On Oct. 23, 1976, at Cobo Arena, 32-year-old George Blaha completed his first play-by-play calls for the Detroit Pistons as the team lost the home opener to the Washington Bullets 98-97.
The night before, President Gerald Ford and Democratic challenger Jimmy Carter had held their third presidential debate.
A half-century later, Blaha will, remarkably, begin his 50th season with the Pistons this month. He has called more than 3,700 regular-season games, over 260 playoff games, three Pistons world championships, and five NBA Finals.
Blaha is the longest-tenured play-by-play announcer in Detroit sports history, having surpassed Ernie Harwell’s 42 years with the Tigers, and he is the second longest-tenured announcer in NBA history, second only to the Phoenix Suns’ Al McCoy, who retired after the 2023 season at age 90 and passed away in 2024.
To top it off, this fall, Blaha began his 48th (and 34th consecutive) season as play-by-play announcer for Michigan State University football.
In September, Blaha — the recipient of two Michigan Sportscaster of the Year Awards (2003 and 2007) and a 2008 inductee into the Michigan Sports Hall of Fame — received the prestigious Curt Gowdy Media Award presented as part of the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame enshrinement ceremonies. The Gowdy Award is presented to “members of the print, electronic, and transformative media whose efforts have made a significant contribution to the game of basketball.”
When he heard about his selection in February, Blaha says he was “honored and a little bit humbled to be singled out for this award in the home stretch of my career.”
“I’m amazed that my career has lasted this long,” he adds.
Born in Detroit and raised in Iowa, Blaha and his family moved to Grayling when he was 13 or 14, and as a youngster, he enjoyed listening to all sports on the radio. Blaha holds a Bachelor of Arts in economics from the University of Notre Dame and an MBA from the University of Michigan, but he says his dream since the age of 10 was to do sports play-by-play.
“I’ve lived by the words of the late legendary Dodger announcer Vin Scully: ‘When you find something you love to do, you’ll never work another day in your life.’”
As a U-M grad student, Blaha wrote to Ernie Harwell and followed his advice to take broadcasting courses. To build audition tapes, he announced high school football games in the Thumb area for free, which helped him land radio jobs. He worked in Adrian and Lansing in the early ’70s before landing a morning-drive news position with WCAR in Detroit.
When Pistons radio announcer Paul Carey decided to concentrate on his Tigers broadcasts with Harwell, WJR newsman Tom Campbell suggested that the station’s sports director, Frank Beckmann, consider Blaha as a replacement. After Beckmann listened to audition tapes, Blaha was hired.
After many years of frustrating losing seasons (the Pistons had had only three winning seasons since the team moved to Detroit from Fort Wayne, Indiana, in 1957), things started to take a turn. In 1981, the Pistons got the No. 2 draft pick, Isiah Thomas, and finished in third place that year, up from last place, and their winning ways continued for the next decade. During this time, the popularity of the Pistons and their announcer soared and fans were entertained with Blaha’s trademark calls, such as “2 and 27 to go. Isiah turns and fires from 20 — he hit it! Count that baby and a foul!”
By Blaha’s side for the 43rd season is Joe Abramson, his longtime statistician for broadcasts — a position Abramson has held since he was 16 years old.
“George cares about the quality of the broadcasts, and he really knows the game,” Abramson says. “He puts the same preparation into a preseason game as he does an NBA Finals game. If you think about it, all the great moments in Pistons history have been called by him. My initial reaction to finding out George was receiving the Gowdy Media Award was ‘Finally.’ It was long overdue.”
Nobody has been a greater ambassador for Pistons basketball than George Blaha.
Before and after games, fans near courtside call out to him. He often accommodates them with selfies, autographs, and even a conversation.
“I enjoy the fans, and I really appreciate their support. Without them, I wouldn’t have this job,” Blaha says.
Attorney Ali Amir Jafry, a lifelong Pistons fan, fondly recalls meeting Blaha after a game at The Palace of Auburn Hills and getting a photo with him. “It was like talking to a neighbor,” he says. “He was the voice of our house growing up, and he seems like part of the family. I don’t think there’s anyone better in the business.”
When he’s not on the road, or preparing for games at his Troy home that he shares with his wife, Mary, Blaha is often found participating in charitable and community events. He is also active with his own favorite charities, including hosting the annual High Hopes Golf Invitational, which supports Vista Maria, a nonprofit that “helps children and families in southeast Michigan who have endured poverty, abuse, and neglect.”
As he prepares for the upcoming basketball season, Blaha is finishing his autobiography with writer Ray Serafin; it’s expected to be published later this year.
“My mom was so supportive about my dream to be a play-by-play announcer, and I promised her that I would write a book,” he says. “It would have been hard to have rationalized ignoring that promise.”
As for when he might retire?
“I’m taking it a year at a time because you don’t know if the man upstairs is going to bless you with the same kind of energy and ability when you’re a year older. I’m really looking forward to the upcoming season. It was a lot more fun last year the way this team took to [Pistons coach] J.B. Bickerstaff and how they played together unselfishly and found a way to win so often. It was inspirational.”
This story originally appeared in the October 2025 issue of Hour Detroit magazine. To read more, pick up a copy of Hour Detroit at a local retail outlet. Click here to get our digital edition.
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