Jim Huber (August 28, 1944 – January 2, 2012) was an American

sports commentator In Broadcasting of sports events, sports broadcasting, a sports commentator (also known as a sports announcer or sportscaster) provides a real time (media), real-time live commentary of a game or event, traditionally delivered in the present t ...

, writer, and essayist. He worked as a sports anchor for the former

CNN Sports Illustrated CNN/Sports Illustrated (CNN/SI) was a 24-hour sports news Television network, network. Created when Time Warner merged its CNN and ''Sports Illustrated'' brands, it launched on December 12, 1996. Other news networks like ESPNews provided 30-mi ...

, before joining

Turner Sports TNT Sports is the division of Warner Bros. Discovery in the United States that is responsible for Sports broadcasting, sports broadcasts on its parent company's streaming service, Max (streaming service), Max, and primarily the TruTV, TBS (Americ ...

in 2000. Huber was raised in

Ocala, Florida Ocala ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Marion County, Florida, United States. Located in North Central Florida, the city's population was 63,591 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, up from 56,315 at the 2010 census and making ...

. He attended

Presbyterian College Presbyterian College (PC) is a private liberal arts college in Clinton, South Carolina, United States. It was founded in 1880 and is affiliated with the Presbyterian Church (USA). History Presbyterian College was founded in 1880 by Willia ...

, but graduated from

University of Central Florida The University of Central Florida (UCF) is a public university, public research university with its main campus in unincorporated area, unincorporated Orange County, Florida, United States. It is part of the State University System of Florida. ...

. He began his career in

sports journalism Sports journalism is a form of writing that reports on matters pertaining to sporting topics and competitions. Sports journalism has its roots in coverage of horse racing and boxing in the early 1800s, mainly targeted towards elites, and into t ...

as a sportswriter for ''

The Miami News ''The Miami News'' was an evening newspaper in Miami, Florida. It was the media market competitor to the morning edition of the ''Miami Herald'' for most of the 20th century. The paper started publishing in May 1896 as a weekly called ''The Miami ...

'' and ''The Atlanta Journal''. He joined WXIA in

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Georgia (U.S. state), most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. It is the county seat, seat of Fulton County, Georg ...

, before moving to

CNN Cable News Network (CNN) is a multinational news organization operating, most notably, a website and a TV channel headquartered in Atlanta. Founded in 1980 by American media proprietor Ted Turner and Reese Schonfeld as a 24-hour cable ne ...

. Huber was also Public Relations Director for the

Atlanta Flames The Atlanta Flames were a professional ice hockey team based in Atlanta from 1972 until 1980. They played home games in the Omni Coliseum and were members of the West and later Patrick divisions of the National Hockey League (NHL). Along with t ...

from 1972 until 1975. Huber had a long history with the Turner Broadcasting Corporation. Huber first joined CNN in 1984, where he hosted a sports show called ''The Sporting Life With Jim Huber''. He also contributed to CNN Sports Illustrated, a sister network of CNN, as an anchor and sports announcer. In 2000, Huber became a full-time on-air announcer and commentator for Turner Sports, which allowed him to cover both golf and the

National Basketball Association The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada). The NBA is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Ca ...

(NBA) in greater depth. During the 1990s, Huber was awarded an

Emmy The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the year, each with their own set of rules and award catego ...

for an essay, "Olympic Park Bombing", which he wrote and delivered in response to the 1996

Centennial Olympic Park bombing The Centennial Olympic Park bombing was a pipe bombing attack on Centennial Olympic Park in Atlanta, Georgia, United States, on July 27, 1996, during the Summer Olympics. The blast directly killed one person and injured 111 others; another pers ...

during the Atlanta Olympics. Huber died in Atlanta, Georgia, on January 2, 2012, at the age of 67. He had recently been diagnosed with

leukemia Leukemia ( also spelled leukaemia; pronounced ) is a group of blood cancers that usually begin in the bone marrow and produce high numbers of abnormal blood cells. These blood cells are not fully developed and are called ''blasts'' or '' ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Huber, Jim 1944 births 2012 deaths Emmy Award winners American sports journalists Sportswriters from Florida American television sports anchors American television sports announcers CNN people American essayists People from Ocala, Florida College of Central Florida alumni Presbyterian College alumni American golf commentators NBA broadcasters Atlanta Falcons announcers