When one pictures John Sterling, it’s in one place: stationed behind the microphone for one of the thousands of Yankees radio broadcasts he’s done over the past 30 years.
But there was life before pinstripes for Sterling. There was the late-night talk show host in Baltimore in the 1960s who peppered in sports segments, which led to him sitting next to Bullets announcer and friend Jim Karvellas during games.
“I took a lot of my rhythm and pace from Jim,” Sterling said. “So, I started sitting with him during games and I’d throw in a word or two and I started building a sports rep.”
Sterling professes baseball was always “the big enchilada” for him, but basketball was his launching-off point. And he’ll return to the hardwood for Sunday’s Nets-Hawks game — two of the NBA franchises he worked for as he rose up the play-by-play ranks — on YES Network
“It’s been a lifelong love affair with basketball,” Sterling said. “I played when I was on the air, I was a gym rat.”
Sterling, 80, said he played basketball in high school then for one year at Moravian College before he transferred, though he continued playing recreationally. That took a bad turn in 1975 when he was playing in a charity game at Fordham University and he hurt his knee defending a fast break.
“My foot was planted and you could hear the snap, crackle and pop in my knee. And I am on the floor and Jerry Moses, an ex-catcher (Red Sox), ran on the floor and dragged me off,” Sterling remembered.
But just like you cannot pull Sterling off the microphone — he has not missed a Yankees broadcast since 1989 — you apparently could not keep him off the basketball court.
“This is a true story, as true as could be,” Sterling said. “They told me in the locker room, ‘You are the only one in shape, you gotta play.’ … We were playing against a zone, I got a pass and I knew I was going to shoot and I made my last shot I ever took. I collapsed in a heap.”
Sterling went on to call Hawks games throughout most of the 1980s and was on the call for Game 7 of the 1988 Eastern Conference semifinals between the Hawks and Celtics. Boston won 118-116 thanks to 20 fourth-quarter points from Larry Bird, which helped the Celtics survive 47 from Dominique Wilkins.
“When I go to Boston a lot of the press will say to me, ‘Forget about Yankees-Red Sox, the best game you ever did was the Hawks-Celtics,’ ” Sterling said. “That was a phenomenal game, just phenomenal.”
Sunday’s game at Barclays Center may not have the same drama, but Sterling is still thrilled to be on the call alongside Sarah Kustok. He has attended two Nets games at Barclays to prepare and plans to have dinner with Hawks’ play-by-play man Steve Holman on Saturday night to get any needed information about their roster.
“I went to the two games just to get a feel,” Sterling said. “I can see more when I am courtside. I can see strength and speed a little more and the ability to take the ball where you want to go. … People ask me if I prepare for baseball. And I say I’ve been preparing every day since I was 7. I don’t have to worry about preparing. I’ve just done every game they played.”
