Hall of Fame
From the 2015 Hall of Fame program:
There doesn’t appear to be any sort of record kept for consecutive games called by a broadcaster at the college level, but if there was, Al Epstein would surely be among its all-time leaders.
The 2015-16 season will be Epstein’s 31st year behind the microphone for Pepperdine men’s basketball games. Since 1985-86, he’s called an incredible 908 straight broadcasts for the Waves. He signed on as an analyst the first year, then moved over to play-by-play the following season.
That’s not all Epstein has done for Pepperdine, however. He also currently broadcasts home men’s and women’s volleyball and women’s soccer matches, as well as the occasional women’s basketball game. He has also served as a public address announcer at one time or another for some of these sports and more.
But men’s basketball is what Epstein is most known for at Pepperdine. He has actually broadcasted more than 40 percent of all the games in the program’s history, including 457 wins and 12 postseason appearances. He’s seen up close eight of the 12 full-time men’s basketball head coaches that Pepperdine has ever employed. He’s called the games of more than half of Pepperdine’s 1,000-point scorers (21 of 38), and he’s seen nine players that have gone on to the NBA.
Epstein was around for some of the team’s finest moments – such as the record 38 straight wins over conference opponents, all three West Coast Conference Tournament titles and the 2000 NCAA Tournament upset victory over Indiana, to name a few.
Epstein, who has long been the dean of WCC broadcasters, received the conference’s Sam Goldman Award in 2003. The award was given annually to a member of the media for excellence in covering the WCC. He has also called games for the WCC’s digital network, TheW.tv.
His long career has included many other interesting stops. For the last 21 years, Epstein has called play-by-play for polo matches at Will Rogers State Park in Pacific Palisades. He’s been affiliated with FOX Sports West for several years and calls high school football games on Friday nights. He’s also done UNLV football and UCLA baseball games in the past. He is a former Sports Information Director at Santa Monica Community College.
He is the co-founder of A/M Sports Productions, which both produces and broadcasts athletic events on the internet. He was the co-author of Play-by-Play SportsCast Training, a one-of-a-kind textbook that provides instruction in areas such as play-by-play, color commentary, interviewing techniques and game preparation.
Epstein was inducted into the Southern California Jewish Sports Hall of Fame in 2001 and also served on the organization’s Board of Directors. He also received an Associated Press West Coast radio award.
Epstein is a graduate of Beverly Hills (Calif.) High School and earned a bachelor’s degree in broadcast journalism from Cal State Los Angeles. He was a member of the famed Temple City Kazoo Orchestra, which performed in the early 1980s and once opened for David Letterman at a local nightclub.
