James Gerard Spanarkel (born June 28, 1957) is an American television analyst for

College Basketball on CBS ''College Basketball on CBS Sports'' (usually referred to on-air as the ''Road to the Final Four'') is the branding used for broadcasts of men's NCAA Division I basketball games that are produced by CBS Sports, for CBS, CBSSN, and Facebook. ...

and a former professional

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular court, compete with the primary objective of shooting a basketball (approximately in diameter) through the defender's h ...

player for the

Philadelphia 76ers The Philadelphia 76ers, colloquially known as the Sixers, are an American professional basketball team based in the Philadelphia metropolitan area. The 76ers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Ea ...

and the

Dallas Mavericks The Dallas Mavericks (often referred to as the Mavs) are an American professional basketball team based in Dallas. The Mavericks compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Western Conference Southwest Division. The ...

. He played college basketball for Duke University, where he was an All-American.

Career

High school

Born and raised in Jersey City, New Jersey, Spanarkel played at

Hudson Catholic Regional High School Hudson Catholic Regional High School is a regional four-year co-educational University-preparatory Catholic high school in Jersey City, in Hudson County, New Jersey, United States. The school was established in 1964 by the Roman Catholic Ar ...

, where he was a teammate of future NBA player Mike O'Koren.

College and professional basketball

Jim Spanarkel layup, Duke Chronicle 1979-02-26

Spanarkel was a First Team Acclaim All American, in addition the First Team All- ACC and the first 2000-point scorer in

Duke Blue Devils The Duke Blue Devils are the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent Duke University, located in Durham, North Carolina. Duke's athletics department features 27 varsity teams that all compete at the National Collegiate Athletic Associati ...

history. He was named Duke's team MVP for his final three seasons, 1977, 1978, and 1979. Spanarkel was also team captain in his junior and senior years, and was announced

NCAA The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges and ...

's East Regional Most Outstanding Player in 1978. Duke finished as the national runner-up that year to

Kentucky Kentucky ( , ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States and one of the states of the Upper South. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north; West Virginia and Virgini ...

. At Duke, Spanarkel was also a pitcher on the baseball team for two years. He graduated from university in 1979, and during the summer of 1980, he studied for and obtained a real estate broker's license. The

drafted Spanarkel with the 16th overall pick in the 1979 NBA Draft on October 17, and he spent his first season as a

rookie A rookie is a person new to an occupation, profession, or hobby. In sports, a ''rookie'' is a professional athlete in their first season (or year). In contrast with a veteran who has experience and expertise, a rookie is usually inexperienced ...

, the 1979–80 campaign, with the Sixers. He was then drafted by the

and played the following four seasons with them, leading the club in scoring for the 1980–81 season with a 14.4 ppg average. His NBA career ended in 1984, after a season during which a broken right wrist cost him three months on the bench.

American broadcaster

Spanarkel worked 30 years as Nets television analyst (currently on the

YES Network The Yankee Entertainment and Sports Network (YES) is an American pay television regional sports network owned by Yankee Global Enterprises (the largest shareholder with 26%), Sinclair Broadcast Group and Entertainment Studios (which owns 20% ...

), both with Ian Eagle courtside as a

color commentator A color commentator or expert commentator is a sports commentator who assists the main (play-by-play) commentator, typically by filling in when play is not in progress. The phrase "colour commentator" is primarily used in Canadian English and th ...

and more recently as a studio host during pre and post-game. Spanarkel was terminated by YES prior to the 2020-21 season. Currently, he works

CBS Sports CBS Sports is the sports division of the American television network CBS. Its headquarters are in the CBS Building on W 52nd Street (Manhattan), 52nd Street in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, with programs produced out of Studio 43 at the CBS ...

' regular season and

postseason The playoffs, play-offs, postseason or finals of a sports league are a competition played after the regular season by the top competitors to determine the league champion or a similar accolade. Depending on the league, the playoffs may be eithe ...

coverage with Eagle. He previously was as a studio analyst for

NBA TV NBA TV is an American sports-oriented pay television network owned by the National Basketball Association (NBA) and operated by Warner Bros. Discovery through its sports unit. Dedicated to basketball, the network features exhibition, regular ...

. During his entire broadcasting career, he has provided basketball coverage on

ESPN ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). The ...

Fox Sports Fox Sports is the brand name for a number of sports channels, broadcast divisions, programming, and other media around the world. The ''Fox Sports'' name has since been used for other sports media assets. These assets are held mainly by the F ...

, and YES. In 2013, Spanarkel called the international telecasts of the

2013 NBA Finals The 2013 NBA Finals was the championship series of the National Basketball Association's (NBA) 2012–13 season and conclusion of the season's playoffs. In this best-of-seven playoff series, the defending NBA champion and Eastern Conference ...

alongside Eagle. He has also been chief commentator for the Travers Cups and various member guest tournaments at Upper Montclair.

Personal life

Spanarkel is married to Janet, and the couple has four children, James, Bridget, Stephanie, and Andrew. He is currently a First Vice President and a certified financial planner at

Merrill Lynch Merrill (officially Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith Incorporated), previously branded Merrill Lynch, is an American investment management and wealth management division of Bank of America. Along with BofA Securities, the investment banki ...

in New Jersey. Spanarkel has been a resident of

Rutherford, New Jersey Rutherford is a Borough (New Jersey), borough in Bergen County, New Jersey, Bergen County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2020 United States Census, the borough's population was 18,834. Rutherford was formed as a borough by an act of the ...

Statistics

Duke record book

Honors

* In 1990, Jim Spanarkel was inducted into the Duke Sports Hall of Fame. * In 2001, Spanarkel was inducted into the Duke Circle of Honor. * Jim Spanarkel was inducted into the UPI First Team All-America: 1979. * He was inducted second into the All-ACC Team. * MVP of All-ACC Tournament teams in 1978; 1979. * He was the ACC Freshman of the year in 1976 for Duke. * He has the NCAA East Regional MOP: 1978. * He was the All-NCAA Tournament's Most Outstanding Player. * Sparnakel was GTE Academic All-Americans consecutively in 1978 and 1979. * James was Team Captain in 1978–1979. * Won the Swett Memorial Trophy (Duke MVP) three years in a row: 1977, 1978, and 1979. * In 2014, won the New York

Emmy Award The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the calendar year, each with the ...

for Best Sports Analyst for the

broadcasts of

Brooklyn Nets The Brooklyn Nets are an American professional basketball team based in the New York City borough of Brooklyn. The Nets compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference. T ...

games.

References

External links

Jim Spanarkel NBA statistics
{{DEFAULTSORT:Spanarkel, Jim 1957 births Living people All-American college men's basketball players American men's basketball players Basketball players from Jersey City, New Jersey Brooklyn Nets announcers College basketball announcers in the United States Dallas Mavericks expansion draft picks Dallas Mavericks players Duke Blue Devils men's basketball players Merrill (company) people New Jersey Nets announcers People from Rutherford, New Jersey Philadelphia 76ers draft picks Philadelphia 76ers players Shooting guards Small forwards