NBA – Fordham Now https://now.fordham.edu The official news site for Fordham University. Wed, 24 Apr 2024 17:00:26 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://now.fordham.edu/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/favicon.png NBA – Fordham Now https://now.fordham.edu 32 32 232360065 NBA Announcer Mike Breen Inducted into Basketball Hall of Fame https://now.fordham.edu/fordham-magazine/nba-announcer-mike-breen-inducted-into-basketball-hall-of-fame/ Wed, 19 May 2021 14:19:43 +0000 https://news.fordham.sitecare.pro/?p=149517 Mike Breen, FCRH ’83 (right), posing with Fordham athletics director Ed Kull at the 2021 Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame Curt Gowdy Award ceremony. Photos courtesy of Fordham athleticsMike Breen, FCRH ’83, was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame and presented with the Curt Gowdy Media Award on May 14. Breen, who is a play-by-play announcer both for MSG Network and ABC/ESPN, accepted the award at an induction ceremony at Mohegan Sun in Uncasville, Connecticut, saying during his speech that “I’ve had this enormous privilege to call so many great moments in NBA history, but the best part, the best part, has always been the lifetime of friendships that the game has given me.”

To congratulate Breen on the honor, a number of fellow Fordham and WFUV alumni appeared in a video from Fordham athletics, sending kind words and paying tribute by reciting one of his signature calls: “Bang!”

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Mike Breen, Voice of the NBA, Wins Basketball Hall of Fame’s Curt Gowdy Media Award https://now.fordham.edu/fordham-magazine/mike-breen-voice-of-the-nba-wins-basketball-hall-of-fames-curt-gowdy-media-award/ Fri, 21 Feb 2020 19:27:42 +0000 https://news.fordham.sitecare.pro/?p=132588 Photo by Jon RoemerMike Breen, FCRH ’83, the longtime New York Knicks broadcaster and lead voice for the NBA on national TV, has been selected to receive a 2020 Curt Gowdy Media Award from the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. He will be honored in late August at the Hall of Fame’s annual enshrinement ceremony and awards gala.

Breen began calling Knicks games in 1992, first on WFAN radio before moving to TV at MSG Network in 1997. He has stayed at the network since then, partnering with Knicks legend and Hall of Fame player Walt “Clyde” Frazier to form a fan-favorite broadcasting duo. Since 2006, Breen has also been the lead play-by-play announcer for ESPN’s and ABC’s nationally televised NBA games, including the NBA Finals, which he has called for a record 14 straight seasons.

A native of Yonkers, New York, Breen got his start in broadcasting as an undergraduate at Fordham.

“One of the main reasons I went to Fordham was WFUV,” he told FORDHAM magazine in 2012, referring to the University’s public media station, which has been a training ground for generations of well-known sports broadcasters starting with Vin Scully, a 1949 Fordham graduate. “I can’t think of anything that could have better trained me for my career.”

Breen recently told the New York Post that his signature on-air call—“Bang!”—was something he first tested at Fordham.

“When we weren’t doing games, I was in the stands as a student,’’ Breen said. “When a Fordham player made a shot, I would scream, ‘Bang.’ I tried it on air as a student couple of times. I said, ‘This doesn’t work. I don’t really like it.’ … Then I went back to it when I started doing TV and felt it was a nice, concise way in a big moment. You say a one-syllable word and the crowd rises and you don’t have to scream over it. One easy word. I’m from the Vin Scully … school of conciseness. It worked with a big, loud crowd.”

Breen is the third Fordham graduate and fourth member of the Fordham family to earn the Hall of Fame’s Gowdy Award, which recognizes members of the electronic and print media for “outstanding contributions to basketball.”

John Andariese, FCRH ’60, one of Breen’s former Knicks broadcasting partners at MSG Network (and a star player at Fordham during the late 1950s), received the honor in 2014. Malcolm Moran, FCRH ’75, who was a sports reporter and columnist at The New York Times for nearly 20 years, and later wrote for USA Today, among other newspapers, won the award in 2007. Like Breen, Moran, who is now the director of the Sports Capital Journalism Program at Indiana University, got his start at WFUV. And legendary broadcaster Marty Glickman, who mentored and advised students at WFUV for 12 years, from 1988 to 2000, won the award in 1991.

