College Basketball Broadcaster was 82 – The Hollywood Reporter

Billy Packer, whose caustic style and sharp insight as college basketball’s foremost television analyst for more than three decades drew both praise and criticism, has passed away. He turned 82.

Packer died of kidney failure after being hospitalized in Charlotte, North Carolina, for the past three weeks, his son Mark told the Associated Press.

From 1975-2008, Packer was a fixture in NCAA Tournament broadcasts for NBC and then CBS. He also covered Atlantic Coast Conference games for Raycom Sports and received a Sports Emmy Award in 1993.

Packer’s basketball acumen was developed at Wake Forest University, where he led the Demon Deacons to the 1962 Final Four as a dashing 5-foot-9 point guard who averaged 14 points. He was an assistant coach at the school for five years before beginning his career as a broadcaster in 1972 in Raleigh, North Carolina.

At NBC, Packer teamed up with play-by-play announcers Curt Gowdy and Dick Enberg on college broadcasts, often working with fellow analyst Al McGuire. When he moved to CBS in 1981, his broadcast partners included Brent Musburger, Jim Nantz, Verne Lundquist, and Enberg.

At times, Packer found himself on the defensive due to his candid approach on the air. He was also able to take an unconventional stance away from his broadcasts after hiring a psychic to find the gun used in the OJ Simpson murder case.

Packer also helped put together a legal defense fund for accused 1996 Olympic bomber Richard Jewell. A few months later, federal authorities cleared the Atlanta guard of all charges.

During a game between Villanova University and Georgetown University in 1996, Packer called Hoya’s standout guard Allen Iverson a “tough monkey.” He apologized, even though Iverson and Georgetown coach John Thompson, both African Americans, said they were not offended by the broadcast remark.

In 2000, as Packer entered Duke’s Cameron Indoor Stadium, Packer was asked by some female students to show his press pass. His alleged response: “Since when do we let women decide who enters a men’s basketball game? Why don’t you find a woman’s game to let people in?

Again, Packer said he’s sorry.

Undeterred, Packer continued to make news with provocative views. In 2005, he cited substandard lighting at Allen Fieldhouse as a factor in the success of the University of Kansas on the home floor. A year later, he ripped NCAA Tournament officials for including several mid-major teams at the expense of worthy schools from larger conferences.

In a 2008 Final Four semi-final, Kansas raced to a 38-12 lead against North Carolina, prompting Packer to declare, “This game is over.” The match was only 13 minutes old. The Tar Heels got to within four points midway through the second half, before the Jayhawks pulled away for an 84–66 victory.

While his premature assessment might have prompted some CBS viewers to switch channels, Packer was unapologetic this time around. “My job is to say what I see, not to have subconscious feelings to offend anyone,” he said.

Just over three months later, CBS announced that Clark Kellogg would replace Packer, ending his 27-year career as the network’s leading basketball analyst. “The decision was made with myself and CBS over a year ago,” says Packer said. “Their timing to announce is their business.”

Packer said he was happy for Kellogg, a former star at Ohio State who had spent 16 years at CBS. “I’ve had the chance to broadcast most of the great games since college basketball came on national television, and I’m not interested in broadcasting any more games,” he said.

Packer left an indelible mark on the college hoops upon his departure.

“The only word to describe Billy is a giant,” former Big East Commissioner Mike Tranghese said at the time. “His passion for the game and presenting it the way he presented it is, I think, unparalleled. That creates an incredible void.”

He was born Anthony William Paczkowski in Wellsville, New York, on February 25, 1940. His father, Tony, was the head coach of the Lehigh University men’s basketball team from 1950 to 1966. The family changed the Polish surname to Packer before Billy attended Liberty High School in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania.

He always wanted to play basketball at Duke, so his dad called the school to tell them his son was on his way.

“He picks up the phone and tells me that Duke is trying to choose between me and another man; they’ll let me know in a few weeks,” Packer recalled. “I said call them back and tell them I’m going to Wake Forest and [going to] hit that kid. My mom said you don’t know anything about Wake Forest. I said I know they’re playing Duke, which is why I’m going [there].”

Packer joined NBC in 1975 to replace Tommy Hawkins as the lead basketball analyst alongside Gowdy.

The Enberg-Packer-McGuire tandem, who worked at NBC from 1977 to 1981, has been hailed as one of the greatest games ever.

“We really looked at basketball in different ways,” says Packer said from former Marquette University coach McGuire in a 2017 interview. “People actually thought we didn’t like each other. But they did enjoy watching a game with us. Then people thought we arranged the arguments in advance. It happened spontaneously.”

Packer was also a prolific author, pairing with Roland Lazenby on 1985’s Hoops: Confessions of a College Basketball Analyst and that of 1987 Fifty years of the last four.

In a 2018 interview with Sports newspacker recognized that he hadn’t attended a basketball game or seen one in its entirety in the decade since he and CBS parted ways.

Packer prided himself on his disdain for social media. He said he didn’t have a computer, Twitter account, or email. His cell phone was only used for emergencies.

The first NCAA tournament Packer worked on as a TV analyst ended with John Wooden’s final championship at UCLA in 1975. Like Wooden, Packer shared a love of basketball fundamentals, so he was frustrated to see so many talented freshmen go to the NBA instead of going to the NBA. sharpen their skills at higher vocational education level.

“What people don’t understand is that the game has deteriorated tremendously because there are no great junior and senior players left,” says Packer. said. “There is no comparison between a freshman who has potential and a guy who has played for a great coach within a system.”

Packer and his late wife, Barbara, were long-time residents of North Carolina, and two of their sons work in the media: Brandt Packer as a producer for the Golf Channel and Mark as an ACC Network host.