The Sports World lost an icon Thursday as broadcast legend Dick Enberg died at his La Jolla, CA home. He was 82.
In addition to covering 28 Wimbledon tournaments, eight NCAA basketball title games and 10 Super Bowls, Engberg called 59 Jets games over 32 seasons from 1978-2009.
Enberg's first game was one of the Jets' greatest comebacks as they stormed back from a 28-7 deficit at Denver to defeat the Broncos 31-28 on Nov. 5, 1978. He had the play-by-play for the Jets' 51-45 OT triumph over Miami in 1986 and he would later call that contest, "one of the greatest games in NFL history." He covered the Green & White's divisional round 17-14 triumph over the Raiders in 1982 and he later was on hand in Miami for the "Mud Bowl" as the Jets were on the losing end in the AFC Championship game.
Merlin Olsen, Bob Trumpy, Bill Walsh, Phil Simms, Paul Maguire, Dan Dierdorf, Randy Cross and Dan Fouts all worked in the booth with Enberg for the Jets broadcasts. In 1988, Enberg was on the call when New York's AFC representative piled up a franchise-record 597 yards in a 44-30 win at Miami.
Known for his "Oh My" catchphrase, Enberg stopped by a brand new Atlantic Health Jets facility in 2009 and talked about his early childhood dreams of becoming the athlete in the arena.
"As my friends often remind me, Enberg, you thought you were a good athlete, but you only talked a good game," Enberg said before calling his final Jets' game, a 24-22 loss to the Jaguars at the old Meadowlands Stadium. "And actually the talking part worked out okay."
*Randy Lange contributed to this story.
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