Everyone has to get their start somewhere, and for one of pro sports’ preeminent voices, his entry into the sports world started at the very bottom. Before becoming Marv Albert: Voice Of The NBA, he was Marvin Aufrichtig: New York Knicks Ball-Busting Ballboy.
We have Grantland’s Bryan Curtis to thank for drudging up an old article from 1957 by a 16-year-old Albert in his high school newspaper. In it he recalls a recent roadtrip to Philly with the gang. He manages to capture the awe of such intimate access to some of the league’s stars, while also finding time to rag on one particular player for his less-than-side-splitting sense of humor:
Vintage stuff. You can even see some of the professional Albert’s famous phraseology peeking through the language of his younger self’s prose. Though we have to admit, we’d be most interested in any of his old articles hinting at some of his more sordid later proclivities.
h/t Bryan Curtis