ULTIMATE HONOR
Area broadcaster to be inducted into Upstate NY Basketball Hall of Fame
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y.
» The Upstate New York Basketball Hall of Fame announced Tony Izzo has been chosen for induction into the Class of 2021.
The induction will take place in the fall.
Izzo has long been one of the top basketball broadcasters in Section 2. He has broadcasted playoff games from the Glens Falls Civic Center and Saratoga High School. His decadeslong career has taken him all over the Capital Region to broadcast play-by-plays of high school basketball teams, not only in the playoffs, and has gained him recognition and acclaim.
“It was sort of a shock when I got the call,” Izzo recalled. “It was Halloween evening (of 2020), and Rene LeRoux from Upstate New York Basketball kept calling me. I was out to dinner with my wife, so I let the calls go.”
When Izzo finally returned LeRoux’s call, he thought it was about a recommendation for a player to be inducted. He described himself as speechless when LeRoux told him he had been chosen.
“I’m very honored,” Izzo said.
Izzo’s long career of basketball broadcasting began straight out of high school. After graduating Saratoga High School in 1971, he was hired as the school’s audiovisual director, with the basketball coach asking him to record the team’s games. Izzo agreed, and asked if he could also be allowed
to do play-by-plays for the games.
The coach agreed. The rest, as they say, is history.
Izzo has had a love of basketball all his life, though his interest in the world of broadcasting came from an unexpected place. One fateful day in 1967, he turned on the TV to watch a Yankees game, though he had never really liked baseball before. It was the game where Mickey Mantle hit his 500th home run, and Yankees Hall of Fame shortstop Phil Rizzuto was commentating.
“It intrigued me,” Izzo said. “Rizzuto was a funloving guy, and his style of commentary was intriguing. That’s what got me interested in doing play-byplay.”
As the years went by, Izzo expanded his commentative territory to include other high schools besides Saratoga. In 1976, a Saratoga TV station made a public access broadcasting channel available. Izzo took the opportunity to start broadcasting the games he recorded.
Eventually, he caught the attention of Bill Higgins with Upstate New York Basketball. Higgins hired him to cover a game a week, across the entire Capital Region. Izzo did this through the mid-90s, in addition to having a weekly TV show for a few years called Sports Spotlight and a radio show at one of the local radio stations.
He most enjoyed having players from his early years in the ‘70s come on his TV and radio shows as his guests and reminisce with him.
He also formed a tight friendship with Higgins, who he worked with frequently.
“Bill was a rock,” Izzo said. “He was with me from the beginning. I had so many great times with him as an announcer. Most of my broadcasts, because you had to have more than one person doing it, I did with him or with Skip Spensieri.”
Higgins was inducted into the Upstate New York Basketball Hall of Fame about 10 years ago. His recent death was a heavy blow to the basketball community.
“When Rene told me I was getting inducted, he said he was sure that Bill was happily smiling down upon me,” Izzo said.
The highlights of Izzo’s broadcasting career include the day he saw his beloved Saratoga Blue Streaks win a championship game at the buzzer in 1988, breaking a 31-year losing streak; getting to interview Phil Rizzuto when he visited Saratoga - the only celebrity that has ever made Izzo giddy; interviewing basketball player Sam Perkins twice, once as a high school student and again as an NBA player; and a fateful two years of championship games between SPA Catholic and Watervliet.
“In the first game, SPA won when a player from Watervliet made a halfcourt shot with one second on the clock - it went in, then bounced out and they lost,” Izzo explained. “The very next year, they were in the championships again. That same player took a shot at the buzzer this time he was under the net - and it went in and Watervliet won.
“Of all the games I’ve broadcasted, that sequence was the most memorable.”
Izzo was also recently awarded the Dutch Holland Award for his longevity of covering high school basketball games. He got particular recognition for the highlight videos he put together for teams that had a strong year.
Izzo says what he loved most about his career as a play-by-play broadcaster was “the excitement of being at a live event and seeing the coaches and players.” Nowadays, Izzo has a sports show on Star Radio. The show allows him to give recognition to Capital Region athletes from all sports, not just basketball. His passion for broadcasting, and for sports - especially basketball - is as strong as ever.
“I absolutely love it,” Izzo said. “It’s love, not work. I love promoting and highlighting the local athletes, coaches, and teams. I just won’t go away!”
Izzo will be inducted into the 2021 Upstate New York Basketball Hall of Fame alongside Nate Lewis, who played with the 1977 Saratoga Blue Streaks; Bob King, who coached for Saratoga Central Catholic School; and John Lee, who coached for Ballston Spa.
Izzo has covered all three of them over the course of his broadcasting career.