From a "Shazam!" 3-point bomb to a "Heartbreak Hotel" loss, few broadcasters have covered as much ground—on the air or off it—as Al McCoy. Traveling coast to coast and continent to continent for more than 50 years, Al has called the action in every sport from big-league baseball to college football to minor-league hockey. Beloved in Arizona, he has been the one voice Phoenix Suns fans can count on since 1972.

Born April 26, 1933 in Iowa, Al grew up in Williams, one of the Hawkeye state's tiniest farming communities. As a boy, he listened intently to the venerable play-by-play men of the Midwest, and dreamed of doing games just like them—smooth, funny and compelling. Are Suns fans ever glad he did. Today, they tune into UPN45 in Phoenix or spin the dial to KTAR Radio to hear one of the most distinctive deliveries in sports broadcasting. Of current NBA announcers, no one can claim a longer tenure with the same team.

A graduate of Drake University, Al received his alma mater's Alumni Achievement Award in 1994. He has been honored with a Silver Circle Award from the Arizona chapter of the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences, and a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Arizona Museum of Broadcasting. Al is a member of the Arizona Broadcasters Association Hall of Fame, too.

A culinary critic and the Suns' expert on gourmet restaurants, Al is also an accomplished jazz pianist. He and his wife, Georgia, have three sons, Mike and twins Jay and Jerry. Al spoke to JockBio about his life in and out of sports.

Al McCoy

Did you enjoy life as a kid in Iowa?

Yes, very much. I was born and raised on a farm, about 50 miles outside of Des Moines. My hometown was very small, a population of 600. I was one of 15 in my high school graduating class.

There were advantages to living in Williams. I loved sports, and I could do everything because there were so few kids. I played football, baseball and basketball. I still keep in touch with my high school basketball coach. People used to ask him, "Why does McCoy get so much playing time"? He'd tell them, "Because if I sit him on the bench, all he does is pretend to broadcast our games, and I get tired of listening to him."

So you wanted to be a play-by-play man from an early age?

Growing up in Iowa, I got to listen to Cub and Cardinal broadcasts. Harry Caray, Bert Wilson and Jack Brickhouse were all very influential. They fed my passion for sports.

I was always very talkative. In high school, I won a state prize in radio speaking. That helped me earn a scholarship to Drake University. There I majored in Drama-Speech. After my freshman year, in the spring of 1951, I thought I was ready to be on the air. I sent audition tapes to 25 radio stations. One responded, KJFJ in Webster City, Iowa. I got a job, and worked with them through the summer. I considered not going back to school, but returned in the fall.

At Drake, I was fortunate for a couple of reasons. First, my mentor was professor Jim Duncan. He taught me a lot. Second, I was always working in broadcasting. As a sophomore, I got a job with a station in Des Moines that was just starting in FM radio.

It was an exciting time to be in broadcasting after I graduated in 1954. It was the advent of TV, and there was one station in Iowa, WOI. I worked there, and went to the University of Iowa to get my graduate degree at the same time.

How did you end up in Arizona?

After grad school, I bounced between a couple of different cities. Then in 1958, I was offered a job at KOOL in Phoenix. The station was launching a new show called "Opinion Please." It was the first sports call-in show in that market. We patterned it after a similar show in Los Angeles. It was different than anything I had done before, and there was also a few extra dollars in it for me. I just winged it, usually taking calls from listeners. I enjoyed it, though that wasn't what I wanted to do the rest of my life.

You still had your eye on play-by-play work?

Sure. The Brooklyn Dodgers had just moved to Los Angeles, and the New York Giants had moved to San Francisco. Phoenix had a Class-C farm team in the 1950s, and the Giants moved their Triple-A Pacific Coast League club there. I got to do the games with Art Gleason.

It was a tremendous opportunity. In that era, a lot of major leaguers who still wanted to play signed minor-league contracts. Not only did I get to see rising stars like Willie McCovey, but guys like Dusty Rhodes and Jack Dittmer were also on the team. In the mid-1960s, Bobby Bonds was the big player. I watched a lot of great stars come through Phoenix.

Baseball wasn't the only sport you covered during this time. Talk about your experiences doing Phoenix Roadrunner games.

