Biography

 

 

 

Dick’s Career

How It All Began…

 

 

 

 

Early life and overview

Dick Stockton was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1942. He attended Syracuse University, where he received his degree in political science in 1964. In 1965, he began his sports casting career in Philadelphia at radio and television stations where he later became the sports director at KDKA-TV in Pittsburgh. In 1971, Dick moved to Boston and worked for WBZ-TV and WBZ radio. He began calling Boston Celtics telecasts for WBZ, and became the lead announcer for Boston Red Sox games on WSBK-TV. During the 1975 World Series, Stockton was part of the NBC Sports broadcast crew. He called Carlton Fisk’s famous, game-winning home run in Game 6 of that series which spun Stockton’s famous quote “If it stays fair…” In 2001, Dick was inducted into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame as a broadcaster.

DickStockton.headset

 

BROADCASTING CAREER - 1960s - 1990s - CBS Sports

Stockton started working with CBS Sports in the late 1960s, while still working in local television at KDKA-TV in Pittsburgh. He also spent two years calling NFL games for NBC. In 1978-1994, he joined CBS as a full-time announcer covering a variety of sports, including the NFL, the NBA, Major League Baseball. Within this timeframe, Stockton was the lead play-by-play man for the NBA and college basketball including ten years as a play-by-play broadcaster of the NCAA Regional Finals.

In addition, he was the host of the Pan American Games in San Juan in 1979, and covered swimming and diving at the Pan American Games in Edmonton and Caracas. Stockton also broadcast the World Swimming and Diving Championships in Guayaquil, Ecuador, the World Basketball Championships in Cali, Colombia, and the World Figure Skating Championships in Helsinki. In 1992, Stockton was assigned to cover the Winter Olympics Men’s skiing events in France. He also called the 1994 Norway Games’ speed skating events including Dan Jansen’s record-breaking triumph of the 1,000 meter gold medal as well as Bonnie Blair’s gold medal victories.

 

1990s - 2000s - Fox Sports

Stockton began working for Fox Sports in 1994. He was Fox’s second-team announcer for NFL games, MLB coverage and for College Hoops.  For a more in-depth biography about Dick from Fox Sports, click http://www.foxsports.com/presspass/bios/on-air/dick-stockton

 

1990s - 2000s - Turner Sports

Since 1995, Stockton has called NBA telecasts for Turner’s TNT channel. Since 2007, Stockton has called postseason Major League Baseball games on TBS. That year, he partnered with Ron Darling to call the National League Division Series for the network. In 2008, he called the AL Central tiebreaker game with Darling and Harold Reynolds, followed by the NLDS with Darling and Tony Gwynn. In 2009, he teamed with Bob Brenly to call the NLDS for TBS, and the two worked together every year until 2014. TBS and Fox began splitting the LDS in 2014. TBS was previously the exclusive home of the LDS from 2007 to 2013. Stockton split play-by-play duties during the 2010 regular season on TBS with NBA on TNT studio host Ernie Johnson, Jr. and Milwaukee Brewers announcer Brian Anderson. In 2011, he partnered with Ron Darling and John Smoltz to call game 5 of National League Division Series between the St. Louis Cardinals and Philadelphia Phillies for TBS.
 

1990s - current - Other

From 1993 to 1995, Stockton also called local TV broadcasts of the Oakland Athletics. In 2004, he began doing part-time local television work for the San Antonio Spurs. Stockton broadcast Super Bowl XXXVIII alongside Daryl Johnston and Super Bowl XLII alongside Sterling Sharpe on the international feed, provided by the NFL Network. This was the feed used by the BBC and certain other English-language broadcasters outside North America. Starting in 2010, Dick assumed play-by-play duties for Miami Dolphins preseason games on WFOR; he substituted for Jimmy Cefalo as play-by-play on the Dolphins’ radio call of the team’s Monday Night Football game against the New England Patriots on October 4, 2010.

Stockton provides the play-by-play commentary for NFL Fever 2000 alongside Matt Millen.

Society for American Baseball Research

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For an in-depth look at Dick’s baseball biography from the Society for American Baseball Research, visit http://sabr.org/bioproj/person/14e1a710

Recent Awards

Stockton award

On April 9, 2016, Dick Stockton received the prestigious Sonny Hirsch Excellence in Sports Broadcasting Award. Named after the longtime voice of the Miami Hurricanes, the award honors an outstanding sport broadcaster who has had a great impact in their field, while making notable accomplishments within the community.