Billy Packer, a Sports Emmy award winner and college basketball broadcaster for more than three decades, died at the age of 82, his family announced Thursday.
“The Packer Family would like to share some sad news,” his son Mark shared on Twitter. “Our amazing father, Billy, has passed. We take peace knowing that he’s in heaven with Barb. RIP, Billy.”Packer was hospitalized in Charlotte, N.C., for the past three weeks and had several medical issues, ultimately succumbing to kidney failure, Mark told the Associated Press.
Packer worked as an analyst or color commentator for 34 straight Final Fours with NBC and CBS. He worked with NBC from 1974 to 1981, followed by CBS until 2008. He won the Sports Emmy award for Outstanding Sports Personality/Analyst in 1993. “He really enjoyed doing the Final Fours,” Mark told the AP. “He timed it right. Everything in life is about timing. The ability to get involved in something that, frankly, he was going to watch anyway, was a joy to him. And then college basketball just sort of took off with Magic Johnson and Larry Bird and that became, I think, the catalyst for college basketball fans to just go crazy with March Madness.
Packer was born in Wellsville, N.Y., and was the son of Lehigh University’s former basketball coach Tony Packer. He played college basketball as a guard at Wake Forest University, leading his team to the Final Four in 1962 and winning All-ACC honors from 1960 to 1962. Packer also served as an assistant basketball coach forfrom 1965 to 1969 before his broadcasting career began in 1972 in Raleigh, N.C., when he served as a fill-in analyst for a regionally televised ACC game.
After regularly covering ACC games, Packer joined NBC Sports for the 1974 NCAA tournament, joining with Curt Gowdy, Dick Enberg and Al McGuire to call games in future years.The Packer Family would like to share some sad news. Our amazing father, Billy, has passed. We take peace knowing that he’s in heaven with Barb. RIP, Billy. 🙏🏻
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