Neil Funk (born December 29, 1946) is the former

television Television (TV) is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. Additionally, the term can refer to a physical television set rather than the medium of transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertising, ...

play-by-play 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 ...

announcer for 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 ...

Chicago Bulls The Chicago Bulls are an American professional basketball team based in Chicago. The Bulls compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Central Division of the Eastern Conference. The team was founded on January 16 ...

Education and career

Funk grew up in

Indianapolis Indianapolis ( ), colloquially known as Indy, is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Indiana, most populous city of the U.S. state of Indiana and the county seat of Marion County, Indiana, Marion ...

and attended

Syracuse University Syracuse University (informally 'Cuse or SU) is a Private university, private research university in Syracuse, New York, United States. It was established in 1870 with roots in the Methodist Episcopal Church but has been nonsectarian since 1920 ...

, graduating in 1969. His first

broadcasting Broadcasting is the data distribution, distribution of sound, audio audiovisual content to dispersed audiences via a electronic medium (communication), mass communications medium, typically one using the electromagnetic spectrum (radio waves), ...

job was covering

high school A secondary school, high school, or senior school, is an institution that provides secondary education. Some secondary schools provide both ''lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper secondary education'' (ages 14 to 18), i.e., ...

and college sports for a small radio station in

Danville, Illinois Danville is a city in Vermilion County, Illinois, United States, and its county seat. The populations was 29,204 as of the 2020 census. It is the principal city of the Danville micropolitan area. History The area that is now Danville was on ...

. He quickly moved up the ranks to acquire a job with the

Philadelphia 76ers The Philadelphia 76ers, also known colloquially 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 Atlan ...

' WIBG-radio broadcasting crew in 1976. After time broadcasting for the

Kansas City Kings The Sacramento Kings are an American professional basketball team based in Sacramento, California. The Kings compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Pacific Division (NBA), Pacific Division of the Western Confere ...

, Funk began doing television broadcasts for the Sixers in 1982. Partnering with

Steve Mix Steven Charles Mix (born December 30, 1947), nicknamed "The Mayor", is an American former professional basketball player and coach. Mix had a thirteen-year playing career, was an NBA All-Star and played in the NBA Finals on four occasions. He lat ...

, he won an

Emmy Award 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 categor ...

in 1989. Funk joined the Chicago Bulls as a

radio Radio is the technology of communicating using radio waves. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves of frequency between 3 hertz (Hz) and 300 gigahertz (GHz). They are generated by an electronic device called a transmitter connec ...

play-by-play announcer in 1991. On May 6, 2008, it was announced that Funk would replace Tom Dore (

Comcast SportsNet Chicago NBC Sports Chicago (formerly Comcast SportsNet Chicago) was an American regional sports network that broadcast regional coverage of professional sports teams in the Chicago metropolitan area, as well as college sports events and original sports- ...

) and

Wayne Larrivee Wayne Larrivee is an American sportscaster. Larrivee is currently the radio play-by-play voice of the Green Bay Packers on the Packers Radio Network alongside color commentator Larry McCarren and calls college football and basketball for the ...

(

WGN-TV WGN-TV (channel 9) is a television station in Chicago, Illinois, United States, serving as the local outlet for The CW. It is owned and operated by the network's majority owner, Nexstar Media Group, and is sister station, sister to the company ...

) as the play-by-play man for Chicago Bulls games on television. In October, 2019, it was announced that Funk would retire after the 2019–20 season, his 29th with the team.

Quotes

Funk is known for using his signature phrase "Ka-Boom!" whenever a Bulls player hits a three-point shot. He is also well known for his dramatic call "Bang, down the well it goes!" A typical sampling of Funk's play-by-play call: "Dennis inbounds to Scottie, who brings the ball up. Pippen across the timeline with Stockton on ''him''. Scottie left side for Michael. Michael backing Russell, backing, backing now swings it down to Luc. Over to Scottie with 10 on the 24. Scottie to Steve Kerr for three—''ka''-boom!" Funk once said while announcing a Sixers game “Cheeks to Barkley Barkley back to Cheeks. Cheeks-twisting, turning, wheeling, dealing, hanging, firing, scoring.”

Other activities

Funk was featured as the play-by-play announcer for the 1996

Midway Games Midway Games Inc. (formerly Midway Manufacturing and Bally Midway, and commonly known simply as Midway) was an American video game company that existed from 1958 to 2010. Midway's franchises included ''Mortal Kombat'', ''Rampage (franchise), Ra ...

arcade game ''

NBA Hangtime ''NBA Hangtime'' is a 1996 basketball arcade game developed and released by Midway. Home versions were released for the Nintendo 64, PlayStation, Super NES, Sega Genesis, and Microsoft Windows. ''Hangtime'' was the third basketball game by the ...

'', in place of Midway's usual sports announcer Tim Kitzrow. Among many NBA players of the time and members of the game's development team, Funk is accessible as a hidden character by using the name NFUNK along with pin 0101.

Personal life

Funk is married to his wife Renee and has one son named William. He currently lives in Chicago.

Notes

External links

Profile
a
bulls.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Funk, Neil 1946 births Living people Chicago Bulls announcers NBA broadcasters New Jersey Nets announcers Philadelphia 76ers announcers Sacramento Kings announcers Syracuse University alumni Park Tudor School alumni