Kenny Albert facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Kenny Albert
|
|
|---|---|
.jpg)
Albert in 2015
|
|
| Born |
Kenneth Gary Albert
February 2, 1968 New York City, U.S.
|
| Years active | 1990–present |
| Spouse(s) |
Barbara Wolf
(m. 1996) |
| Children | 2 |
| Parent(s) | Marv Albert Benita Oberlander |
| Relatives | Al Albert (uncle) Steve Albert (uncle) |
| Sports commentary career | |
| Genre(s) | Play-by-play |
| Sports | NFL, NBA, MLB, NHL |
Kenny Albert (born February 2, 1968) is a famous American sportscaster. He is the son of NBA sportscaster Marv Albert. His uncles, Al Albert and Steve Albert, are also sportscasters. Kenny is special because he is the only sportscaster who calls games for all four major professional sports leagues in the U.S. and Canada. These leagues are the NFL, NBA, MLB, and NHL.
Contents
Kenny Albert's Early Life
Kenny Albert loved sports broadcasting from a young age. For his fifth birthday, his parents gave him a tape recorder. He used it to practice announcing games.
When he was six, in 1974, his dad took him to a New York Rangers hockey game. A statistician had to leave, so Kenny got to help with the stats for the rest of the game. By age 14, he became the official statistician for the Rangers on the radio. At 16, he wrote content for the Rangers' game program.
Kenny looked up to his father and also to Vancouver Canucks announcer Jim Robson. While growing up in Sands Point, he wrote about high school sports for the Port Washington News from 1981 to 1986.
Kenny graduated from New York University in 1990. He earned a degree in broadcasting and journalism. He was part of the Sigma Phi Epsilon fraternity. He also worked at the sports department of WNYU radio. This helped him develop his quick announcing skills for local games.
Kenny Albert's Broadcasting Career
Kenny Albert is a very busy sportscaster. Since 1995, he has been the main radio voice for the New York Rangers on MSG Network. He also sometimes calls their games on TV. Starting with the 2025-26 NHL season, he will become the full-time TV voice for the team.
He is also a play-by-play announcer for Fox. He covers Major League Baseball and the National Football League. He used to announce the Sugar Bowl as well.
Before joining Fox, Kenny worked for the American Hockey League's Baltimore Skipjacks from 1990 to 1992. He also did TV play-by-play for the Washington Capitals and the Washington Bullets (now the Washington Wizards). In 2005, he was a part-time announcer for Washington Nationals baseball games. He also calls preseason games for the Washington Commanders (formerly the Washington Redskins) with Joe Theismann.
Kenny has a lot of experience with hockey. He worked on Fox NHL Saturday in the 1990s. He also did play-by-play for NHL on NBC and Versus (which later became NBCSN). In 2014, he even called Game 1 of the 2014 Stanley Cup Finals for NBC. This was because Mike Emrick, the usual announcer, had a family emergency.
Kenny has also been part of NBC's Olympics coverage. He has been a play-by-play announcer for men's and women's ice hockey at every Winter Olympic Games since the 2002 Salt Lake City games.
He has also called college basketball games for ESPN Plus. He sometimes fills in as a play-by-play announcer for New York Knicks basketball games on MSG Network. In 2011, he even broadcast for two different New York playoff teams in the same market. He called Rangers games on radio and Knicks games on TV.
In 2015, Kenny Albert announced the 2015 American League Division Series between the Texas Rangers and the Toronto Blue Jays. In Game 5, he helped explain a tricky rule about a throw that led to the Rangers scoring. Later in that same game, he called Jose Bautista's famous go-ahead home run.
In 2016, Kenny was nominated for a Sports Emmy Award. This award is for the best play-by-play announcer. His father was also on the list of nominees that year.
After Mike Emrick retired, Kenny became NBC's main play-by-play announcer for the 2020–21 NHL season. He worked with Eddie Olczyk, who had been Emrick's partner for a long time. When NBC lost its NHL rights, Kenny and Eddie moved to Turner Sports to continue calling games.
Kenny Albert has been an announcer for the NFL on Fox since Fox started broadcasting NFL games in 1994. On October 13, 2024, he became the first play-by-play announcer to call 500 regular season or postseason games for the same network.
Calling Four Sports in Four Days
Kenny Albert is known for his ability to call many different sports. On October 25, 2009, he called an NFL game between the Minnesota Vikings and the Pittsburgh Steelers for Fox. That same night, he hosted the New York Yankees' celebration after they won the American League Championship Series.
The very next night, he broadcast a Rangers hockey game on the radio. Then, on October 28, he called the New York Knicks season opener on MSG Network. This showed his amazing skill in covering different sports back-to-back.
Kenny Albert's Personal Life
Kenny Albert lives in New Jersey with his wife, Barbara (Wolf). They have been married for 29 years and have two daughters, Amanda and Sydney. A close friend, Jerry Coleman, introduced Kenny to his wife.
Kenny loves all sports, but he especially enjoys hockey and basketball. He has said that baseball is the hardest sport to announce.
Kenny Albert wrote his first book, an autobiography called "A Mic For All Seasons." It was released on October 10, 2023. The book shares stories from his 30 years in broadcasting. It talks about how his career grew, his relationships with other broadcasters and athletes, and his family.
Career Timeline
| Year | Title | Role | Network |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1990–1992 | Baltimore Skipjacks | Play-by-play | MSG Network |
| 1992–1995 | Washington Capitals | Play-by-play | NBC Sports Washington |
| 1993–1994 | NHL on ESPN2 | Play-by-play | ESPN2 |
| 1995–present | New York Rangers | Play-by-play | MSG Network |
| 1994–present | NFL on Fox | play-by-play | Fox |
| 1995–1999 | NHL on Fox | Play-by-play | |
| 1999–2000 | NTRA on Fox | Host | |
| 2001–2019, 2022–present | MLB on Fox | Play-by-play | |
| 2005 | Washington Nationals | Fill-in television play-by-play | MASN |
| 2005–2006 | NHL on Versus | Play-by-play | Versus |
| 2007–2009 | Sugar Bowl | Play-by-play | Fox |
| 2009–present | New York Knicks | Fill-in television play-by-play | MSG Network |
| 2010–2023 | Washington Redskins/Commanders Broadcast Network | Preseason play-by-play | NBC Sports Washington |
| 2011 | NHL on Versus | Playoffs play-by-play | Versus |
| 2012–2021 | NHL on NBC | Secondary play-by-play and then lead play-by-play | NBC |
| 2021–present | NHL on TNT | Play-by-play (lead) | TNT/TBS/TruTV |
Olympics Coverage
Kenny Albert has been a play-by-play announcer for several Olympic Games:
- 2002: Winter Olympics – hockey play-by-play
- 2006: Winter Olympics – hockey play-by-play
- 2010: Winter Olympics – hockey play-by-play
- 2014: Winter Olympics – hockey play-by-play
- 2016: Summer Olympics – track and field play-by-play
- 2018: Winter Olympics – hockey play-by-play
- 2021: Summer Olympics - baseball and volleyball play-by-play
- 2022: Winter Olympics - hockey play-by-play
- 2024: 2024 Summer Olympics - Water polo play-by-play
Radio Work
- 1994–1995, 2016–2020: NHL Radio – lead play-by-play
- 1995–2025: New York Rangers – radio play-by-play
Books
- "A Mic For All Seasons" (2023)
