This story is part of a series on the 100th anniversary of Fordham’s historic Rose Hill Gym.
From Vin Scully to Mike Breen and beyond, WFUV and the Rose Hill Gym have nurtured some of New York City’s and the nation’s top sportscasters.
Bang! Basketball fans across the country know Hall of Fame broadcaster Mike Breen’s signature on-air call. But how many know that it started from the stands at the Rose Hill Gym?
“When a Fordham player made a shot, I would scream, ‘Bang!’” the 1983 grad once told a reporter. “I tried it on air as a student a couple of times. I said, ‘This doesn’t work.’ … Then I went back to it when I started doing TV and felt it was a nice, concise [phrase] in a big moment. You say a one-syllable word, and the crowd rises and you don’t have to scream over it. One easy word. I’m from the Vin Scully … school of conciseness.”
Vin Scully, of course, was the 1949 Fordham grad widely regarded as the best baseball broadcaster of all time. But Scully, who died in 2022 at age 94, was also among the first to call a basketball game for WFUV, Fordham’s public media station. By January of his senior year, he was doing it from a new booth in the Rose Hill Gym’s east balcony, The Fordham Ram reported.
Since those days, WFUV and the gym have been a launchpad for many grads in sports media. Breen is the voice of the New York Knicks on MSG Network and the lead broadcaster for ABC and ESPN’s national coverage of the NBA. Chris Carrino, GABELLI ’92, is the longtime radio voice of the Brooklyn Nets.
There’s also CBS Sports broadcaster Spero Dedes, FCRH ’01; ESPN host Tony Reali, FCRH ’00; and Ryan Ruocco, FCRH ’08, a lead play-by-play announcer for pro and college basketball games on ESPN who has called the WNBA Finals since 2013.
“It’s this simple,” Ruocco once told this magazine. “If I did not go to Fordham and work at WFUV, I would not be here doing what I’m doing today. Period.”
RELATED STORY: Celebrating 100 Years of Rose Hill Gym: A Thrilling Legacy
