Longtime NBA broadcaster and former coach Hubie Brown is in his final season, ESPN content president Burke Magnus said this week.
Appearing on the “SI Media with Jimmy Traina” podcast, Magnus said of the 91-year-old Brown, “I don’t think there’s a single human being that’s ever had a longer relationship with professional basketball.”
“We’re going to give Hubie one last chance in the match.” He deserves it,” said Magnus. “We think of him the whole world. I think he’s absolutely remarkable at the level he’s still calling games in his 90s and over…We’re going to honor Hubie this year during the regular season to make the decision and send him off in style.”
After a brief playing career, Brown entered high school coaching in 1955. After a decade, he moved up the college ranks as an assistant at William & Mary and Duke before joining the 1972 Milwaukee Bucks, a team that featured 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. After the ABA-NBA merger, Brown was hired as the head coach of the Atlanta Hawks. He was named NBA Coach of the Year in 1978 and was fired in the 1980-81 season.
After the departure of legendary head 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 taking up broadcasting between jobs, Brown became a regular on television following his release from the Knicks. He joined the NBA on CBS 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 after an 0-8 start. The following season, his first full in charge, the Grizzlies improved to 22 wins, went 50-32 and made the playoffs for the first time in franchise history. That success led to Brown being named Coach of the Year for the second time.
Brown’s tenure in Memphis didn’t last long. He retired twelve games into the 2004-05 season due to health reasons.
Brown was again hired by ABC for NBA coverage and announced the NBA Finals in 2005 and 2006. Since then, it has been featured on ABC/ESPN telecasts. 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 aged 87. His son Brendan died earlier this month of medical complications at the age of 54.