Packer labored as analyst or shade commentator on each Final Four from 1975 to 2008.
CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Billy Packer, an Emmy award-winning school basketball broadcaster who coated 34 Final Fours for NBC and CBS, died Thursday. He was 82.
Packer’s son, Mark, advised The Associated Press that his father had been hospitalized in Charlotte for the previous three weeks and had a number of medical points, and finally succumbed to kidney failure.
Packer’s broadcasting profession coincided with the expansion of faculty basketball. He labored as analyst or shade commentator on each Final Four from 1975 to 2008.
“He really enjoyed doing the Final Fours,” Mark Packer stated. “He timed it right. Everything in life is about timing. The ability to get involved in something that, frankly, he was going to watch anyway, was a joy to him. And then college basketball just sort of took off with Magic Johnson and Larry Bird and that became, I think, the catalyst for college basketball fans to just go crazy with March Madness.”
Packer performed three seasons at Wake Forest, and helped lead the Demon Deacons to the Final Four in 1962, however it was his work as an analyst that introduced him probably the most acclaim.
He joined NBC in 1974 and referred to as his first Final Four in 1975. UCLA defeated Kentucky within the ultimate that yr in what was John Wooden’s ultimate sport as coach.
Packer was additionally a part of the announce crew in 1979 with Dick Enberg and Al McGuire when Magic Johnson’s Michigan State group defeated Larry Bird’s Indiana State squad within the title sport. That sport stays highest-rated sport in basketball historical past with a 21.1 Nielsen ranking, which is an estimated 35.1 million viewers.
Packer went to CBS within the fall of 1981, when the community acquired the rights to the NCAA Tournament. He remained the community’s important analyst till the 2008 Final Four.
Sean McManus, the chairman of CBS Sports, stated Packer was “synonymous with college basketball for more than three decades and set the standard of excellence as the voice of the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament.”
“He had a tremendous impact on the growth and popularity of the sport.” McManus stated. “In true Billy fashion, he analyzed the game with his own unique style, perspective and opinions, yet always kept the focus on the game. As passionate as he was about basketball, at his heart Billy was a family man. He leaves part of his legacy at CBS Sports, across college basketball and, most importantly, as a beloved husband, father and grandfather. He will be deeply missed by all.”
Packer was inducted into the National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame in 2008.
Packer was seen as a controversial determine throughout his broadcasting days, typically drawing the ire of faculty basketball followers, significantly on North Carolina’s “Tobacco Road.”
“As a kid, I was a big NC State fan growing up, and I would watch a game and the next day I’d be like, ‘Boy you sure have it out for NC State, don’t you?’ And he would just laugh,” Mark Packer stated.
The youthful Packer stated it did not matter what faculty — most followers felt the identical manner about his father.
“He would cover North Carolina game and Tar Heels fans would be like, ‘you hate North Carolina,’” Mark Packer stated. “Wake (Forest) followers could be like, ‘you hate us.’ And Billy simply kind of received a kick out of that. I imply, folks could be throughout him. But he truthfully didn’t give a crap.”
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