SYRACUSE, N.Y. (WSYR-TV) — He sounded like us. He used the verbiage of the streets, of New Yorkers.
Marty Glickman may have been the first jock-turned-announcer. The broadcast legend pioneered descriptive language that brought games to life for kids listening to the Knicks and football Giants on transistor radios around New York, with terms like Top of the Key, midcourt line, and swish.
Before there was “Yes,” his great disciple Marv Albert. Before it was “Book It,” Ian Eagle. Before Mike Breen said “Bang!”, we said “Swish.”
Jeffrey Gurock is a professor of American Jewish History at Yeshiva University and the author of a new biography of Glickman. It tells the story of the runner and football star recruited to play at Syracuse by members of a Jewish fraternity.
If Glickman comes to Syracuse, it’s a quixotic dream. If he comes to Syracuse and lights up the football field, it will help other Jews get into Syracuse in the 1930’s.
Jeffrey Gurock professor/author
Glickman became a Big Man on Campus at SU. But prejudice among his own coaches brought dreams of Olympic gold to a sudden end in the 1936 Olympics in Adolph Hitler’s Berlin.
A day before the race, in walks the coaches and say, “Hey, We heard a rumor Germans have been hiding some great runners. Glickman and Stoler, you’re out. Ralph Metcalfe and Jesse Owens, you’re running.
Jeffrey Gurock, professor/author
An offer from a Syracuse haberdasher put him behind a microphone for the first time and led to a distinguished career… though that “Voice of New York” kept him in New York and largely out of the national spotlight. Late in life, though, he was hired to coach aspiring sportscasters.
Look at the irony. Thirty years earlier, he’s not allowed to broadcast because of who he is, and the world changed and “Hey, Marty, can you help Bob Griese become an announcer. Can you help Frank Gifford?”
Jeffrey Gurock, professor/author
The book is called “Marty Glickman: The Life of an American Jewish Sports Legend.”
Marty Glickman may have been the first jock-turned-announcer. The broadcast legend pioneered descriptive language that brought games to life for kids listening to the Knicks and football Giants on transistor radios around New York, with terms like Top of the Key, midcourt line, and swish.
Before there was “Yes,” his great disciple Marv Albert. Before it was “Book It,” Ian Eagle. Before Mike Breen said “Bang!”, we said “Swish.”
Jeffrey Gurock is a professor of American Jewish History at Yeshiva University and the author of a new biography of Glickman. It tells the story of the runner and football star recruited to play at Syracuse by members of a Jewish fraternity.
If Glickman comes to Syracuse, it’s a quixotic dream. If he comes to Syracuse and lights up the football field, it will help other Jews get into Syracuse in the 1930’s.
Glickman became a Big Man on Campus at SU. But prejudice among his own coaches brought dreams of Olympic gold to a sudden end in the 1936 Olympics in Adolph Hitler’s Berlin.
A day before the race, in walks the coaches and say, “Hey, We heard a rumor Germans have been hiding some great runners. Glickman and Stoler, you’re out. Ralph Metcalfe and Jesse Owens, you’re running.”
An offer from a Syracuse haberdasher put him behind a microphone for the first time, and led to a distinguished career… though that “Voice of New York” kept him in New York and largely out of the national spotlight. Late in life, though, he was hired to coach aspiring sportscasters.
Look at the irony. Thirty years earlier, he was not allowed to broadcast because of who he is, and the world changed and, “Hey, Marty, can you help Bob Griese become an announcer? Can you help Frank Gifford?”
The book is called “Marty Glickman: The Life of an American Jewish Sports Legend.”
