Jim Karvellas

Karvellas' radio and TV broadcasting career spanned basketball, soccer, football, baseball, golf, and even NASCAR. In 2002, Karvellas reflected on the diversity of his career in the St. Petersburg Times: "As a sports announcer, you may be better at one or the other depending on your style. But doing all those sports made me more professional." He continued: "You learn how to open and close events, fill time during delays in auto races, so those were all really important in helping mold me as an announcer."

Karvellas was married to the former Lorie Hirst for 38 years until her death in 1997. They had two children and five grandchildren.

After his broadcast career, Karvellas co-founded the Celebrity Golf Association (CGA). In 1990, he partnered with NBC to host the first of many Celebrity Golf Championships. Many consider him a "founding father" of celebrity golf.

The Celebrity Golf Championship (now known as American Century Championship) was the brain child of Jim Karvellas. He was quoted saying: "As a golfer myself, I wanted to see the celebrities tee it up and post their own score when it really counted." It took Karvellas years to make Celebrity Golf a reality but it was finally picked up by NBC due to their loss of Major League Baseball. The first tournament was held at Edgewood Tahoe Golf Course in 1990. It hosted players such as Michael Jordan, Ernie Banks, Mario Lemieux, Mike Schmidt, and Kenny Rogers to name a few.

For twelve years, New York fans came to know Karvellas as the voice of the New York Knicks. He began in 1980 on the MSG TV side, working for the first six seasons on home games with Cal Ramsey (two seasons) and Butch Beard (four seasons). He next moved to radio where he worked with Ernie Grunfeld (two seasons) and Walt (Clyde) Frazier (three seasons). He covered NBA games for CBS radio (1978–1986) and was host of the USA Network's NBA Game of the Week (1979–1981.)

In 1976, Karvellas became the voice of the New York Cosmos, teaming up with Howard David on TV and radio. "Jim was the perfect man for those days. He had a lot of flair; he was a reflection of the team" said Cosmo's Giorgio Chinagila to the New York Post. Karvellas' intonation "This is Cosmos Soccer" became a catchphrase and the name of an album featuring highlights from the team's 1977 season.

In the 1970s, Karvellas was involved with early efforts to bring the international game of soccer to American audiences.

Beginning in 1968, Karvellas began calling other Baltimore games. He did play-by-play for the Colts and became the third member of the Orioles' broadcast team that included Chuck Thompson and Bill O'Donnell. A year later, he called both the 1969 Super Bowl and World Series on national radio when both teams made appearances.

Karvellas began his career in 1962 as the voice of the Chicago Packers (1961–1962). The team was soon renamed the Chicago Zephyrs (1962–1962). In 1963, he moved with the Zephyrs to Baltimore where it became the Baltimore Bullets, taking the name from an earlier team. In his own words, quoted from The Baltimore Sun in 1988: "It was my first really big league job, It was exciting for me being with a major league team. Although the NBA wasn't as big league then, it was big enough for me." At the time, he was the youngest NBA announcer. In 1992, he returned to the then Washington Bullets.

Jim Karvellas (August 24, 1935–January 1, 2007) was a veteran play-by-play sportscaster whose career on radio and television spanned more than 30 years. Known for his trademark calls of "Bulls-eye!" for big baskets and “This is Coz-MOES SOCK-errr!,” Karvellas was the voice of the NBA's Baltimore/Washington Bullets and New York Knicks as well as the NASL's New York Cosmos. "There was always an undercurrent of enthusiasm when he was on the air because he loved the game. And he had that deep resonant voice. You can be a great technician but you have to have that voice," said Frank Deford of Sports Illustrated and NPR.