By RICH FISHER
Contributing Editor
Bob Picozzi enjoyed a 46-year run in sports broadcast journalism and was a nationally acclaimed play-by-play announcer for ESPN and FOX Sports for the final 21 years of his distinguished career.
But the 1968 graduate of Notre Dame High School, Lawrenceville, never forgot where he came from and is returning on Friday, Sep. 5 to impart his wisdom. Picozzi will be a guest speaker at ND for Cindy Bannon’s Broadcast Journalism: The Podcast; and Journalism I & II classes.
The longtime Cheshire, Conn., resident will discuss his career and the broadcasting business. Bannon will have one class do a podcast with Picozzi while the other will ask questions in a press conference format.
“We’ve been researching him,” Bannon said. “They’re working on their questions. We put our whole curriculum on hold this week. I knew he was going to visit so I said, ‘Let’s just throw them into the art of the interview.’”
Lucas Chuderewicz, one of Bannon’s students, looks forward to it, saying, “I think it will be pretty cool. I’ve watched games with him announcing. He’s got a lot of experience. If I did want to do something in this field, I can ask him questions and he can help me out.”
That will be followed by Picozzi serving as public address announcer for the varsity football game between Timber Creek and the Irish. Asked if he has much PA experience, Picozzi replied with a chuckle, “Almost none.”
Nonetheless, he’s happy giving back to the school that provided him a strong moral compass for life.
Bob Picozzi, long-time announcer for ESPN, was in a familiar position behind the microphone at a recent ND Class of 1968 reunion. Picozzi will visit his alma mater Sep. 5 to speak to the school’s two journalism classes and do the public address announcing for that night’s varsity football game. Photo courtesy Notre Dame reunion committee
As a Ewing resident, Picozzi attended Incarnation (now Incarnation/St. James) School and attended that parish. At Notre Dame, he played on Bill Clark’s back-to-back Non-Public A state soccer champions in 1966-67, with those teams being inducted into the ND Hall of Fame.
“The key to success in life is trying to figure out the difference between what’s right and wrong and try to do what’s right as often as you can; and Notre Dame set the foundation for that,” Picozzi said. “I stay in touch with my teammates all the time. The night we were inducted was one of the great nights in my life. The lessons we learned on the soccer field and being part of the team; it’s impossible to overstate how important it was.
“It’s tough to be happy and successful in life if you don’t have a certain measure of discipline. Much of my foundation, the type of person I am, whether it’s good, bad or mediocre, was laid during my four years at Notre Dame.”
While weaving several entertaining tales from his past, Picozzi revealed he wanted to be a broadcaster at age 10. Thus, former ND Principal, Msgr. Thomas Coffey, encouraged him to attend Seton Hall University, South Orange, because of their acclaimed student radio station (now 77-years-old).
“It was the best decision I ever made,” he said. “I can’t imagine I could have gone anywhere else and been better trained or prepared for what I wound up doing.”
His first six years professionally were spent as radio play-by-play man for Seton Hall, Yale and Fairfield men’s basketball teams. He served as news director at WTNH TV in New Haven, Conn., for 19 years but yearned for a return to his first love of play-by-play.
With the help of several folks in the business he became a football broadcaster for the Atlantic 10 Network and the Comcast Sportsnet Coastal Athletic Association, followed by 13 years calling games for the powerhouse University of Connecticut women’s basketball program.
Picozzi went national in 1998 as anchor for ESPN Radio SportsCenter, did college basketball and football for ESPN from 1997-2017 and college basketball for Fox Sports for one year before retiring.
With the rise of the internet and podcasts, much has changed in sports journalism since Picozzi first started. But he feels the main components in broadcasting are the same as always, which he imparts to young journalists.
“The most important attribute in any profession, but particularly broadcasting, is poise,” he said. “A close second is preparation. I spent hours and hours preparing for every game. You can have the greatest voice and the most poise but if you don’t do your preparation, you’re not going to be very good.
“And obviously you have to have confidence. There’s not a chance in the world you’ll be successful in the (broadcasting) business if you’re not confident.”
Picozzi strongly suggests no announcer go on X to see what’s being said about them, for “it is negative 90 percent of the time.”
“If it was a positive, they wouldn’t take the time to do it,” he said. “You need to avoid looking at that stuff. You need to trust your gut.”
Picozzi is looking forward to Bannon’s class. He recalled when legendary Knicks/Rangers/NBA announcer Marv Albert took time to help him while just starting out, and said “It made a lasting impression, so if anyone ever thinks anything I have to say could be of any value to them I’ll be glad to do it.”
He has returned to the school twice in the past year – once as a panelist for a network event, and in February for a memorial for his late wife of 46 years, Carol, who passed away last November.
“They gave me a tour last February and I was very impressed with some of the courses they had for people who might want to get into the business,” he said.
Picozzi’s visit was arranged by Irish baseball coach Joe Drulis, whose brother Mike reconnected with the broadcaster at the 2010 ND Hall of Fame Induction. When Mike passed in December, 2022, Joe retained the friendship and encouraged the famous alum to take his turn at public address announcing.
One of Picozzi’s few occasions to do PA work came in the old American Basketball Association for a New York Nets-Pittsburgh Condors game.
“The job paid eight dollars, and the check bounced,” he said.
Picozzi is working for free on Friday but will prepare as rigorously as he would for a North Carolina-Kentucky basketball game. The consummate professional will meet with coaches of both teams to learn the pronunciations of every player and their hometowns.
As for how he spends post-retirement time, for three months out of the year the sports junkie, in his role as president, tends to the Picozzi Family Foundation. Started by his uncles in 2007, the Foundation provides academic scholarships to talented young men and women from Union and Essex Counties and other surrounding communities.
Aside from that, he’s either watching or attending athletic events.
“I’m an incurable, certifiable sports nut,” he said. “I have a favorite team in every sport; I spend a lot of time, energy and passion watching those teams. If you’re a sports fan you’re never lonely and you’re never bored because you always have something to watch.”
And for years, Picozzi gave those people who watched a soundtrack to enjoy.