Alan Richard Michaels (born November 12, 1944) is an American television sportscaster…who initially joined ABC as the back-up announcer on Monday Night Baseball in 1976. The following year, he was promoted to the network on a full-time basis….as he became the lead announcer replacing Keith Jackson in 1983. Over the next three decades, Michaels covered a wide variety of sports for ABC including Major League Baseball, college football, college basketball, ice hockey, track and field events, horse racing (as seen herewith), golf, boxing (such as the 1985 Marvin Hagler vs Thomas Hearns fight), figure skating, road cycling and many events of the Olympic Games as well as the Olympic trials….to which we at ImaSportsphile are delighted to have so much of Al Michaels work in our library…..and after he left ABC in 2007….he went over to NBC Sports and has been there ever since….evidenced by his call of this past Sunday Night Football telecasts of the NFL’s Buffalo Bills vs New England Patriots.
Dave Johnson is an American announcer and sportscaster….best known for his work in horse racing with ABC and NBC Sports….and at various race tracks in New York and New Jersey. His signature line….“And down the stretch they come!”….is instantly recognizable throughout the sport….while often imitated by comedians, notably David Letterman. From 1972 to 1977, Johnson was the public address announcer for the tracks of the New York Racing Association….when he moved to the new Meadowlands Racetrack in New Jersey…as he called both thoroughbred and harness racing. He maintained his Meadowlands schedule into the early 21st century. Though he’s no longer the regular voice at the Big M….he continues to do special appearances in his role as senior track announcer.
For ABC, Johnson called the Kentucky Derby from 1978 to 1980 and 1982 to 2000….and the Preakness Stakes and Belmont Stakes from 1982 to 2000….which makes this video another “nugget of pure gold” in our ImaSportsphile treasure chest of vintage memories….as two legends of sports announcing and broadcasting provide this rundown of the favorites and odds for the 1987 Kentucky Derby.
