Eli Gold
Encyclopedia
Eli Gold is an American
sportscaster
. Gold is best known as the radio voice for the Alabama Crimson Tide football
team, along with Tom Roberts, as part of the Crimson Tide Sports Network since 1988. He has also been the host of NASCAR
Live on the Motor Racing Network
since 1982. He formerly anchored Arena Football League's coverage on TNN and NBC
, and anchors National Football League
play-by-play coverage on Sports USA Radio Network
.
.
for the Eastern
, North American
, Southern
, American
, Central
, and the National Hockey League
s. In the NHL, Gold announced games for the 1979–80 St. Louis Blues over KDNL-TV
and was the radio play-by-play announcer for Nashville Predators
during the 2006–07 NHL season.
to broadcast the Birmingham Bulls
hockey team of the World Hockey Association
. He created Birmingham's first local sports call-in show, Calling All Sports on WERC which became a staple of Birmingham sports radio for 20 years. He eventually rose to the position of Sports Director for what was then that market's ABC
affiliate, WBRC
where he anchored evening news sports segments and hosted "Sports Talk with Eli", a weekly call-in show. From 2002 to 2004 he hosted a daily sports talk show also called Calling All Sports on WJOX
-AM in Birmingham
.
Gold has also performed announcing duties for the Birmingham Barons
AA
baseball
team and the UAB Blazers
men's basketball team. He has been voted "Alabama Sportscaster of the Year" four times by the National Sportscasters and Sportswriters Association
. He has also won the same honor from the Associated Press
and United Press International
.
On August 30, 2011, Gold returned to the daily radio airwaves as co-host of a morning drive time (6am-9am CT) sports call-in show with former Auburn quarterback Stan White
on WZNN in Birmingham.
races. He still, from time to time, can be heard on MRN's NASCAR broadcasts and remains one of the network's most recognized and popular voices.
According to NASCAR driver Kenny Wallace
who also broadcasts NASCAR themed shows on SPEED Channel and St. Louis radio station KMOX-AM
, Gold "is one of the most recognizable voices in NASCAR and in all of sports broadcasting."
.
days.
Gold's third book, "From Peanuts To The Press Box" tells his life's story. The story of the boy from Brooklyn, New York who went from selling peanuts at Madison Square Garden and now works in the press boxes and radio booths of America.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
sportscaster
Sportscaster
In sports broadcasting, a commentator gives a running commentary of a game or event in real time, usually during a live broadcast. The comments are normally a voiceover, with the sounds of the action and spectators also heard in the background. In the case of television commentary, the commentator...
. Gold is best known as the radio voice for the Alabama Crimson Tide football
Alabama Crimson Tide football
|TeamName = Alabama football |Image = Alabama Crimson Tide Logo.svg |ImageSize = 110 |Helmet = Alabama Football.png |ImageSize2 = 150 |CurrentSeason = 2011 Alabama Crimson Tide football team...
team, along with Tom Roberts, as part of the Crimson Tide Sports Network since 1988. He has also been the host of NASCAR
NASCAR
The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing is a family-owned and -operated business venture that sanctions and governs multiple auto racing sports events. It was founded by Bill France Sr. in 1947–48. As of 2009, the CEO for the company is Brian France, grandson of the late Bill France Sr...
Live on the Motor Racing Network
Motor Racing Network
The Motor Racing Network is the principal radio broadcasting operation of NASCAR, promoting themselves as "The Voice of NASCAR." It broadcasts coverage of most major NASCAR races at the top three levels of NASCAR at tracks owned by International Speedway Corporation as well as Dover International...
since 1982. He formerly anchored Arena Football League's coverage on TNN and NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
, and anchors National Football League
National Football League
The National Football League is the highest level of professional American football in the United States, and is considered the top professional American football league in the world. It was formed by eleven teams in 1920 as the American Professional Football Association, with the league changing...
play-by-play coverage on Sports USA Radio Network
Sports USA Radio Network
The Sports USA Radio Network is the largest independent nationwide sports broadcasting radio network, specializing in live broadcasts of American football, specifically of the NCAA football Division I-A and National Football League...
.
Biography
Gold was born in December 1953 in Brooklyn, New York. He began his broadcasting career in 1972 as a weekend sports reporter for the Mutual Broadcasting SystemMutual Broadcasting System
The Mutual Broadcasting System was an American radio network, in operation from 1934 to 1999. In the golden age of U.S. radio drama, MBS was best known as the original network home of The Lone Ranger and The Adventures of Superman and as the long-time radio residence of The Shadow...