KOOL wanted to pick up hockey, so the station signed a deal with the Roadrunners. Jim Wells was hired to do the play-by-play. I was asked to help out on color commentary and pre-game stuff. I didn't know anything about hockey. The first time I heard a hockey broadcast was when I was a kid in Iowa. I thought I was listening to basketball.

I was the analyst with Jim through the entire first season. The following year, just as we were getting ready for a road trip to Denver, Roadrunner GM Bob Whitlow came to me with terrible news. Jim had fallen through a glass door. I had to do the play-by-play. I did a good job, and when Jim returned, he offered to take over as the analyst. It was a nice gesture.

During that period, you were also calling ASU football and basketball games. Did you have your eye on bigger things?

I always wanted to do play-by-play, and basketball was always my favorite sport. I didn't care if I worked on TV or radio. After Veterans Memorial Coliseum was built in Phoenix in 1965, the NBA played pre-season games there. I cut a deal with the St. Louis Hawks to call their games in Phoenix. I put together a good collection of tapes.

When the Suns came to town in 1967, I met with Jerry Colangelo and Johnny Kerr about doing the games. Karl Eller, one of the members of the ownership group, also owned KTAR. He bought the broadcast rights to give the team an operating budget. I was offered the position as the team's announcer for KTAR. But I didn't want to work outside the organization, so I turned down the job.

In 1972, the Suns moved radio and TV in-house. That meant all of the advertising sales and other business associated with the broadcasts was done by the club. They were one of the first teams to try this. Because of my background, this was a perfect opportunity.

My first game was in the pre-season that fall. My color guy was Hot Rod Hundley. The Suns were in Salt Lake City for the Utah Stars. In those days, the NBA and ABA played exhibition games. I had done hockey games there in the past, so I made big sign that said, "Phoenix Suns & Utah Stars," because I didn't want to say the wrong names on air.

By then, the Suns had built an interesting team, including winning the rights to Connie Hawkins. What kind of player was he? What kind of man was he?

Getting Connie was one of the early turnarounds for the fans in Phoenix. Unfortunately, he was at the tail end of his career. Still, he was a sensational player. Connie came to the Suns in 1969. In his first season, the team made the playoffs and had the mighty Lakers of Jerry West and Wilt Chamberlain down in their best-of-seven series. Los Angeles rallied to win, but basketball really began to catch on in Phoenix.

Connie was always tremendous with the fans, especially kids. People in Phoenix didn't know a lot about basketball before he got here, but they learned a lot after he arrived. Connie still works for the Suns today doing programs in the community.

Hawkins was important to the Suns as they matured into a competitive NBA club. Still, no one could have been prepared for what happened in the spring of 1976, when Phoenix advanced to the NBA Finals.

No one felt the Suns could make the playoffs heading into that season. But they added two rookies who wound up playing vital roles. Alvan Adams was out of Oklahoma, where he had played for John MacLeod, then the coach of the Suns. Ricky Sobers was a flashy guard out of UNLV.

For most of the year, the best the Suns did was flirt with .500. Late in the season, Dick Van Arsdale was undercut driving to the hoop and broke his wrist. The next morning the Suns were a pretty down crew. They were on a bus to the airport, and MacLeod told the driver to pull over along the highway. He asked every player on that bus, "What are we here for?" He was very animated. Everyone responded the same way, "We're here to win." Then they set a goal of making the playoffs.

The rest of the year was an incredible ride, including the Western Conference Finals against the Warriors. Game 7 in San Francisco was amazing. It was so emotional. Before the game, some fans mixed it up with Curtis Perry. Later, Sobers and Rick Barry almost fought. Those incidents fired up the team. The Suns became the aggressors. I'm sure that helped them beat the Warriors.

What do you remember about the '76 Finals against the Celtics?

The Suns got absolutely no respect in Boston. The newspapers, the broadcasters, the fans—everyone expected a blowout. Then the Celtics won the first two games. But the Suns bounced back in Phoenix, and evened the series. That set the stage for Game 5, which many people still call the greatest game ever played.

The game started late because of TV, so you can imagine what Boston fans were doing in the hours before tip-off. It was a hot, humid day, and the Boston Garden had no air conditioning. It was stifling inside.

