Living the dream:
Sixers’ play-by-play man is a ‘Philly guy’
Written
by Adam Levitan
Metro: US Edition
February 23, 2009
The year was 1963. Marc Zumoff and his father strolled up to the ticket window at Convention Hall, expecting to see the newly minted Philadelphia 76ers take on the Cincinnati Royals.
Nope, said the attendant. The boat show was in town and the Sixers game got moved to The Arena on 45th and Market. So Zumoff, at age 8, and his dad made their way across town. By the time they got inside, Hal Greer and the Sixers were already taking a beating from Oscar Robertson’s Royals.
It was the last time Zumoff was late for a Sixers game. Now in his 15th year as the play-by-play voice of his hometown team, the George Washington High grad is living his dream.
“In my world, the Sixers were it,” Zumoff said. “They were my first love.”
But in terms of broadcasting, it was the Phillies that stuck with Zumoff. During the 1964 pennant chase, Zumoff would listen to radio broadcasts on his parents’ console stereo. He even remembers when legendary play-by-play man Bill Campbell called a Willie McCovey home run “a satellite going off into the night.”
Now that it’s Zumoff’s voice that kids listen to during Sixers telecasts, the Emmy award winner doesn’t let that enthusiasm wane.
“I think what you do is you tell the story of the game from the Sixers’ point of view,” Zumoff said. “This is the team that fans are rooting for that watch the games and it’s the team that I’m rooting for. I’m a fan. I love the Sixers as a Philly guy.”
Sign
up for my opt-in list and automatically receive Marc
Zumoff news and updates via my Blog. E-mail me now
and I’ll get right back to you so I can help you
achieve your dream of being a news or sports broadcast
performer.