.
Ice hockey announcing
His first specialty was announcing ice hockeyIce hockey
Ice hockey, often referred to as hockey, is a team sport played on ice, in which skaters use wooden or composite sticks to shoot a hard rubber puck into their opponent's net. The game is played between two teams of six players each. Five members of each team skate up and down the ice trying to take...
for the Eastern
Eastern Hockey League
-Eastern Amateur Hockey League :The league was founded in 1933 as the Eastern Amateur Hockey League . The league was founded by Thomas Lockhart, who served as its commissioner from 1933 to 1972...
, North American
North American Hockey League
The North American Hockey League is one of the top junior hockey leagues in the United States and is enterting its 36th season in 2011-12. It is currently the only Junior A Tier II league, sanctioned by USA Hockey. The NAHL currently acts as an alternative to the United States Hockey League...
, Southern
Southern Hockey League
Southern Hockey League can refer to two different professional ice hockey leagues:*Southern Hockey League *Southern Hockey League...
, American
American Hockey League
The American Hockey League is a 30-team professional ice hockey league based in the United States and Canada that serves as the primary developmental circuit for the National Hockey League...
, Central
Central Hockey League
The Central Hockey League is a mid-level professional hockey league, owned by Global Entertainment Corporation. Its current champions are the Bossier-Shreveport Mudbugs, which defeated the Colorado Eagles four games to three in the 2011 playoffs....
, and the National Hockey League
National Hockey League
The National Hockey League is an unincorporated not-for-profit association which operates a major professional ice hockey league of 30 franchised member clubs, of which 7 are currently located in Canada and 23 in the United States...
s. In the NHL, Gold announced games for the 1979–80 St. Louis Blues over KDNL-TV
KDNL-TV
KDNL-TV is the ABC-affiliated television station for St. Louis, Missouri. It broadcasts a high definition digital signal on UHF channel 31 from a transmitter in Shrewsbury. The station can also be seen on Charter channel 12 and in high definition on digital channel 780. Owned by the Sinclair...
and was the radio play-by-play announcer for Nashville Predators
Nashville Predators
The Nashville Predators are a professional ice hockey team based in Nashville, Tennessee. They are members of the Central Division of the Western Conference of the National Hockey League...
during the 2006–07 NHL season.
Alabama sportscasting career
Gold moved to Birmingham, AlabamaBirmingham, Alabama
Birmingham is the largest city in Alabama. The city is the county seat of Jefferson County. According to the 2010 United States Census, Birmingham had a population of 212,237. The Birmingham-Hoover Metropolitan Area, in estimate by the U.S...
to broadcast the Birmingham Bulls
Birmingham Bulls
The Birmingham Bulls were a professional ice hockey team based in Birmingham, Alabama, USA. They played in the World Hockey Association from 1976 to 1979 and the Central Hockey League from 1979 to 1981. The Bulls played their home games at the Birmingham Jefferson Convention Center.Prior to being...
hockey team of the World Hockey Association
World Hockey Association
The World Hockey Association was a professional ice hockey league that operated in North America from 1972 to 1979. It was the first major competition for the National Hockey League since the collapse of the Western Hockey League in 1926...
. He created Birmingham's first local sports call-in show, Calling All Sports on WERC which became a staple of Birmingham sports radio for 20 years. He eventually rose to the position of Sports Director for what was then that market's ABC
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
affiliate, WBRC
WBRC
WBRC, virtual channel 6, is the Fox-affiliated television station serving the Birmingham, Alabama designated market area. The station is owned by Raycom Media, and its transmitter is located atop Red Mountain in Birmingham...
where he anchored evening news sports segments and hosted "Sports Talk with Eli", a weekly call-in show. From 2002 to 2004 he hosted a daily sports talk show also called Calling All Sports on WJOX
WJOX
WJOX WJOX WJOX (690 AM, "Jox 94.5" (simulcasting WJOX-FM) is an all-sports radio station licensed to Birmingham, Alabama, with daytime licensed power of 50,000 Watts and 500 Watts at night. WJOX is the Birmingham affiliate of the University of Alabama Crimson Tide Sports Network (football only),...
