CBS Sports Play By Play Legend heads WFUV Radio honorees…
DICK ENBERG, PAUL SIMON AND JIM LEHRER TO RECEIVE AWARDS AT WFUV 90.7-FM’S SPRING GALA ON WEDNESDAY, MAY 6 AT THE PUCK BUILDING; ENBERG CITED WITH SECOND ANNUAL VIN SCULLY LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD IN SPORTS BROADCASTING
DAZZLING ARRAY OF NEWS, ENTERTAINMENT & SPORTS CELEBS TO JOIN HUNDREDS OF SUPPORTERS OF THE THREE ICONS AND FORDHAM UNIVERSITY’S MAJOR NYC PUBLIC RADIO STATION
New York, March 24—Oh, My, indeed! Dick Enberg, the distinguished sports play-by-play broadcaster, will receive the second Vin Scully Lifetime Achievement Award in Sports Broadcasting from WFUV Radio (90.7 fm, National Public Radio from Fordham University) at its second annual Spring Gala at the Puck Building in New York City on Wednesday, May 6, it was announced today.
Renowned PBS Television newscaster Jim Lehrer will receive the Charles Osgood Lifetime Achievement Award in Journalism, and music icon Paul Simon will be cited with the WFUV Sound & Vision Award. As a special bonus, Simon will also perform for the anticipated 400 attendees. The honorees were nominated by many of their well-known colleagues in their respective fields.
Enberg, known for his signature “Oh, My,” exclamation at key moments of sporting events, joined CBS Sports in January 2000 as play-by-play announcer for THE NFL ON CBS, college basketball and the U.S. Open Tennis Championships. Enberg is calling play-by-play for CBS Sports’ coverage of the NCAA Men’s Basketball Championship for the tenth year. Enberg has called selected tennis broadcasts for ESPN since 2004, and is the lead commentator on Wimbledon, the French Open and the Australian Open.
The award is named for the iconic Hall of Fame voice of the Los Angeles Dodgers, Vin Scully, the WFUV and Fordham alumnus who is now in his 60th season calling Dodgers’ games. WFUV will recognize their contributions and raise much-needed funds to continue to provide unique music, news, and sports services, and train the next generation of journalistic talent.
When Scully was informed that Enberg would receive the award that bear’s Scully’s name, he had an “Oh, My” reaction. When Scully called Enberg with the news the reaction was the same.
The Spring Gala ’09 will be held at the Puck Buil ding, 295 Lafayette Street (at Houston) in lower Manhattan on May 6, beginning at 6 p.m., festive attire. Individual tickets are $1,000 and $2,500; tables may be purchased for $10,000, $25,000, $50,000 and $75,000. For further information about the event or to purchase tickets, please email elizabethg@eventassociatesinc.com or call 212 245-6570 ext. 18.
Spring Gala ‘09 begins at 6 p.m. with cocktails, and is followed at 8 p.m. by dinner, entertainment, and a terrific live auction that includes Adventures in Rock VIP Vacation Package to Dublin to hear U2; US Open Golf and Tennis VIP packages; and autographed rock memorabilia.
Last year, WFUV’s first gala raised $750,000 rivaling its sister stations. WFUV’S galas are attracting the big names.
About WFUV
WFUV (90.7 FM, wfuv.org) is a 50,000-watt, noncommercial, member-supported radio station, licensed to Fordham University for nearly 60 years, serving approximately 330,000 weekly listeners in the New York area and thousands more worldwide on the Web. Professionally run by a full-time staff of 28 broadcast veterans with the help of student interns, WFUV has pioneered a unique format of musical variety, news anD cultural programming, while providing unparalleled professional experience to Fordham students, who have gained invaluable experience working in the most competitive media market in the world.
WFUV has built a large, devoted following in the New York City area for its award-winning weekday format of adult album alternative music [a mix of adult rock , singer-songwriters, world and other music], news from NPR, and a culturally diverse weekend lineup. The station has garnered over fifty prestigious awards in the past two years for news direction, public affairs programming, sports coverage, news documentaries, news reporting, and individual achievement. Over the past sixty years, WFUV has fostered many outstanding broadcast journalists, who return to give of their time, talent, and support.
As an affiliate of National Public Radio and Public Radio International, WFUV carries programs such as The Thistle and Sham rock, World CafC3, Mountain Stage and American Routes. WFUV has partnered with NPR to podcast “WFUV’s Take Five,” a daily series of five-minute conversations and performances with many of today’s finest singer-songwriters and bands, recorded in the WFUV studios. At the same time, WFUV is itself a national programming producer, supplying specials such as The Downtown Messiah,” “It Was 40 Years Ago Today” (marking the Beatles’ arrival in New York), “Start Making Sense” (a literacy documentary), and “Democracy on the Block” (spotlighting grassroots activism) to public radio stations around the country.
