Thomas Byron Tolbert Jr. (born October 16, 1965) is an American sports broadcaster and former professional

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

player. He played a total of seven seasons in 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).Tom Tolbert Statistics - Basketball-Reference.com
/ref> After retiring from basketball, Tolbert became a radio show co-host on KNBR in San Francisco and NBA commentator for the television networks NBC, ESPN, and ABC.

Early life

Tolbert graduated from Artesia High School in Lakewood, California in 1983.

College career

Following high school, he played

college basketball College basketball is basketball that is played by teams of Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. In the Higher education in the United States, United States, colleges and universities are governed by collegiate athle ...

at the

University of California, Irvine The University of California, Irvine (UCI or UC Irvine) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Irvine, California, United States. One of the ten campuses of the University of California system, U ...

(1983–1985), Cerritos College (1985–86), and the

University of Arizona The University of Arizona (Arizona, U of A, UArizona, or UA) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Tucson, Arizona, United States. Founded in 1885 by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, it ...

(1986–1988). While at Arizona, Tolbert played under coach

Lute Olson Robert Luther "Lute" Olson (September 22, 1934 – August 27, 2020) was an American basketball coach, who was inducted into both the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame and the National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame. He was the head co ...

, helping the team to an appearance in the 1988

Final Four In sports, the final four is the last four teams remaining in a playoffs, playoff tournament. Usually the final four compete in the two games of a single-elimination tournament's semi-final (penultimate) round. Of these teams, the two who win in ...

. At Arizona, Tolbert was a teammate of five-time NBA champion and future

Golden State Warriors The Golden State Warriors are an American professional basketball team based in San Francisco. The Warriors compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Pacific Division of the Western Conference. Founded in 1946 i ...

coach

Steve Kerr Stephen Douglas Kerr (born September 27, 1965) is an American professional basketball coach and former player who is the head coach for the Golden State Warriors of the National Basketball Association (NBA) and the United States men's national ...

Professional career

In 1988, he was a second-round draft pick (9th pick, 34th overall) of the

Charlotte Hornets The Charlotte Hornets are an American professional basketball team based in Charlotte, North Carolina. The Hornets compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Southeast Division of the Eastern Conference. The team ...

. Tolbert spent seven seasons playing for a number of NBA teams, including Charlotte (1988–89, 94–95), the Golden State Warriors (1989–92), the

Orlando Magic The Orlando Magic are an American professional basketball team based in Orlando, Florida. The Magic compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Southeast Division (NBA), Southeast Division of the Eastern Conference (NB ...

(1992–93), and the

Los Angeles Clippers The Los Angeles Clippers are an American professional basketball team based in the Greater Los Angeles area. The Clippers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Pacific Division of the Western Conference. The ...

(1993–94). He also played briefly for Canarias in the Spanish league. He retired following the 1994-95 season after his first son was born.

Broadcasting career

Radio

In 1996, Tolbert was hired by KNBR, a

San Francisco San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...

-based local sports radio station, to co-host a radio talk show titled ''The Razor and Mr. T'' with longtime

Bay Area The San Francisco Bay Area, commonly known as the Bay Area, is a region of California surrounding and including San Francisco Bay, and anchored by the cities of Oakland, San Francisco, and San Jose. The Association of Bay Area Governments ...

sports radio host Ralph Barbieri. The show attracted high ratings in the Bay Area with male listeners aged 25 to 54. The title of the show was changed to ''The Mr. T Show'' following the departure of Barbieri from KNBR in the summer of 2012. In 2014, with former ''San Francisco Chronicle'' columnist Ray Ratto becoming co-host, the show became ''Mr. T & Ratto''. Beginning in 2019, Tolbert hosted the ''Tolbert, Krueger & Brooks Show''. On February 25, 2022, Larry Kreuger and Rod Brooks were removed from the show. On November 14, 2024, Tolbert was fired after 28 years with KNBR, as part of the station's latest round of layoffs. From December 2012 to the end of the 2016 NBA season, Tolbert joined the

Radio Network as color commentator alongside play-by-play announcer Tim Roye.

Television

In addition to his radio work in San Francisco, Tolbert was a color commentator for NBA telecasts on NBC. He was nominated for 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 ...

2002 The effects of the September 11 attacks of the previous year had a significant impact on the affairs of 2002. The war on terror was a major political focus. Without settled international law, several nations engaged in anti-terror operation ...

for his work as a commentator on NBC. He then worked for

ESPN ESPN (an initialism of their original name, which was the Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by the Walt Disney Company (80% and operational control) and Hearst Commu ...

from 2002 to 2007. In

2003 2003 was designated by the United Nations as the International Year of Fresh water, Freshwater. In 2003, a Multi-National Force – Iraq, United States-led coalition 2003 invasion of Iraq, invaded Iraq, starting the Iraq War. Demographic ...

, Tolbert - along with Brad Nessler and

Bill Walton William Theodore Walton III (November 5, 1952 – May 27, 2024) was an American basketball player and television Sports commentator, sportscaster. He played college basketball, collegiately for the UCLA Bruins men's basketball, UCLA Bruins an ...

- called the

NBA Finals The NBA Finals is the annual championship series of the National Basketball Association (NBA). The Eastern Conference (NBA), Eastern and Western Conference (NBA), Western Conference champions play a best-of-seven series to determine the league ...

for ABC.

Personal life

Tolbert lives in

Alameda, California Alameda ( ; ; Spanish for "Avenue (landscape), tree-lined path") is a city in Alameda County, California, United States, located in the East Bay (San Francisco Bay Area), East Bay region of the Bay Area. The city is built on an informal archipe ...

with his wife and three children. In 2017, he suffered an

aortic aneurysm An aortic aneurysm is an enlargement (dilatation) of the aorta to greater than 1.5 times normal size. Typically, there are no symptoms except when the aneurysm dissects or ruptures, which causes sudden, severe pain in the abdomen and lower back ...

and underwent emergency heart surgery. He returned to his radio hosting duties after a week-long recovery.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tolbert, Tom 1965 births Living people American men's basketball players American sports radio personalities American television sports announcers Artesia High School (California) alumni Arizona Wildcats men's basketball players Basketball players from Alameda County, California Basketball players from Long Beach, California CB Canarias players Cerritos Falcons men's basketball players Charlotte Hornets draft picks Charlotte Hornets players ESPN people Golden State Warriors players Liga ACB players Los Angeles Clippers players NBA broadcasters Orlando Magic players Power forwards Sportspeople from Alameda, California Basketball players from Lakewood, California UC Irvine Anteaters men's basketball players 20th-century American sportsmen