-AM in Birmingham
Birmingham, Alabama
Birmingham is the largest city in Alabama. The city is the county seat of Jefferson County. According to the 2010 United States Census, Birmingham had a population of 212,237. The Birmingham-Hoover Metropolitan Area, in estimate by the U.S...
.
Gold has also performed announcing duties for the Birmingham Barons
Birmingham Barons
The Birmingham Barons are a minor league baseball team based in Birmingham, Alabama. The team, which plays in the Southern League, is the Double-A affiliate of the Chicago White Sox major-league club....
AA
Southern League (baseball)
The Southern League is a minor league baseball league which operates in the Southern United States. It is classified a Double-A league. The original league was formed in , and shut down in . A new league, the Southern Association, was formed in , consisting of twelve teams...
baseball
Baseball
Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each. The aim is to score runs by hitting a thrown ball with a bat and touching a series of four bases arranged at the corners of a ninety-foot diamond...
team and the UAB Blazers
UAB Blazers
The UAB Blazers are the forest green and old gold-swathed athletic teams at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. The school is one of the twelve member institutions of Conference USA and participates in Division I of the NCAA...
men's basketball team. He has been voted "Alabama Sportscaster of the Year" four times by the National Sportscasters and Sportswriters Association
National Sportscasters and Sportswriters Association
The National Sportscasters and Sportswriters Association, or NSSA, is an organization of sports media members in the United States. It constitutes the American chapter of the International Sports Press Association ....
. He has also won the same honor from the Associated Press
Associated Press
The Associated Press is an American news agency. The AP is a cooperative owned by its contributing newspapers, radio and television stations in the United States, which both contribute stories to the AP and use material written by its staff journalists...
and United Press International
United Press International
United Press International is a once-major international news agency, whose newswires, photo, news film and audio services provided news material to thousands of newspapers, magazines and radio and television stations for most of the twentieth century...
.
On August 30, 2011, Gold returned to the daily radio airwaves as co-host of a morning drive time (6am-9am CT) sports call-in show with former Auburn quarterback Stan White
Stan White (quarterback)
Stan White is a former American football quarterback.-High School & College:A graduate of W. A. Berry High School in Hoover, Alabama. He went on to play quarterback at Auburn University where he started every game from his freshman year until his senior year, a total of 45 straight games...
on WZNN in Birmingham.
NASCAR announcing
In addition, Gold has worked with MRN Radio and TNN Motorsports as a lap-by-lap announcer of NASCARNASCAR
The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing is a family-owned and -operated business venture that sanctions and governs multiple auto racing sports events. It was founded by Bill France Sr. in 1947–48. As of 2009, the CEO for the company is Brian France, grandson of the late Bill France Sr...
races. He still, from time to time, can be heard on MRN's NASCAR broadcasts and remains one of the network's most recognized and popular voices.
According to NASCAR driver Kenny Wallace
Kenny Wallace
Kenneth Wallace is an American stock car driver who currently drives the #09 Family Farmers/University of Northwestern Ohio/Federated Auto Parts/American Ethanol/Iowa Corn/G-Oil/Marquis Energy Toyota Camry for RAB Racing in the NASCAR Nationwide Series...
who also broadcasts NASCAR themed shows on SPEED Channel and St. Louis radio station KMOX-AM
KMOX (AM)
KMOX is a radio station broadcasting from St. Louis, Missouri. It is a 50,000-watt clear channel radio station, which permits its nighttime signal to be heard in most of the continental U.S. KMOX operates as "NewsRadio 1120" and refers to itself as "The Voice of St...
, Gold "is one of the most recognizable voices in NASCAR and in all of sports broadcasting."
Personal life
Gold currently resides in Birmingham, with his wife and daughter. Gold is also a part owner of Nino's Italian Restaurant, which is located in Pelham, AlabamaPelham, Alabama
Pelham is a city and suburb of Birmingham in Shelby County, Alabama, United States. At the 2000 census the population was 14,369, but has grown to 21,352 recorded by the 2010 census. It was named for famed Confederate American Civil War officer John Pelham...
.
Books
Gold's second book was released in August 2007 and is called Bear's Boys. The book focuses on thirty-six of coach Paul "Bear" Bryant's Alabama football players and explores where they are today and how Coach Bryant's lessons impacted them in their post-University Of Alabamadays.
Gold's third book, "From Peanuts To The Press Box" tells his life's story. The story of the boy from Brooklyn, New York who went from selling peanuts at Madison Square Garden and now works in the press boxes and radio booths of America.