MICHAELS, ALAN RICHARD

MICHAELS, ALAN RICHARD ("Al "; 1944– ), U.S. sports broadcaster. The Brooklyn, New York-born tv sports broadcaster was raised near Ebbets Field, fabled home of the Brooklyn Dodgers, which inspired his future award-winning career. Michaels graduated from Arizona State University in 1966, and almost immediately went into sports broadcasting, starting with a Hawaii team in the baseball minor leagues. He broadcast a World Series on radio in 1972, meeting his childhood goal of doing such a broadcast before he turned 30. He broadcast many prominent sports events of the late 20^th century, including the U.S. upset of the U.S.S.R. hockey team at the 1980 Winter Olympics. As the game ended, he shouted, "Do you believe in miracles," one of the most famous calls in sports history, and has twice since then played himself in film and tv recreations of that event. Michaels was the lead broadcaster for Monday Night Football from 1986, and won an Emmy award for his broadcast of the third game of the 1989 World Series, which was interrupted by an earthquake. In 2004, Michaels broadcast his first National Basketball Association finals, making him the only sportscaster to have announced a World Series, a Super Bowl, a Stanley Cup final, and the nba championship. Michaels received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2004, and is a member of the National Sportscasters and Sportswriters Association Hall of Fame. He appeared as himself in the 1996 film, Jerry Maguire. Unlike Howard *Cosell and Larry *Merchant, Michaels is more of a reporter than a commentator. In a 2004 interview, he said: "I look at sports as drama.… Let the drama play out."

[Alan D. Abbey (2^nd ed.)]