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Toronto Raptors Broadcaster Jack Armstrong Reflects on New York Roots and Career in Canada https://now.fordham.edu/fordham-magazine/toronto-raptors-broadcaster-jack-armstrong-reflects-on-new-york-roots-and-career-in-canada/ Fri, 25 Oct 2019 18:47:30 +0000 https://news.fordham.sitecare.pro/?p=127258 Jack Armstrong, FCLC ’86, GSAS ’88, has one of the most recognizable voices in basketball. As a longtime broadcaster for the defending NBA champion Toronto Raptors, the Brooklyn native’s New York accent can be heard across Canada and the United States delivering memorable game calls and signature lines like “Get that garbage outta here!” after a blocked shot. Armstrong also serves as a college basketball analyst for the Sports Network, a job that connects to his time as an assistant men’s basketball coach at Fordham and head coach at Niagara University. He recently spoke with FORDHAM magazine about his Fordham roots, his unusual career trajectory, and the growth of basketball in Canada.

Your first college coaching gig was as an assistant at Fordham while you were a student. How did that come about?
I got into coaching earlier, probably through CYO [Catholic Youth Organization] basketball when I was 16. I didn’t play in college, so I went back and coached at my high school in Brooklyn, in one of the best leagues in the United States. A friend of mine, Pete Gillen, was an assistant at Notre Dame at the time. He mentioned to [Fordham men’s basketball coach] Tom Penders, “I’m not sure you know it, but you have a Fordham student who is coaching at Nazareth High School—probably a good guy to meet.” I was an undergrad at Fordham at the time, and Tom had an open spot on the staff and kind of brought me in as an undergrad assistant. Obviously to this day I can’t thank Tom enough for the opportunity.

And you stayed on as a coach after your undergrad years, right?
Yeah. [Coach Penders] did something really cool that I’ll never forget. He [awarded me a]basketball scholarship to stay onboard. Here’s a successful coach I respected saying, “Hey, you have a future in this,” and kind of putting his money where his mouth was. That was a signature moment in my young coaching career. I was able to live at Rose Hill and have a meal card and go to grad school and work 60 hours a week as an assistant coach. We also had a JV program as well, and Tom allowed me to be the head coach of that, which was a great experience.

Did you have any a background as a player?
I grew up playing basketball in Brooklyn, and the guy I had to guard and play against from the time I was probably 6 or 7 years old was Chris Mullin, who’s in the Hall of Fame. I played at St. Brendan’s, he played at St. Thomas. There comes a point early in life where you look, and you go, “That guy’s really good … and I’m not.” But I love the game. There’s a lot of great coaches out there who didn’t have an extensive playing career and yet found a way into it, and found a way to connect with the athletes and lead and motivate them. I feel like I was very fortunate to get with the right people to develop those same things.

What about Fordham, and the Lincoln Center campus in particular, appealed to you as you were deciding on college?
A few people in my neighborhood had graduated from Fordham and raved about it. I remember visiting both Lincoln Center and Rose Hill. I still had to work and pay for school, and I wanted to coach, so being able to take the subway to Lincoln Center from Brooklyn kind of fit me. I’m a big believer in Jesuit education, and I’m a big believer in the formation that it gives you. I feel very fortunate to have two degrees from Fordham, and to have [studied on]both campuses. Because they both offer something different and something unique, and I feel like I benefited from the best of both.

After Fordham, you coached at Niagara University for 10 years. How was that experience?
For almost my entire first four years as a head coach, up until I was 30, I was the youngest head coach in college basketball. So, it was an amazing opportunity, obviously, and an incredible experience—to go to the NIT in 1993 and be the MAC and New York State Division I Coach of the Year. We had good years, had bad years, and had everything in between—and I was fortunate enough to meet my wife there. She was the head women’s soccer coach at Niagara. So, I can’t thank Niagara enough. Here we are married 26 years later and with three kids. I’m blessed.

How did you get into broadcasting?
The change was made for me. As we all know, in coaching, you get whacked, you get fired, and after 10 years at Niagara, nine of them as the head coach, I was let go. I’d made a decision that I was kind of burnt out, and I needed a year off. I had a number of friends let me know that the Toronto Raptors had an opportunity for a broadcaster. So, here I was, only an hour and a half away from Toronto. I had name recognition there because back then, in 1998, Niagara, St. Bonaventure, Canisius—those schools are the schools that people would hear about, because Toronto gets all the broadcasts from Buffalo. So I was hired by the Raptors, and I started off as a radio analyst, and then a few years later transitioned into being a TV analyst, which I still do [21 years later]. It’s been a really cool experience, and I can’t thank that orange ball enough. It’s given me an opportunity to make lifetime friendships and grow as a person and travel the world, and just have an amazing experience in my life.

