Hubie Brown, a longtime NBA broadcaster and former coach, is in his final season calling games, ESPN president of content Burke Magnus said this week.
Appearing in the “SI Media with Jimmy TrainaPodcast, Magnus said of the 91-year-old Brown, “I don’t think there’s a single human being who’s ever had a longer association with professional basketball.”
“We’re going to give Hubie one last chance in a game. He deserves it,” Magnus said. “We believe in him a lot. “I think it’s absolutely remarkable the level at which he still calls games at age 90 and older…we will honor Hubie this year during the regular season at some point to be determined and send him off in style.”
After a short playing career, Brown began coaching in 1955 at the high school level. After a decade, he rose through the college ranks as an assistant at William & Mary and Duke before joining the staff of a 1972 Milwaukee Bucks team that included future Hall of Famers Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Oscar Robertson .
Brown got his first head coaching job in 1975 with the Kentucky Colonels of the American Basketball Association, who won the ABA Championship in his first season. Following the ABA-NBA merger, Brown was hired as head coach of the Atlanta Hawks. He was named NBA Coach of the Year in 1978 before being fired at the end of the 1980-81 season.
Following the retirement of legendary coach Red Holzman in 1982, Brown was hired by the New York Knicks. He coached for five seasons before being fired early in the 1986-87 season.
After doing broadcasting work between jobs, Brown became a television regular following his dismissal from the Knicks. It joined the NBA on CBS coverage until the league’s media rights moved to Turner Sports in the early 1990s.
In 2002, 16 years after his last NBA coaching job, Brown, at age 69, was hired by the Memphis Grizzlies after Sidney Lowe was fired following an 0-8 start. The following season, his first under full charge, the Grizzlies improved by 22 wins with a 50-32 record and made the playoffs for the first time in franchise history. That success led Brown to be named Coach of the Year for the second time.
Brown’s stay in Memphis was not for long. Twelve games into the 2004-05 season he resigned, citing medical reasons.
Without coaching again, Brown was hired by ABC for its NBA coverage and called the 2005 and 2006 NBA Finals. He has been a part of ABC/ESPN broadcasts ever since. For his contributions to the sport, he was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2005 as a contributor. He is also a member of the College Basketball Hall of Fame and the National Sports Media Association Hall of Fame.
The last six months have not been easy for Brown. In June, his wife Claire died at the age of 87. His son, Brendan, died earlier this month due to health complications at 54 years old.