Gary Bender Wiki, Age, Wife, Family, Slary, Height, Net Worth, Instagram

Gary Bender Biography – Gary Bender Wiki

Gary Bender is a retired American sportscaster and 2008 inductee into the Kansas Sports Hall of Fame. He officially retired on April 13, 2011, from Fox Sports Arizona after 18 years calling the NBA’s Phoenix Suns games. He is also co-author of Michael Johnson of the biography Call of the Game, in which he shares his life story, tips on how to become a better broadcaster, and his Christian testimony. He graduated from Ulysses High School in 1958. He then attended Wichita State University graduating with a journalism degree in 1962 and a master’s degree from the University of Kansas in 1964.

He then started his broadcasting career calling games at Hutchinson Community College in Hutchinson, Kansas, and then went on to do the same at the University of Kansas’ football and basketball programs in the 1960s. He also spent years as a broadcaster in Wisconsin and called all of the Wisconsin Athletic Association championship games, as well as Green Bay Packers radio and Milwaukee Brewers television in the early 1970s.

He did play-by-play for the NFL on CBS from 1975 to 1981, and again in 1986 and the 1981 NBA Finals along with color commentators Rick Barry and Bill Russell, both members of the Basketball Hall of Fame. He was CBS’ first play-by-play announcer for the network’s coverage of the NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Tournament, calling the Final Four alongside Billy Packer in 1982, 1983, and 1984. In 1982 and 1983, he was CBS’ lead college football play-by-play man.

On October 26, 1987, he called the Monday Night Football game between the Denver Broncos and the Minnesota Vikings. That game had been scheduled for October 25, but when the Minnesota Twins played Game 7 of the World Series that day, the football game was moved to Monday and shown to a regional audience. In 1988, he did play-by-play for the American League Championship Series alongside Baseball Hall of Famers Joe Morgan and Reggie Jackson. He also announced college football games for ABC Sports, where he formerly worked alongside Dick Vermeil.

He did play-by-play for the 1988 American League Championship Series between the Oakland Athletics and Boston Red Sox. He spent two years (1987-1988) as the #2 baseball play-by-play man for ABC behind Al Michaels. Bender worked as the backup Monday Night Baseball broadcasts as well as serving as a field reporter/post-game interviewer for ABC’s 1987 World Series coverage. He would ultimately be taken off ABC’s baseball team in favor of Gary Thorne in 1989.

He also called NFL games for TNT from 1992 to 1994, teaming with Pat Haden. On December 17, 2009, he filled in for Marv Albert, who was battling throat problems, to call the Phoenix Suns at Portland Trail Blazers game on TNT and called the game with Reggie Miller. For 18 years, he was the television play-by-play announcer on Fox Sports Net for the National Basketball Association’s Phoenix Suns; he worked alongside former Suns players Eddie Johnson and Scott Williams. In 2006, he was named as the play-by-play announcer for the Versus network’s coverage of Mountain West Conference football, where he would be partnered with former NFL player Glenn Parker. He did a series of Kendall Motor Oil commercials in the mid-1980s.

In the first five months of 2001, he presided as host of the nationally syndicated Focus on the Family radio show after the resignation of the previous host Mike Trout (1985–2000) because of an extramarital affair. He was replaced on a full-time basis by Focus vice president of broadcasting John Fuller. He is an alumnus of the Kansas Delta chapter of Phi Delta Theta at Wichita State where he received his bachelor’s degree. He received his master’s degree in radio and TV from the University of Kansas.

Gary Bender Age

He was born on September 1, 1940, in Norton, Kansas.

Gary Bender Wife

He is married to his wife Linda.

Gary Bender Children

He has a son called Trey who is also a sportscaster and played Pop Warner Little Scholars. His granddaughter, Landry Bender is an actress.