Can you speak a little bit about how basketball has grown in Toronto and Canada in general since you started?
Since coaching at Niagara, I’ve been in the Toronto region for 31 years. To see Canadian basketball when I got to the area in 1988, and to see it now, it’s light years ahead of where it was. Canada now has the second most NBA players in the world. The only country ahead of it is the United States. Toronto is the third largest market in pro sports. You’ve got New York, LA, then Toronto, and then Chicago after that. All our games are on national TV, and in the playoffs, all our games are on national radio. I called game six of the Finals on TV, the clinching game at Golden State. It was the largest television audience ever in Canada for a basketball game, and one of the largest TV audiences that they’ve had this decade. So, that’s pretty intense stuff.

It’s not just a city team. It’s a national team. Our players are national heroes. During the playoffs, where everyone in the building stands and sings the Canadian National Anthem, it sends goosebumps through you. It gives you chills. It’s like being at the Olympics. People think of Canada as a hockey country, but it’s become a basketball nation, and people just absolutely love it. It’s the fastest growing sport in Canada right now, and the people are just warm and friendly and have embraced me, and more importantly, embraced the sport.

 

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Finding God in the Classroom and on the Court https://now.fordham.edu/athletics/gre-student-brings-god-from-the-classroom-to-the-court/ Fri, 11 Nov 2016 14:26:36 +0000 http://news.fordham.sitecare.pro/?p=58210 Hawkins outside his home court, the Rose Hill Gymnasium Photo by Mary Awad
Hawkins outside his home court, the Rose Hill Gymnasium
Photo by Mary Awad

Last year, Javontae Hawkins averaged 18 points and 5 rebounds per game. This year, he’s ready to revitalize Fordham basketball.

“We’re going to be good this year,” says Hawkins. “I can feel it. Make sure you get to a game because when you come, you’ll be seeing us win!”

Hawkins is the first student of the Graduate School of Religion and Religious Education who is also a competing student-athlete, having joined the Rams’ basketball team. After two years at Southern Florida University and two years at Eastern Kentucky University (he red-shirted his junior year at EKU), Hawkins decided to change the course of his graduate education.

His decision to come to Fordham was two-pronged; he desired both the athletic and the academic edge the University gave him. During his time at EKU, he grew fond of the his coaching staff. When the EKU staff members moved to Fordham, he came with them.

“It’s hard to find such a strong coaching relationship,” says Hawkins. “I wanted to keep it, but I also wanted to widen my academic prospects. I knew Fordham took academics seriously. I wanted to have Fordham on my resume.”

Hawkins is pursing a Master of Arts in Pastoral Care, a field he was inspired to enter by his father, Jeffery Hawkins, pastor of Prince of Peace Missionary Baptist Church in his family’s hometown of Flint, Michigan. His father has been instrumental in encouraging programs to prevent crime and violence in Flint neighborhoods, he said. He has often accompanied his father when he speaks at churches and schools in the area.

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Javontae and his father, Pastor Jeffery
Photo courtesy of Javontae Hawkins

Hawkins says that pastoral counseling integrates theology and psychological knowledge into pastoral ministries, which aspects he believes crucial in providing effective care. He hopes to emulate his father’s passion and “imitate how he carries himself.”

“My father has been a pastor for about 14 years,” he says. “He is a motivator and a support system for so many. I want to be that for people, too. I want to be a role model— the positive force in other peoples’ lives.”

Hawkins says he, too, is familiar with being a role model for others: As the only graduate student on the team, he has to act as a “good example” for his younger teammates, and recently accompanied assistant coach Mike DePaoli to a Bronx high school to speak about goal-setting and following the path God chooses for us.

Once Hawkins earns his degree, he hopes to work with adolescents struggling with anxiety, mental illness, and peer pressure. Adolescence is an important time, he says, and he wants to support young adults during this difficult stage of life.

Of course, that job will come after he plays in the NBA, says Hawkins, who is looking forward to making basketball his career before turning to counseling.

“Basketball will definitely be in my future,” he says. “Whether I play in the NBA or overseas for another country, I want to play professionally. These are things you have to do when you’re young, and I refuse to miss the opportunity.”

No matter which way life takes him, he insists that he will strive to chase his dreams and help others accomplish theirs as well.

“It’s God’s call at the end of the day.”

–Mary Awad

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Legendary Coach Phil Jackson to be Honored https://now.fordham.edu/university-news/legendary-coach-phil-jackson-to-be-honored/ Tue, 14 Oct 2014 20:12:23 +0000 http://news.fordham.sitecare.pro/?p=45001 Phil Jackson, one of the greatest coaches in NBA history, will receive the Third Annual Johnny Bach Award, celebrating the 2014-2015 Fordham men’s basketball team, onMonday, Nov. 3. Jackson, president of the New York Knicks, has led three NBA teams to 11 NBA titles and holds the highest winning percentage of any NBA coach. For more information visit www.fordham.edu/tipoff.

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