was an American Major League Baseball sportscaster. From 1962 through 2006, he was a play-by-play voice of Minnesota Twins radio broadcasts, becoming the lead announcer in 1967 after Ray Scott left to work exclusively with CBS. Prior to 1962, he broadcast for the Baltimore Orioles, partnering with Ernie Harwell from 1957 to 1959 and with Bob Murphy in 1960–1961. His mellow baritone voice and laid-back demeanor were well loved by Twins fans and formed a well balanced team with the more excitable and emotional style of his longtime broadcast partner John Gordon. Carneal was for many years known as "The Voice of the Twins". Carneal's trademark greeting, "Hi everybody", was reminiscent of his down-home style.
Richard Alan Enberg was an American sportscaster. Over the course of an approximately 60-year career, he provided play-by-play of various sports for several radio and television networks, including NBC (1975–1999), CBS (2000–2014), and ESPN (2004–2011), as well as for individual teams, such as UCLA Bruins basketball, Los Angeles Rams football, and California Angels and San Diego Padres baseball.
Franchester Martin Brennaman is an American former sportscaster, best known for his long tenure as the play-by-play voice of Major League Baseball's Cincinnati Reds on the Cincinnati Reds Radio Network. Known for his opinionated, zealous, and sometimes contentious style, Brennaman called Reds games from 1974 to 2019.
Rick Rizzs is an American sportscaster and is the lead radio voice for Major League Baseball's Seattle Mariners.
Leland Milo Hamilton was an American sportscaster, best known for calling play-by-play for seven different Major League Baseball teams from 1953 to 2012. He received the Ford C. Frick Award from the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1992.
Ernest Thorwald Johnson Jr. is an American sportscaster for TNT Sports. He is currently the television voice and a studio host for Major League Baseball on TBS, hosts Inside the NBA for TNT, and NBA TV and contributes to the joint coverage of the NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament for TNT Sports and CBS Sports. His father was Ernie Johnson Sr., a Major League Baseball pitcher and Atlanta Braves play-by-play announcer.
Bally Sports South (BSSO) is an American regional sports network owned by Diamond Sports Group, and operates as an affiliate of Bally Sports Networks. The network carries regional coverage of professional and collegiate sports events from across the Southern United States, along with other sporting events and programming from Bally Sports.
Chuck Swirsky is an American–Canadian radio sports announcer. He is the play-by-play voice of the Chicago Bulls of the National Basketball Association (NBA). Swirsky's association with Chicago sports started in 1979 with his WCFL AM 1000 talk show, which debuted on August 27 of that year. Outside Chicago, Swirsky called play-by-play for both University of Michigan basketball and football and was formerly the play-by-play voice of the Toronto Raptors.
Peter Dirk Van Wieren was an American sportscaster best known for his long career calling play-by-play for Major League Baseball's Atlanta Braves.
Joseph Tait was an American sports broadcaster who was the play-by-play announcer on radio for the Cleveland Cavaliers of the National Basketball Association (NBA) and both TV and radio for the Cleveland Indians of Major League Baseball. With the exception of two seasons in the early 1980s and illness during his final season, he was the Cavaliers' radio announcer from the team's inception in 1970 through the 2010–11 season. He won the Basketball Hall of Fame 2010 Curt Gowdy Media Award.
Fred Manfra is an American retired sportscaster, best known for radio and television broadcasts of the Baltimore Orioles. He has covered many other sports, including football, basketball, ice hockey, horse racing and the Olympics. He retired in May 2017 as a Baltimore Orioles sportscaster.
Joe Allen Simpson is an American former professional baseball player, and has been a radio and television broadcaster for the Atlanta Braves of Major League Baseball (MLB) since 1992.
Bally Sports Southeast (BSSE) is an American regional sports network owned by Diamond Sports Group, a joint venture between Sinclair Broadcast Group and Entertainment Studios, and operates as an affiliate of Bally Sports. Headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, the channel broadcasts regional coverage of sports events throughout the southeastern United States, with a focus on professional sports teams based in Atlanta, Tennessee, and Charlotte.
Ernest Thorwald Johnson Sr. was an American professional baseball player and television sports color commentator. He played in Major League Baseball as a right-handed pitcher between 1950 and 1959. He played the majority of his career with the Boston Braves and remained with the team when they became the Milwaukee Braves in 1953. Johnson was a member of the world champion 1957 Milwaukee Braves. He played his final season with the Baltimore Orioles. After his playing career, he became a longtime television color commentator on the TBS television network. In 2001, Johnson was inducted into the Atlanta Braves Hall of Fame. He is the father of Inside the NBA sportscaster Ernie Johnson Jr.
Bob Neal is an American sportscaster.
William B. Roth is an American television and radio sportscaster. Longtime play-by-play voice of Virginia Tech Hokies football and men's basketball from 1988 to 2015 and again starting in 2022 for Hokies Football, Roth also served as an announcer for the Richmond Braves from 1993–96, and spent 2015-16 with the UCLA Bruins before joining ESPN in 2016.
| |
| Franchise | |
| Arenas | |
| Personnel |
|
| G League affiliate | |
| Retired numbers | |
| NBA championships | |
| Culture and lore | |
 | This Atlanta, Georgia–related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |
