Getty San Diego Padres announcer Dick Enberg talks to the crowd during a ceremony held before a baseball game between the San Diego Padres and the Los Angeles Dodgers at PETCO Park on September 29, 2016 in San Diego, California.
Sports broadcasting legend Dick Enberg has died at the age of 82, according to ESPN and many other news reports.
How did Enberg die? Although the official cause of death had not yet been released as news of Enberg’s death broke in the early morning hours of December 22, 2017, his family members told ESPN that they suspect he died of a heart attack. Enberg died at his San Diego, California-area home with his bags packed for a trip out east, the sports site reported.
“Enberg’s daughter, Nicole, said the family became concerned when he didn’t arrive on his flight to Boston on Thursday, and that he was found dead at his home in La Jolla, a San Diego neighborhood, with his bags packed. The family said it believes he had a heart attack, but is awaiting official word,” ESPN reported.
Dick Enberg.
Bryce Miller, a sports columnist with the San Diego Union Tribune, wrote on Twitter, “Incredibly sad news: Dick Enberg’s wife Barbara just told me Dick died his morning in LaJolla. Thinks it was a heart attack. Such a legend. Such a gentleman. There are no words.”
Enberg’s voice was famous and generations of sports fans grew up listening to it. According to Deadspin, “Enberg retired last year from a six-decade career that included announcing everything from the NFL and Olympics and MLB to tennis and boxing and golf. Beginning in 1975, he spent 25 years at NBC Sports, where he served as the lead play-by-play voice for both the network’s NFL and MLB coverage.”
Longtime sportscaster Dick Enberg has died of a heart attack in San Diego at 82, per reports: t.co/ECe0VcbvA5
The Associated Press also reported that Enberg’s daughter, Nicole, had confirmed his death. “I’m still in shock,” Barbara Enberg, Dick Enberg’s wife, told the San Diego Union-Tribune of her husband’s sudden death. Although he was in advanced age, Enberg was not known to be in bad health.
Dick Enberg’s career spanned different sports genres. “Enberg defined versatility as a broadcaster, covering 28 Wimbledon tennis tournaments, 10 Super Bowls and eight NCAA basketball title games as the play-by-play voice of the UCLA Bruins during its dynasty-building run. His last full-time job was as the TV voice of the Padres,” reported the Union-Tribune.
In 2016, Ranch & Coast magazine featured Barbara and Dick Enberg’s La Jolla home, the residence where he was found dead, describing how Barbara, an interior decorator, had filled it with furniture she found in France. Barbara was Enberg’s second wife; they married in 1983. He also leaves behind six children.
Tributes flowed in for Enberg. Many praised his classy demeanor as well as his talent. Wrote one friend on social media, “RIP, Dick Enberg! We loved you! A better friend or more professional and inquisitive man never walked this earth. Lucky to call you my dear buddy!” John Ireland, the radio voice of the Lakers, lauded Enberg, writing, “If there was a Mount Rushmore of LA Sports Announcers, Dick Enberg is on it with Chick Hearn, Vin Scully and Bob Miller. Rams, Angels, UCLA, NBC, and so much more. Was the first famous announcer I ever met, and he couldn’t have been nicer. Definition of a gentleman. RIP.”