Аль Маккой: Голос «Финикс Санз» и легенда NBA

American sports announcer

Al McCoy (born April 26, 1933), known as The Voice of the Suns, is a retired American sportscaster who was the play by play announcer for the Phoenix Suns of the National Basketball Association from 1972 to 2023. The 2022–23 NBA season was his 51st and final season. He is the longest tenured broadcaster in NBA history. Along with Chick Hearn, Hot Rod Hundley and Kevin Calabro, he is among the last of NBA broadcasters to have been simulcast on both television and radio, before league officials ended the practice in the mid 00's and McCoy's broadcasts became exclusive to radio and online streaming via the Suns Radio Network. His fast paced, classical broadcasting style coupled with his colorful use of catchphrase to distinguish plays has proven influential to a generation of sportscasters, such as lead NBA on ABC play by play announcer Mike Breen, who remarked of McCoy as "one of my heroes" during live ESPN coverage of the 2021 Western Conference Finals. Steve Albert said "I put him up there with Vin Scully and Ernie Harwell, and all the greats, all the legends." McCoy is a Curt Gowdy Media Award winner and a member of the Phoenix Suns Ring of Honor. Despite these accolades, The Arizona Republic would later detail the circumstances leading to his forced displacement to the back of the Suns arena upon his final season, after 50 previous seasons on the floor next to the Suns players' bench in a courtside spot once named "the best seat in the house" in his own Ring of Honor speech. The Arizona Republic also published a photo gallery showing 90 year old Al McCoy walking up the long flights of concrete steps to the higher arena location Suns personnel moved him to finish his career.

Born in 1933 in the small town of Williams, Iowa, Al McCoy grew up on a farm outside the area with no electricity or running water throughout his early childhood. and was still a frequent guest on "Two Guys Named Jim"—a sports talk show on WHO. He would eventually move from Iowa City, to WJJD in Chicago, to WHLD in Niagara Falls where he commenced broadcasting a “Steve Allen type” piano meets disc jockey show for Buffalo, New York that was rejected by WHO. Three weeks after moving to Niagara Falls, amidst a decade of constant transition and upheaval, he found stability in the form of Georgia Shahinian, born Koharig Shahinian, meeting her at a birthday party for a mutual friend. The two soon found themselves inseparable, and quickly became a daily part of each other's lives. As his radio contract in Buffalo was set to expire, McCoy got a tip from New York Giants play by play broadcaster Russ Hodges that the team would be relocating to San Francisco as their Triple A farm team moved to Phoenix, Arizona. Both men felt McCoy had a good shot of securing the job. With major life decisions to be made quickly, Georgia & Al McCoy were soon wed, hitching their lives on a trailer attached to his '54 Ford with no air conditioning, headed southwest in the summer of 1958.

After getting married, Al & Georgia McCoy moved to Phoenix, AZ in the summer of 1958. McCoy continued to broadcast on the Suns Radio Network through the 2022 23 NBA season. For 50 consecutive seasons (barring remote broadcasts during the pandemic) his official arena broadcast location had been stationed courtside, adjacent to the Suns players' home bench, as recent as May 2022. He stopped broadcasting road games in 2019 due to difficult vantage points at higher locations in other NBA arenas.

In the fall of 1966 McCoy completed his first NBA broadcast during a preseason game at Arizona Veterans Memorial Coliseum between the St. Louis Hawks and Golden State Warriors. Thrilled by the idea of professional basketball in Phoenix upon announcement of the scheduled game, he phoned the Hawks GM and brokered a deal for his then employer KOOL FM to broadcast the game in exchange for free advertising spots, making sure to record his broadcast as a demo for a potential future in basketball. He was honored by the Naismith Hall of Fame on September 5, 2007, when he became the 17th recipient of the Curt Gowdy Media Award for broadcasters at a ceremony in Springfield, Massachusetts. McCoy returned to television play by play for one night on August 22, 2014, broadcasting the WNBA playoff opening game between the Phoenix Mercury hosting the Los Angeles Sparks for NBATV. On October 26, 2016, during a Suns home game against the Oklahoma City Thunder, he officially became the longest tenured broadcaster in NBA History, surpassing Chick Hearn of the Los Angeles Lakers previous broadcasting record. At halftime of the record setting game, the arena ran a video montage before Suns managing partner Robert Sarver announced that McCoy would become the 15th member of the Suns Ring of Honor, as McCoy wiped a tear from his eye. In his induction speech, McCoy thanked the organization, the fans and emphasized that "every player that has ever put on a Suns uniform is special to me, always will be," adding that he still very much feels the thrill of the game when the ball goes in the air, concluding,

blockquote|If you will continue to accept me, and if God keeps smiling on me, I'm just gonna keep going. as he shook both of McCoy's hands and congratulated him, saying "50th season, baby! Franchise record. Love you, man. Appreciate you, for real." Five days later on April 10, 2022, Mayor of Phoenix Kate Gallego issued an official proclamation declaring the date as "Al McCoy Day" in the city of Phoenix, in honor of his 50th season and "to say thank you for guiding us through so many Suns victories and helping us celebrate with a 'Whammo' or 'SHAZAM!' when we needed it the most." On December 17, 2022, he served as the Grand Marshal of the 2022 Fiesta Bowl Parade.

Al McCoy has been vocal in his opposition of NBA teams and NBA arenas increasingly moving the broadcast locations for radio crews away from the floor and placing them in locations high above courtside where portions of the court are partially obscured. McCoy wrote in his autobiography that he prefers broadcasting courtside not only for the complete view of the court, but also because it enables him to keep on top of personnel changes, player and coach interactions, clarification of referee calls, and the general flow of the game for the listening audience.

Curt Gowdy Media Award from the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, 2007. Arizona Sports Hall of Fame, 2009. Arizona Music & Entertainment Hall of Fame, 2011. Iowa Hall of Pride, 2015. Phoenix Suns Ring of Honor member, 2017. Rocky Mountain Emmy Awards gold circle member, 2022. Phoenix Magazine Voted "Best Play by Play" announcer in annual "Best of the Valley" readers poll for 24 years in a row, since magazine inception to present date.