More on Enberg
He also contributes to the Masters and PGA Championship broadcasts. Enberg called Thursday night NFL games on Westwood One and CBS Radio Sports during the 2006 and 2007 seasons. Enberg spent 25 years with NBC Sports, beginning in 1975 as the play-by play announcer for college basketball. Known as one of the most versatile play-by play announcers in sports broadcasting, he has taken on assignments including NFL football (41 seasons), the Super Bowl (10 times), the Rose Bowl (nine times), the Orange Bowl (six times), the Olympic Games (1972, 1988, 1992, 1996), the Australian Open (six times), the French Open (22 times), Wimbledon (25 times), the U.S. Open Tennis Championships (nine times), the Masters (seven times), the PGA Championship (five times), the U.S. Open Golf Championship (five times), the Ryder Cup (three times), the American and National League Playoffs (three times), the World Series, heavyweight boxing championships (three times), the NCAA Men’s Basketball Championship (13 times), the NBA Playoffs and the NBA All-Star Game. Along with football, baseball, tennis, golf, basketball and boxing, he has called gymnastics, figure skating, Breeders’ Cup horse racing and track and fie ld. Enberg began his full-time broadcasting career in 1 965 in Los Angeles as the radio a nd television voice of the California Angels, UCLA basketball and the Los Angeles Rams.
Before joining NBC, he was named California Sportscaster of the Year four times. He hosted the long-running national series “Sports Challenge” and was co-producer of the Emmy Award-winning PBS series “The Way It Was.” Throughout his career, he has earned a series of national honors, including 14 Emmy Awards, nine Sportscaster of the Year Awards, the Ronald Reagan Media Award and the Victor Award as the top sportscaster of the past 40 years. Enberg’s versatility is reflected in the fact that he is the only person to win national Emmy Awards as a sportscaster (1981, 1983, 1990, 1993), writer (1988, 1994, 1997, 1998, 1999 [2], 2004) and producer (1978).
In February 1998, he became only the fourth sportscaster to be honored with a star on the
Hollywood Walk of Fame. Along with his 15 National Sportscaster Awards, Enberg has been named the 1989 Tennis Play-by-Play Man of the Year (Tennis Magazine) and the 1989 NFL Press Box Award winner as football’s top play-by-play announcer. He also received a Lifetime Achievement Emmy Award in 2000. Enberg was awarded the 1984 Eclipse Award (thoroughbred racing), the 1995 National Basketball Hall of Fame’s Curt Gowdy Award, the 1999 Pro Football Hall of Fame’s Pete Rozelle Award. In 1974, he won a local Emmy Award for coverage of the Rose Bowl Parade.
In 1973, he became the first American sportscaster to visit the People’s Republic of China (USA vs. China basketball, Beijing). A native of Armada, Mich., Enberg began broadcasting as a student at Central Michigan University, where he was the 1957 student body president. He earned a master’s degree (1958) and a doctorate (1962) at Indiana University. Prior to his sportscasting career, he was an assistant professor and assistant baseball coach at California State University at Northridge (1961-65). He is currently active in fundraising for education (Armada High School, Central Michigan University, Indiana University and California State at Humboldt).
He has been named a Distinguished Alumnus by both Central Michigan and Indiana University and in 1993 was inducted into the Central Michigan University Athletic Hall of Fame. He received an honorary doctorate of humane letters from Indiana University in May 2002, and was inducted into the Indiana University Sports Hall of Fame in 2005. Since 1985, Enberg has served as the spokesperson for the Verizon Academic All-America program, which recognizes the academic and athletic achievements of more than 700 student athletes each year. He also serves as host of the Academic All-America Hall of Fame ceremony, an annual event created in 1988 to pay tribute to past Academic All-America team members who have gone on to make contributions to society.
In 1999, Indiana University established the Dick Enberg Distance Learning Center in the School of Health, Physical Education and Recreation. Enberg has authored two best-selling books, Dick Enberg Oh My! and Dick Enberg’s Humorous Quotes for All Occasions, and is a critically acclaimed playwright with the recent production of his one-man play, McGuire, about legendary Marquette University basketball coach, broadcasting partner and friend, Al McGuire. Enberg lives in La Jolla, Calif., with his wife, Barbara, and the three youngest of his six children.
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