Hubert calling Gators’ games from afar
Radio announcer adjusts his approach during pandemic
GAINESVILLE — This past Saturday was different for Mick Hubert.
The Florida Gators were at Ole Miss for their 2020 season opener. Hubert was back in Gainesville. The coronavirus pandemic ended the legendary radio announcer’s streak of 394 consecutive games — including 30 season openers — doing play-by-play on location. Hubert, though, still found his way to the booth to do his thing.
“It was a little bit unique,” he said this week. “But it wasn’t too bad.”
Hubert’s absence in Oxford, Mississippi, still did not go unnoticed by one of his many faithful listeners.
Hubert and his wife, Judy, often enjoy Mexican food on Friday nights during football season at Gainesville’s La Fiesta. The restaurant’s manager did a double-take when he saw Hubert on the eve of the Ole Miss game.
“He goes, ‘You shouldn’t be here,’” Hubert recalled with a laugh.
Hubert has been on the road with the Gators since 1990. Along the way, he became the first radio announcer to call national championships in football, men’s basketball and baseball.
The threat of COVID-19 has forced Hubert to change tenor this fall. Yet, the wonders of technology still allowed him to deliver a worthy performance during the Ole Miss broadcast.
“I wouldn’t want to make a ca
reer of this,” Hubert said. “But under these circumstances, a few times is fine. It’s fine.”
Hubert and longtime sidekick Lee McGriff, an All-SEC receiver in the 1970s and Gators’ color analyst, set up shop at WRUF’s radio station on campus.
The duo received a sound feed from the Ole Miss radio network in Oxford and a video feed from ESPN’s truck in Oxford. The producer of the Gators’ broadcast synched up the two feeds to prevent a lag in time, thereby eliminating any confusion for Hubert, McGriff or WRUF’s listeners.
“I could hear the referee’s whistle. I could hear the punter’s foot
hitting the ball. I could hear some pads popping,” Hubert said. “And there were some 13,000 fans in the stands, the Ole Miss band. If you were at home listening and did not hear any of that, it would be like we were doing the game in a closet somewhere.
“It would be real dull.” Hubert’s lively, passionate broadcasts inspire many Florida fans to turn down their TV volume and listen to the silver-tongued 66-year-old call the action, often exclaiming, “Oh my,” following big plays by their beloved Gators.
Hubert said he did not keep count of how many times he used his trademark phrase Saturday.
The Gators gave him plenty of opportunities during a 51-35 win, highlighted by 642 yards of offense, a school record for an SEC game.
Hubert, who succeeded David Steele in 1989, did not feel he missed out. After all, Hubert has witnessed his share of offensive fireworks during 12 seasons of Steve Spurrier’s Fun n’ Gun and the championship runs of Tim Tebow and Percy Harvin.
“It’s kind of interesting. No, I never felt that at all,” Hubert said. “I had the headset on. I could hear the crowd. I’m into the game. I’m calling the game like I was in the booth.”
Hubert certainly is not among his peers these days.
The Illinois native is a longtime baseball fan who noticed most broadcasters had stayed home. Just eight of 32 NFL play-by-play people are on the road, Hubert said.
“I listened to Bob Uecker and he’s 85 years old, he’s calling the Brewers at Wrigley Field and he’s at Miller Park in Milwaukee,” Hubert said. “All the guys I listened to, it all sounded like they were there.”
This week, Hubert will be front and center at the Swamp when the Gators open their home season against South Carolina. The No. 3 Gators look to add to their 290-103-1 mark with Hubert sitting on high in his familiar spot. A week later at Texas A&M, UF will look to improve to 2-0 without him.
Beyond that, Hubert’s 2020 schedule for away games remains undecided, other than a Nov. 7 date with Georgia in Jacksonville.
The game will be Hubert’s 400th calling Florida football.
“That’s a pretty good milestone,” he said.
Hubert is not finished, either. Yet, he also can’t help wonder what it’d be like if he were just starting out.
The marriage of Hubert, the Gators and his audience was formed in a different time — and clearly meant to be.
“I don’t know what this profession is going to be like in 10 or 15 years … so much is changing,” he said. “I grew up in the golden age of radio. That’s what got in my heart when I was 7 or 8 years old.
“It’s a different world. It certainly is.”
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