What they said: A week of remembering late Suns broadcaster Al McCoy
Sep 28, 2024, 9:30 AM
Al McCoy’s legacy breached the state of Arizona in geographical terms and the small world of radio play-by-play voices in the professional field. The late Phoenix Suns voice, who died on Saturday at 91 years old, very well helped to define an NBA franchise through his 51 years of calling games.
But he was more than that. To former players, colleagues and fans, McCoy was known the same. He was generous with his time, welcoming and never above anyone else. Which is perhaps why he connected so well with Suns fans — he felt like a friend talking hoops over the airwaves.
To honor McCoy’s legacy in all those terms, Arizona Sports shows welcomed a long line of guests this week.
Here are some of their best memories of the voice of the Suns.
Mike Breen, NBA on ESPN broadcaster and voice of the New York Knicks
“For a man who wasn’t very tall, he was a giant of a man. In our business, he was the dean of NBA broadcasters.
“He already had this reputation and this aura as one of the giants of this industry, yet he would already carry himself as one of the guys. … When I first started, I didn’t know anybody. You would go into arenas, and he would be the one to approach you. … He came over to introduce himself to me. And I knew exactly who he was.”
"For a man who wasn't very tall, he was a giant of a man. In our business, he was the dean of all NBA broadcasters."
– ESPN and Knicks voice Mike Breen spoke to @BurnsAndGambo on the late Al McCoy
Full segment: https://t.co/ARyu6sIXpe pic.twitter.com/mzb1wL2RVR
— Arizona Sports (@AZSports) September 24, 2024
Tim Kempton, Suns radio analyst and former center
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“Every once in awhile we’d get off the plane, Al would give me a heads up. Hey, what are you doing tonight? Want to go to dinner? And Al would take me to one of his old haunts, you know, the older cities, San Francisco, Seattle. … These little joints. They all had a piano in them.
“Al would go walking in there and his buddies, there would be three or four guys … Al would jump up, play a couple of tunes, go up to the bar, have a couple drinks, have a meal there. … I got to see a little bit of the old school, the way Al did it in the heyday, traveling with (former Suns trainer) Joe Proski and (former Suns coach and broadcaster) Cotton Fitzsimmons when those guys were running it.”
.@Suns analyst Tim Kempton (@SunsTK) shared a great memory of Al McCoy taking him to various restaurants for dinner while on road trips. They had pianos, of course. @wolf987FM @LukeLapinski
Full interview: https://t.co/9rbKjxRTfs pic.twitter.com/S9ffnppYO1
— Wolf & Luke on Arizona Sports (@WolfandLuke) September 24, 2024
Kevin Ray, Suns TV play-by-play voice
“I moved out here in 1989, another kid from the midwest, a small farming town, and one of the first people I met and was introduced to was Al McCoy because the station I worked for in Flagstaff was a Suns affiliate and as the sports director, I was in charge of making sure we had all the commercial content and everything. And the Suns were training in Flagstaff at the time, and Al reached out to welcome me to the great state of Arizona … was so gracious and said, ‘anything I can do to help, let me know.’
“It was at that time that I began to really see and understand a little bit of what I had heard from the people in Flagstaff, they talked about him with great reverence. … I started listening to the Suns, I started attending the games and that’s when I really saw the magic that this man had and possessed. … That would turn to mentorship, guidance and eventually getting to become his teammate. I still marvel at all the people who when he was at the arena, who would come up and they would share stories of when they were a child and they were now walking up to introduce their children to a broadcasting legend.”
Dave Pasch, Arizona Cardinals radio and NBA on ESPN play-by-play announcer
“I just remember meeting Al when I first got to the Valley in 2002. He was as kind and thoughtful and gracious as everybody else says he is. I knew about Al even though I had no connection to Phoenix because Bob Costas, legendary broadcaster, used to talk about Al McCoy all the time. I remember Bob was a mentor (to me) at the time and still is … I was sharing with him he was moving to Phoenix.
“He said, ‘Well you got to meet Al McCoy. Al McCoy is one of the greatest NBA announcers of all-time, he’s a great person, he was really helpful and kind to me when I started out in the ABA doing the St. Louis Hawks.'”
Vinny Del Negro, former Suns analyst
“We just had fun with (the job). He made it so easy because it was like second nature to him … Al was so professional and so good and so smooth, it was so easy. It was like fun. It was like I’m sitting at home on my couch watching the game with my buddy, and we’re just talking. That’s what made it so great with Al.
“Al was just one of the guys … Everybody loved him. How could you not love the guy? He just came off, he was always polite, always professional, always prepared. He was just a beacon of light. I’ve never heard anybody say a bad word about Al McCoy.”
Dave Burns, Arizona Sports co-host of Burns & Gambo
“I’d like to think I come from a unique perspective being born and raised here and literally having grown up on Al McCoy’s voice. Me as a kid not exactly built like a basketball player … on the courts in Tempe, Arizona (yelling), “Shazam! Twine time! Zing go the strings! All the things Al McCoy would say on the broadcast, you would yell them and shout them on the basketball court.
“Somebody in our promotions team snapped a (recent) photo of me and him, and then later somebody tweeted and said, ‘Find somebody who looks at you like Dave Burns looks at Al McCoy.’ Going to miss him.”
Vince Marotta, Arizona Sports co-host of Bickley & Marotta and Suns PA announcer
“In 1979, if you were a kid that was into sports and broadcasting in Phoenix, Arizona, you gravitated towards Al McCoy. He was legendary already at that point and became more legendary throughout the years.
“He knows my immense respect that I had for him from a very young age, so when I got to work for the Phoenix Suns as PA announcer, we were kind of coworkers at that point. Al was simply one of a kind. He is so important to the sports history of this city, the history of the Phoenix Suns. In a lot of ways, he is the Phoenix Suns. I’m honored that I got a chance to know him, to call him a friend and a coworker. And he will be greatly missed.”
Dan Bickley, Arizona Sports co-host of Bickley & Marotta long-time columnist
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“When I first got the news, I cycled through my emotions … how fortunate I was to get to know him, how fortunate I was to get to see his impact on Suns fans. He was a rare breed, one of these legendary local broadcasters that you just don’t see in markets anymore.
“So I went through all that and then I landed on the place of, man, I’m really, really mad at the Suns that they couldn’t have won a title for him … And then I stopped myself there and said, you know what, Al never felt that way. Al loved what he did, Al was loved for what he did. There was nothing missing in the life of Al McCoy.”
Ron Wolfley, Arizona Sports co-host of Wolf & Luke and Cardinals color commentator
“The thing I’m going to remember the most about Al McCoy is what a great conversationalist he was. The way that he would stop and talk to you. And I’m talking about whether you were an intern here at the station or you were the guy running the station, it really didn’t matter … A guy with a huge heart that would sit there and talk to you. he never walked around with a haughtiness when if there was anyone who could have done it, it was Al.”
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