Not only was I doing the game for the Phoenix market, I was also broadcasting for Armed Forces Radio. They put me way up high, and as I was preparing to go on air, some Celtic fans sat down next to me. They were already drunk and ready for a party. The game was so exciting. Everyone in the building could feel the tension. When Garfield Heard hit that shot at the end of the second overtime, the guy next to me passed out on my lap. It was the biggest challenge of my career to that point. How do I get him off me and continue calling the game?

Though the Suns lost the game, it was a classic. It really turned Phoenix into an NBA city.

Adams was one of the Suns' heroes in 1976. He was named Rookie of the Year, and went on to have a great career. Talk about him.

If Alvan had played in any other city, he would have received 10 times more recognition for what he did during his career. He was undersized for a center—he was just 6-9. But he was an excellent passer and shooter. Anyone who played with him or against him couldn't say enough about him.

Alvan certainly had a big influence on the Suns. He still works for the team today.

You enjoyed so many good times with the Suns early in your career. Then came the drug scandal of 1988. How did that affect you? How did it affect your relationship with Walter Davis, the player at the center of the controversy?

That was definitely a low point. It was much harder to do my job. But I also think the situation was overblown. There was nothing to the investigation. It never really turned up anything.

I felt bad for Walter, but he overcame it all. I still love him today. Walter was probably the best pure shooter the Suns ever had—maybe the best pure shooter the NBA has ever seen. He was so good in clutch situations. I could talk all day about his game-winning shots. Walter was the man with the velvet touch.
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What was the turning point for the franchise after the drug scandal?

I'd have to say the arrival of Charles Barkley in 1992. That season started with high expectations. The Suns had a new arena, America West, a new coach, Paul Westphal, and new uniforms.

What stood out the most about Barkley?

I never saw a player with more of a will to win. Granted, he had a great supporting cast around him—Kevin Johnson, Dan Majerle, Danny Ainge, Tom Chambers, Cedric Ceballos. But Charles wanted it so badly.

I remember him before Game 3 of the 1993 NBA Finals against the Bulls. It was a classic match-up, Jordan vs. Barkley. They were very good friends, but it was different when they were on the floor. Chicago won the first two games in Phoenix, and the Bulls fans were geared up for a sweep. There were signs all over the place saying the series was over.

In the dressing room before the game, Charles put up a sign of his own, telling his teammates that is wasn't over. He was incredibly intense and focused.

Did you ever imagine you would be calling history again, another NBA Finals game going into triple overtime?

No way. It was an amazing night. I thought back to 1976 against the Celtics. There was more talent on the floor in the 1993 Finals, but the emotion was the same.

After the Suns won Game 3, I really believed we were going to win the series. Then John Paxson hit that 3-pointer in Game 7. I still won't talk to him. Ainge tells me that he still wakes up at night wondering why he wasn't any closer to him.

 

Today the Suns have a player in Amare Stoudemire who might lead them back to the NBA Finals. Did you know he was going to develop into such a powerful force?

You never know how a player will develop. I had a chance to see Amare before the draft in a workout for the Suns. Everyone there was in awe of physical skills. But there was also a lot of downside. He was coming right out of high school, and his home life was unsettled. In that sense, the Suns took a chance other teams weren't willing to take.

 

How does Stoudemire compare to Barkley?

That's a tough comparison. They are different players. Amare understandably has more natural ability. He's bigger and stronger than Charles was. That's apparent in the fact that he skipped college. It took time for Charles to develop into a star, and it has taken Amare time, too.

You never know what's inside of a player. Charles had tremendous heart. As it turned out, so does Amare. His heart is as big as his body.

Our last question. Your signature calls—Shazam and Heartbreak Hotel—where did they come from?

A lot of network guys kid me about Shazam. It's probably my most identifiable call. When the NBA introduced the 3-point shot in 1979, I thought back to my baseball days. Every announcer has his own home run call. I wondered what I could do for a 3-pointer. During my days on the farm in Iowa, I read a lot of Captain Marvel comic books. Those stories—Billy Batson and the ancient wizard, Shazam—stayed with me.

Heartbreak Hotel goes back to me roots doing FM radio. I said it the first time after a particularly tough Suns loss, when a layup rolled around the rim and fell out. I figured that's where the Suns and their fans were going after the game that night.