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Marc J. Spears: Respect coach Hubie Brown. Thank you!
Jonathan Feigen: ABC/ESPN did a wonderful job on the richly deserved tribute to Hubie Brown. Hubie's love for the game and for teaching it never faded. Few ever better showed appreciation for its past, while celebrating the present.
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Jim Owczarski: #Bucks give Hubie Brown a video send-off during the timeout. Brown began his NBA career in Milwaukee as an assistant on Larry Costello's staffs from 1972-74.
Inducted into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame in 2005, Brown returns to Milwaukee, where he began his professional coaching career as an assistant coach for the Bucks in 1972. The broadcast is expected to feature plenty of tributes to Brown. Mike Breen, a fellow Basketball Hall of Fame commentator, will call the game alongside Brown. (The two called the 2006 NBA Finals on ABC together.) “Guys say to me: ‘How do you feel when you get up? You’re 91 years old’,” Brown replied to my question. “I tell them I’ve never awakened any day and said, ‘Boy, I’m glad I’m 91!’ I’ve never given age a major thought because the business still wanted me to be part of their presentation. This is all humbling.
“When I look back, it’s been the fastest 50 years of being in the NBA as a coach and as a television person. On Sunday I want to be at the top of my game. You want to be able to do justice to the game itself, and then also for the players and coaches that are going to be in the game.”
The final broadcast in the long career of ESPN NBA analyst Hubie Brown is set. ESPN announced Tuesday that Brown is scheduled to serve as the analyst for the February 9 Sixers-Bucks NBA regular season game on ABC, which will be the final broadcast of his career. He will work alongside Mike Breen on the game, with whom he called the 2006 NBA Finals. The game, which is scheduled for Super Bowl Sunday, takes place in the city — Milwaukee — where Brown began his professional coaching career. Brown joined ESPN/ABC as its lead NBA analyst in the 2004-05 season, working back-to-back NBA Finals on ABC — first with Al Michaels and then Breen. He previously called games for TNT and TBS, leaving those networks in 2002 to coach the Memphis Grizzlies. He is the longest-tenured ESPN NBA game analyst, having debuted on the network even before Jeff Van Gundy and Mark Jackson.
Hubie Brown will call his last game this season
This will be Hubie Brown’s last year broadcasting games for ESPN. ESPN President Burke Magnus revealed the news Thursday while on the Sports Illustrated Media Podcast with Jimmy Traina. “We are going to give Hubie one last shot on a game,” Magnus said. “He deserves that. We think the world of him. I think it is absolutely remarkable the level in which he still calls games at age 90-plus. I don’t mean to be purposely mysterious here but we are going to honor Hubie during the regular season at some point to be determined and send him off in style.”
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ESPN declined additional comment Thursday to The Athletic. Brown is not scheduled to call any games but industry sources said he will be assigned one last game this season. The date of the assignment has not been formalized yet. Brown is expected to partner with longtime ESPN/ABC play-by-play broadcaster Mike Breen for the game.
The Pacers held a seat in their press room in honor of longtime Knicks radio analyst Brendan Brown, who unexpectedly passed away last week due to health complications at 54 years old. Brown’s spot was “reserved” with a framed photo of him with an MSG microphone. Brown, the son of former Knicks coach Hubie Brown, was on the Knicks radio broadcast for over a decade, replacing the legendary John Andariese in 2012.
Former Knicks radio broadcaster Brendan Brown tragically died at the age of 54 on Sunday due to health complications, his wife announced on Facebook. His wife, Kate Brown, wrote in the post that the family had been in “shock” and was still processing Brown’s passing. “He cared deeply for his friends and family and we’re going to miss him so much,” she wrote. Brown, the son of Hall of Fame coach Hubie Brown, worked for MSG Network from 2008-23, when the two “decided to part company.”
On Tuesday, two longtime ESPN personalities were named among the list of 10 influential figures in sports broadcasting that make up the Class of 2024 into the Sports Broadcasting Hall of Fame. ESPN PR shared that news on X/Twitter Tuesday. There, they noted that longtime NBA analyst Hubie Brown and late NFL reporter Chris Mortensen will join Mark Lazarus, Bryant Gumbel, Andrea Kremer, Tommy Roy, Phil Garvin, Steve Gorsuch, Charlie Carlucci, and Jim Delaney to make up the Class of 2024 that will be inducted into the Sports Broadcasting Hall of Fame on December 17th.
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