Key. Lane. Swish. Three words that changed the history of sports broadcasting. Three words that solidified Marty Glickman’s legacy as a sportscaster.

His innovation, that unmistakable New York twang in his voice and his command over the airwaves made people want to be like Glickman.

“I walked like him, talked like him, broadcast like him,” said Marv Albert, a Syracuse University alumnus and play-by-play announcer for “The NFL on CBS.”

The S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications partnered with HBO on Saturday to present an advance screening of “Glickman,” a documentary by James L. Freedman celebrating the life and career of the late 1939 alumnus. The documentary honoring Glickman, who died in 2001 at age 83, premieres at 9 p.m. Monday on HBO.

The film is, in part, a coming-of-age story that follows a young Jewish-American athlete who flourishes in the face of discrimination and is unexpectedly thrust into a career that he would grow to love.

Injected with confidence after beating the then-world record holder in the 60-meter track event, Glickman tried out for the 1936 Olympic team as a freshman at SU.

He made it. But on the day of his first race in the 4×100-meter relay, Glickman was replaced by Jesse Owens, the fastest man in the world at the time and a four-time gold medalist in the Berlin Games. Glickman later described his replacement as the result of anti-Semitism and an attempt to appease Adolf Hitler. Glickman was one of two Jewish athletes who were replaced on the U.S. team.

At the time, he shrugged it off because he still had football back in Syracuse.

Weeks later, after a standout performance in the old Archbold Stadium, he was approached by a local radio station and asked to do a segment on the air. Doubtful of himself, Glickman was hesitant to agree. That was until he learned he was going to make $15 — but he was no less nervous.

“It was 9:15 that night,” he recalled in an archived interview in the documentary, “and my first words were, ‘Good afternoon everybody.’”

From that first mistake, he went on to become the first voice of basketball, narrate Paramount newsreels and call the play-by-play for both the New York Giants and the New York Jets. He also became the first person to be on the air at HBO and eventually became the announcer coach at NBC.

Glickman’s colorful descriptions of the action taking place on the court and the field put listeners inside the game.

“I strove to create a word picture that the listener could see in the mind’s eye,” he wrote in his 1996 autobiography, “The Fastest Kid on the Block.”

According to the documentary, Glickman never used “$25 words.” Instead, he made the game easy to understand, describing exactly what was happening. And in doing so, he coined terms like “swish” and created other terminology that laid out the geography of the court, making it easy for listeners to imagine the scene in a time when TV was much less prevalent.

Later in his life, Glickman became equal-part teacher and announcer. He often mentored young, aspiring sportscasters, like Marv Albert, who was his first protégé. He also coached Gayle Sierens, the first woman to call play-by-play in the NFL.

Then there was Bob Costas, and even Freedman. Though he never pursued a career in broadcast, Freedman produced one of Glickman’s first radio shows. To him, Glickman gave a sense of professional confidence, Freedman said. And under Glickman’s guidance, Costas honed his famous TV style.

“There have been times during the Olympics when I have relied more on craftsmanship than I did on a visceral feeling,” Costas said. “Marty was so perceptive and picked up on that and said, ‘I want to feel your heart more; I want to see you smile more.’ He was right.”

In addition to Saturday’s advance screening, Dean Lorraine Branham debuted the Newhouse Sports Media Center and introduced its director, John Nicholson. Then Costas — another SU alumnus — was honored as the first recipient of a new award in Glickman’s name.

The Marty Glickman Award for Leadership in Sports Media — or “the Marty” — is to be given annually to the person who demonstrates great prowess and integrity in sports reporting, qualities both Glickman and Costas have shown: Costas as a 19-time Emmy Award winner and Glickman during his nearly 70-year-long career.

“[Marty] really was the beginning of Newhouse sports journalism,” Branham said.

Costas, currently the host of NBC’s “Football Night in America” and the prime time host of NBC’s Olympic Games coverage, was the obvious choice to be given the first ever “Marty” Award, said Albert, who considers Costas the best sports host of all time.

In his acceptance speech, Costas credited his success at coaching to both Glickman and SU.

“This [award] represents my university, my profession, and it represents one of the most cherished friendships of my life because of how good Marty was to me, as he was to so many,” Costas said. “This represents a good portion of my life, and therefore is one of the great honors of my life.”

Though heavily featured at the event, Costas and Albert weren’t the only alumni present. Other successful sports reporters like Mike Tirico and Pete Thamel attended to support the Newhouse Sports Media Center, which will represent a network of alumni for graduates of the school’s Sports Communications Emphasis.

Said Nicholson: “This was a long time coming, but has really existed since the beginning because of all of the big names associated with the school.”

Published on August 26, 2013 at 12:31 am

Contact Joe: jtinfant@syr.edu | @joeinfantino