Famed announcer Dick Enberg died Thursday at age 82. File Photo by Roger Williams/UPI |
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Dec. 22 (UPI) -- Longtime sports broadcaster and former San Diego Padres play-by-play announcer Dick Enberg died Thursday morning at his Southern California home, his wife said. He was 82.
Barbara Enberg told the San Diego Union-Tribune the family learned about his death after Enberg was not on a flight that landed in Boston, where they were scheduled to meet. She said her husband was found unresponsive, waiting for an airport shuttle to take him to San Diego International Airport.
"We think it was a heart attack," she said.
Enberg's career spanned decades and many sports. For years, he covered Major League Baseball, college and pro football, college basketball, boxing, tennis, golf, Olympic Games and Breeders' Cup horse racing. His accolades include multiple Emmy awards and other broadcast honors.
His signature saying, "Oh, my!" was an Enberg family saying -- as he said his mother often used it.
"Sportscasting is a kid's dream come true, which is one of the reasons that I keep doing it," he wrote in his autobiography, Dick Enberg, Oh My!
Enberg retired last year after a full-time run as the voice of the Padres. The club said in a statement it's "immensely saddened by [his] sudden and unexpected passing."
"Dick was an institution in the industry for 60 years and we were lucky enough to have his iconic voice behind the microphone for Padres games for nearly a decade," the Padres statement continued.
Enberg recently interviewed sports figures for a new podcast called "Sound of Success" -- including former tennis star Billie Jean King, basketball great Bill Walton, baseball legend Johnny Bench and pro basketball coach Steve Kerr.
