Mike ‘Doc’ Emrick to receive lifetime achievement award for sports broadcasting

‘Doc’ Emrick has three Sports Emmys, one amazing vocabulary and, now, a lifetime achievement award. Emrick, who is in his 39th season as a hockey broadcaster, will receive the Vin Scully Lifetime Achievement Award in Sports Broadcasting at a Nov. 2 ceremony and said the honor left him speechless.

Mike ‘Doc’ Emrick will be awarded one of sports broadcastings top honors as the eighth winner of the Vin Scully Lifetime Achievement Award in Sports Broadcasting.

The award, named after famed Los Angeles Dodgers broadcaster Vin Scully, has been handed out to a number of notable broadcasters, including NFL play-by-play voices Pat Summerall and Al Michaels, NBC’s Bob Costas and CBS’s Verne Lundquist. Emrick is the only broadcaster honored with the award for work in hockey, the sport he has covered for nearly 40 years.

“When I received the call from Vin Scully that I’d been selected to receive the Lifetime Achievement Award that bears his name, I was speechless, and that’s rare for me,” said Emrick. “Although I am sure the event in November will be another lifetime memory, I have never forgotten the call and the knowledge of the past honorees who voted me this honor. I am grateful to Vin and to WFUV, and all on the selection committee.”

With his signature style – where else will you hear the terms waffleboarded, swaggered and sashayed used during a hockey broadcast? – Emrick was the longtime voice of the New Jersey Devils, but joined NBC and NBC Sports Network in 2011 to be their lead play-by-play voice. Prior to joining NBC, however, Emrick had spent 18 consecutive seasons with the Devils.

The lifetime achievement award comes in the same season that Emrick captured his third Sports Emmy for Outstanding Sports Personality, Play-By-Play. In 2011, his first season with NBC, Emrick became the first hockey broadcaster to ever win the award, beating out other famed nominees like Joe Buck, Jim Nantz, Michaels, Costas and Lundquist.

“Doc is a unique individual and the ultimate professional, both in and out of the broadcast booth,” New Jersey Devils president Lou Lamoriello said of Emrick when the broadcaster left the organization for NBC. “He is always well prepared, entertaining, insightful, and focused, not just for each and every game, but each and every player.”

This season marked Emrick’s 32nd covering the NHL and his 39th covering hockey, which has seen him work call games in the past 25 post-seasons, 14 Stanley Cup finals and 10 All-Star Games.

Emrick will be given the Vin Scully Award at a Nov. 2 ceremony titled, “On the Record: A Celebration of Achievement in News and Sports Broadcasting."