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Hall of Fame Broadcaster Marv Albert Will Retire After 2021 NBA Eastern Conference Finals

Andrew D. Bernstein/NBAE via Getty Images Marv Albert

Marv Albert is hanging up the mic.

After a decades-long career in broadcasting, Albert — who will turn 80 next month — has announced that he will retire at the end of the NBA Eastern Conference Finals.

"My 55 years of broadcasting the NBA has just flown by and I've been fortunate to work with so many wonderful and talented people," he said in a press release shared by Turner Sports. "Now, I'll have the opportunity to hone my gardening skills and work on my ballroom dancing."

"There is no voice more closely associated with NBA basketball than Marv Albert's," added NBA Commissioner Adam Silver. "My first memories of the NBA were of listening to Marv call a game with his signature style, iconic phrases and unparalleled passion. From his remarkable run as play-by-play announcer for the Knicks to his prominent national roles calling our marquee games on NBC and Turner Sports, Marv has been the soundtrack for basketball fans for nearly 60 years. We congratulate him on a Hall of Fame career that is simply unmatched."

Cindy Ord/Getty Images Marv Albert

Albert got his start in the business while working as a ball boy for the Knicks, according to the Sports Broadcasting Hall of Fame. There, he was introduced to late sportscaster Marty Glickman, whom he went on to fill in for during a number of Knicks and New York Rangers games by the time he was 19.

By 1967, he became the full-time play-by-play announcer for the Knicks, a role he continued to hold until 2004. He then went on to become the voice of the New Jersey Nets, prior to the team's move to Brooklyn.

Since 1999, he has also worked as TNT's lead play-by-play announcer.

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During an interview celebrating his induction into the Sports Broadcasting Hall of Fame in 2015, Albert shed some light on the origins of his famous "Yes!" call.

During his first playoff series with the Knicks, Albert said that he came up with the call after guard Dick Barnett hit a clutch shot during a game against the Philadelphia 76ers.

"It just seemed to feel right," he said. "I'd throw it in every once in a while on big baskets. That was when I started hearing it said back to me. It made me realize that, Hey, people are actually listening."

Andrew D. Bernstein/NBAE via Getty Images Marv Albert

Over the course of his career, Albert has also called Super Bowls, Stanley Cup Finals, as well as boxing and Wimbledon matches.

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Among his many honors, he was awarded one of the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame's highest journalistic honors, the "Curt Gowdy Media Award," in 1997.

He is also a 91-time NSSA New York State Sportscaster of the Year and was inducted into the National Sports Media Association's Hall of Fame in 2014.

"Whatever people are interested in doing as a career, there's so much randomness, and you've got to have a little bit a luck," he said of his legacy as he was inducted into the Sports Broadcasting Hall of Fame. "You can have a lot of talent, but you've got to be fortunate enough to get a few breaks, too. I've been very fortunate to have the opportunity to be able to get those breaks. I never thought it would reach the point that it did."