Dick Enberg: The master of the moment

For the last 50 years, Dick Enberg artfully and expertly orated a wide variety of moments in the world of sporting events. Indeed, when Enberg passed away in his home just before Christmas in Southern California, he left more than the legacy of a legendary broadcaster of sport – he reminded two generations of sports enthusiasts of the many memories of moments that Mr. Enberg help usher to us from the vast world of sport.

In the storied history of the NFL’s Super Bowl, for example, Dick Enberg etched his mark in using his words as we not only listened as a wild-card team (with a “washed up” quarterback) win the Super Bowl for the first time in history, but also listened in amazement as a behemoth of a man (nicknamed “The Refrigerator”) lined up in the backfield and scored the first rushing touchdown ever by an offensive lineman in a Super Bowl.

Enberg had moments of distinction in his covering of NCAA college basketball, such as being the announcer at the first ever national prime time broadcast of a game and being the announcer when team with a young Larry Bird played for a championship against a team with a young Earvin Johnson.

Sometimes, however, Mr. Enberg’s oration was a bit lighthearted, such as the time when he had run out of facts and stories to share during a “stall tactic” game and began humming his own unique version of a popular song of the time to fill in the audible void.

Dick Enberg’s impressive tennis tenure stretches all the way from the days of players like Navratilova, Evert, Borg, and Connors to a different group of players named Graf, Davenport, Agassi and Sampras. He made a curtain call in this part of his career, coming back at a time where he was one of the first people to describe the play of two “up and comers” by the names of Nadal and Federer.

If that isn’t enough, Mr. Enberg also had prolific career stints as the play-by-play announcer for multiple teams in both the NFL and Major League Baseball. Most of us can only look at such a career and proclaim “Oh, my!”

Though with Dick Enberg’s passing we have been reminded of these memories and more over the past several days, they just don’t seem the same knowing that he’s gone. But he wouldn’t want it that way – he would want everyone to “touch ‘em all” when remembering the memories of the moments that he helped to create.