Christian Marlowe (born September 28, 1951) is an American professional sportscaster who resides in Denver, Colorado.

Marlowe's maternal grandfather was the prolific film director Sam Wood, who was a three-time Academy Award nominee.

[3] He was a two-sport standout at Palisades High School in Los Angeles, California, playing basketball and volleyball.

[6] Marlowe was awarded an athletic scholarship at San Diego State University, where he played both basketball and volleyball.

SDSU made the trip back to Ball State University in Muncie, Indiana where the 1972 national tournament was being held.

In round robin play, the Aztecs beat Ball State 2–1 (15–8, 6–15, 15–5) and handled UCLA 2–0 (15–13, 15–7) before losing to UCSB 0-2 (13–15, 10–15).

UCLA, UC Santa Barbara and SDSU all ended up with identical 2 - 1 records, but the Bruins earned the top position in the playoff seeding on the basis of points differential.

In the other semi-final, SDSU was down 2 games to none before they bounced back and avenged their round robin loss, defeating UC Santa Barbara in five, 11–15, 13–15, 15–9, 15–11, 15–12 for a 3–2 win.

[11] After the win, Marlowe commented to a Sports Illustrated writer: "When we came back and beat UCLA in Pauley, it was like it was willed to be.

[11] Game 2 saw the noise in the gym reach a deafening level, as the Aztecs came back to beat Long Beach State in a barn burner, 15–13.

[6] Following his collegiate career, Marlowe continued to play volleyball on the club level, and competed on one of the nation's best USVBA teams.

On the beach he was nicknamed "The Lion" for his intensity and the unruly blonde hair that blew about on the top of Marlowe's head.

He teamed with Jim Menges, whose former partner, Greg Lee, had left to pursue a career in professional basketball.

[9] Following his graduation from college, Marlowe continued to play volleyball on indoor national club teams which competed in the Open division of the USVBA.

[6] The US national team failed to qualify for the 1976 Olympic games, and Marlowe returned to California and beach volleyball.

[3] A collection of the top collegiate players from the California area joined Marlowe on the team, including Karch Kiraly, Dusty Dvorak, Steve Timmons, Craig Buck, Steven Salmons, Pat Powers and Doug Partie.

[15] Near the end of the final match, some six weeks before the start of the Olympics, setter Rod Wilde landed on the foot of a Soviet player who had crossed under the net.

Early in his career, he guest starred on TV's The Love Boat, A Man Called Sloane, and Bosom Buddies, and was a regular on the short-lived Highcliffe Manor.

[1][4] Marlowe first got an opportunity to do TV broadcast work when ABC hired him to provide color commentary for the 1978 NCAA indoor volleyball championship.

[1] UCLA head coach Al Scates had been doing commentary for ABC when the Bruins were not in the NCAA championship tournament.

After Marlowe completed his athletic career with the 1984 Olympic games, he made a serious commitment to sports broadcasting, and he took courses in the skills of the trade.

[17] Marlowe credits sportscasting expert Lou Riggs of Santa Monica College for training him in sports broadcasting fundamentals.

"[1] Marlowe and Sunderland called their first volleyball event in 1985, doing the college regional playoff match between San Diego State and Pepperdine.

[20] Moving from analyst/color commentator to play-by-play was a big step-up in difficulty for Marlowe, but it meant many more broadcast opportunities.

"My bosses at Prime Ticket started letting me do basketball – I also played that – and that led to me doing other things like boxing, gymnastics, swimming, water polo … even windsurfing.

[5] He has also called aerobics, baseball, boxing, cliff-diving, equestrian show jumping, fencing, poker, rhythmic gymnastics, skiing, college soccer, track and field, water polo, wind surfing and wrestling.

[5] Along with assignments for Fox Sports Net, Marlowe was the announcer for every Association of Volleyball Professionals event in the late 1980s and early 1990s.

[4][5] Finally, on 23 April 2017, Marlowe was inducted into the Los Angeles City Section sports Hall of Fame.

[3][9] At his induction into the Los Angeles City Section sports Hall of Fame, Marlowe spoke of the athletic accomplishments he valued most.

Of them all, what he prized most was winning the Olympic gold medal in front of his family and friends at the games held in Los Angeles in 1984.