-- Gray, a two-time American Sportscasters Association (ASA) Sportscaster of the Year in the Sports Reporter category, to help build Kings brand worldwide --
SACRAMENTO, CA, May 14, 2010 -- Eleven-time national Emmy Award-winning sportscaster Jim Gray is joining the Sacramento Kings broadcast team as a Special Correspondent, the team announced today.
Gray will begin reporting for the Kings on May 18 by covering the “NBA’s GREATEST Draft Lottery Party” in Midtown Sacramento. He will serve as a Kings reporter for 20 Kings games next season, cover special Kings events and conduct interviews with high-profile figures around the world to be aired on Kings broadcasts.
“We are ecstatic to add someone with the depth of experience and global reach that Jim will bring to Kings broadcasts,” said Kings co-owners Joe and Gavin Maloof. “Jim’s reporting will help build the Kings brand worldwide.”
Gray’s career highlights include coverage of eight Olympic Games, 24 NFL Super Bowls, nine MLB World Series, 18 NBA Finals, 14 NCAA Final Fours, 20 Masters Golf Tournaments and more than 400 World Championship Boxing matches. Gray has also broadcast on numerous occasions the Ryder Cup, the Presidents Cup, NBA and MLB All-Star Games, National Football League AFC and NFC Championship Games, MLB American and National League Championship Series Games and the Rose, Sugar, Cotton and Orange Bowls.
He also provided pregame, postgame and halftime coverage for the 1983 NBA World Champion Philadelphia 76ers and provided expert analysis/color commentary for the 1989 and 1990 Detroit Pistons NBA Championship teams. Gray has also worked as a play-by-play announcer for the Indiana Pacers and the Cleveland Cavaliers.
Throughout his career, Gray has earned numerous awards and honors.
He has won 11 national Emmy Awards for journalism and reporting, and he was named Sportscaster of the Year in the Sports Reporter category in 1998 and 1999 by his member peers of the American Sportscasters Association (ASA). In 1997, he won the prestigious “Broadcast of the Year Award” presented by the National Sportswriters and Sportscasters Association for his interview with Mike Tyson following “Tyson vs. Holyfield II.”
Gray has been named Sports Reporter of the Year by USA Today 12 times, and that same publication in April 2005 named Gray the country’s best sports reporter of the past quarter century.
In addition to sports broadcasting, Gray was a national feature reporter for seven years for the “Today Show” on NBC.
Among the highlights of the thousands of interviews he’s conducted are Presidents Nixon, Ford, Carter, Reagan, Bush (41), Clinton, Bush (43) and then-President-elect Barack Obama. In addition, Gray has interviewed Soviet President Gorbachev as well as many other world leaders, celebrities and sports stars.
“The Sacramento Kings are a team on the rise, and I’m thrilled with the opportunity to contribute to their broadcast team,” Gray said.
About Maloof Sports and Entertainment:
Maloof Sports & Entertainment includes the Sacramento Kings (NBA) and ARCO Arena. Led by Joe and Gavin Maloof, and owned by the Maloof family with long-term, local partners, the organization is committed to the community in Sacramento and to making a positive, meaningful difference in the lives of families in need in the Sacramento region. Maloof Sports & Entertainment has donated more than $17 million to charities in 10 years of Maloof family ownership. For more information about Maloof Sports & Entertainment, please visit kings.com, arcoarena.com or call 916-928-0000.