Al McCoy (sportscaster)
Allen Leonard McCoy (April 26, 1933 – September 21, 2024) was an American sportscaster who was the play-by-play announcer for the Phoenix Suns of the National Basketball Association from 1972 to 2023.
His fast-paced, classical broadcasting style coupled with his colorful use of catchphrase to distinguish plays has proven influential to a generation of sportscasters, such as lead NBA on ABC play-by-play announcer Mike Breen, who remarked of McCoy as "one of my heroes" during live ESPN coverage of the 2021 Western Conference Finals.
[6] The Arizona Republic also published a photo gallery showing 90-year-old Al McCoy walking up the long flights of concrete steps to the higher arena location Suns personnel moved him to finish his career.
[3] He continued to scan the radio dial every night to hear the Joe Louis big boxing fights of the era, Cubs broadcasts, national football, basketball, or any and every other sport he could get tuned through his receiver.
[3] One memorable night, he played as a sideman to famed jazz trumpeter Roy Eldridge, who remembered and recognized him immediately upon their second meeting many years later, as McCoy attended a concert alongside Al Bianchi & John MacLeod following a Phoenix Suns game.
During his first year of classes he begged his professor, the head of the radio department and Drake Relays announcer Jim Duncan to let him borrow a university tape recorder so he could demo his play-by-play during a campus basketball game.
[3] Shaken by the experience, but undeterred from following his childhood dreams, McCoy left WHO for smaller family-run station KWDM to strengthen his play-by-play for a variety of different sports.
The two would remain friends until Hearn's death in 2002, buying each other dinner when either were in Phoenix or Los Angeles for their future respective NBA teams, often reminiscing on their early days broadcasting in the midwest.
In both locations he found could not even land a single job interview and played piano to support himself, before applying for a graduate assistantship at the University of Iowa.
During and following the year of graduate school McCoy ran the gamut of employers, bouncing around more local Iowa stations like KXIC where he kept area connections[9] and as of 2007[update] was still a frequent guest on "Two Guys Named Jim"—a sports-talk show on WHO.
[10] He would eventually move from Iowa City, to WJJD in Chicago, to WHLD in Niagara Falls where he commenced broadcasting a “Steve Allen-type” piano-meets-disc jockey show for Buffalo, New York that was rejected by WHO.
With major life decisions to be made quickly, Georgia & Al McCoy were soon wed, hitching their lives on a trailer attached to his '54 Ford with no air conditioning, headed southwest in the summer of 1958.
[3] He was soon hired by KOOL, scheduled broadcaster for the Phoenix Giants, and he worked as the host of night-time radio shows for the station until the team completed their own move to the west coast.
[citation needed] With the Phoenix Giants, McCoy broadcast the only baseball game in history to be postponed due to grasshoppers, who collectively gathered around all the surrounding sources of light and placed the ball park in a shroud of darkness.
[3] On local television stations KTVK and KTAR-TV, he did ring announcing work for boxing fights held at Phoenix Madison Square Garden, and also some professional wrestling commentary for the regional territory.
Less experienced with hockey, McCoy served as a color-commentator for two seasons before learning to do play-by-play for the ice on-the-fly after his broadcaster partner Jim Wells fell through a shower door.
[14] In the fall of 1966 McCoy completed his first NBA broadcast during a preseason game at Arizona Veterans Memorial Coliseum between the St. Louis Hawks and Golden State Warriors.
[3] On September 27, 1972, McCoy broadcast his first game with the Suns, alongside Hot Rod Hundley, during the NBA preseason hosted by ABA team the Utah Stars.
McCoy observed "maybe 8 people in the entire front office" when he was hired, first-hand witnessing the Suns organization's gradual and eventual growth into a company that now employs hundreds.
to a flurry of thunder and lightning, McCoy believed this phrase - an acronym for the first initials of Solomon, Hercules, Atlas, Zeus, Achilles and Mercury - would convey the proper level of enormity and distinction he felt the shot deserved.
After finishing his pregame show, it was decided to run mostly audio of the TV broadcast with McCoy adding commentary for small moments, fully returning to the airwaves by the next game.
[3] The next month, on October 5, 2007, then-team president Rick Welts and Suns managing partner Robert Sarver unveiled the Al McCoy Media Center, its walls and pillars adorned with photos, history, play-by-play quotes, and words of encouragement and respect from fellow NBA broadcasters honoring the life and career of Al McCoy, in the newly renamed arena pressroom.
[16] McCoy returned to television play-by-play for one night on August 22, 2014, broadcasting the WNBA playoff opening game between the Phoenix Mercury hosting the Los Angeles Sparks for NBATV.
[19] In his induction speech, McCoy thanked the organization, the fans and emphasized that "every player that has ever put on a Suns uniform... is special to me, always will be," adding that he still very much feels the thrill of the game when the ball goes in the air, concluding, If you will continue to accept me, and if God keeps smiling on me, I'm just gonna keep going.
[19]On March 2, 2022, he was again honored by the Suns with "Al McCoy Night"[20] in celebration of his 50th Season with the franchise, during a home game against the Portland Trail Blazers.
He often highlights a story of broadcaster Joe Tait telling his listening audience during a live play-by-play call that the three-point shot was good "by a player to be named later," due to the angle in TD Garden blocking vantage beyond the three point arc.
[25] McCoy wrote in his autobiography that he prefers broadcasting courtside not only for the complete view of the court, but also because it enables him to keep on top of personnel changes, player and coach interactions, clarification of referee calls, and the general flow of the game for the listening audience.
Video confirming McCoy's new distant broadcast location was posted to the Arizona Sports official YouTube channel on February 24, 2023, recorded during a post-game interview with Ish Wainright.
