NBA broadcasting pioneer Doris Burke lets it rip

In 1999, when Doris Burke was named lead television analyst for Atlantic 10 Conference men’s basketball games, she was more nervous than excited. A woman calling men’s games was groundbreaking stuff.

“The audience and the coaches in the league: Will they accept me?” Burke wondered to fellow broadcaster Bob Picozzi at the time.

Burke and Picozzi recalled the exchange Friday during a panel discussion at Seton Hall University. Then Burke, whose hardwood roots go back to her days as a Manasquan High School standout, added a twist to the story. After her first year with the Atlantic-10, Burke asked associate commissioner Bob Steitz, who had hired her, about the coaches’ initial reaction to her appointment.

“Ooh, do you really want to know that?” Burke recalled Steitz as saying.

He never did answer the question, but he did recount how, a month into that first season, Temple coach John Chaney called him up about it. Chaney was as old-school and crusty as they came, and also a highly respected figure within the league.

“That girl you have, she’s alright,” Chaney told Steitz.

It was all the imprimatur Burke needed.

“To me that remains one of the great compliments,” she said Friday.

Burke’s one-hour conversation with Picozzi and a room full of students, staged by Seton Hall’s Center for Sports Media, was chock full of telling anecdotes on the rise of a pioneer. Now part of the lead broadcasting team for ESPN’s and ABC’s coverage of the NBA, she will become the first woman to serve as a television analyst for a major men’s team-sports championship in the U.S. when the NBA Finals roll round in June.

“The level of acceptance has changed dramatically,” Burke said. “There are going to be people listening to the NBA Finals who’ll say, ‘She shouldn’t be there.’ That’s already been stated…but open-mindedness to the presence of women (as sports broadcasters) is starting to grow.”

She recalled an encounter years ago at the Big East men’s basketball tournament with the late, legendary Associated Press scribe Jim O’Connell, who explained his initial, knee-jerk skepticism upon hearing her call a men’s game and then added: “I just want to you know: I’ve listened to what you had to say, and you belong.”

That was a harbinger for the big stage ahead.

'You have potential'

The youngest of eight children, Burke moved to Manasquan with her family at age 7. Their house was next door to Indian Hill Park. It was there she discovered basketball.

“With 10 people moving into a home, there was a lot going on,” she said. “The previous owner left a basketball in the backyard. My mother picked it up and said, ‘Why don’t you go over there?' So I went to the park. I literally picked the basketball up at age 7 and I have not put it down.”

In her youth, there was just one women’s basketball game televised per year – the final of the college women’s championship tournament.

“The announcers actually said, ‘These women are on scholarship,’” Burke said.

A light went on. Knowing that might be her only way to attend college, Burke used that carrot as motivation while at Manasquan High. At her father’s behest she accepted the first scholarship offer that came, from UMass, but really wanted to attend Providence. When an opening in Providence’s roster arose she begged her high school coach to put in a call on her behalf, and that’s where she became an All-American in 1987.

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In 1990, after a stint in coaching, Burke dove into broadcasting as a radio analyst for Providence women’s games. She thought family members were the only people listening. She was wrong.

“I’ve heard you on the women’s games,” Big East founding commissioner Dave Gavitt told her. “You have potential. Keep working.”

On Caitlin Clark and changing attitudes

A student asked Burke about changing attitudes toward women’s sports. Inevitably, Iowa University superstar Caitlin Clark came up. Clark has been subjected to a surprising amount of “blowback,” as Picozzi put it, from certain corners of basketball fandom.

“Sometimes it feels to me as it relates to women’s sports, society is somewhat behind the stakeholders,” Burke said. “The people who speak most powerfully sometimes in support of the women are NBA players.”

So when someone like Charles Barkley uses his forum to laud Clark, it matters.

“There was a two-week stretch last year where the single most compelling figure in basketball at any level was Caitlin Clark,” Burke said. “And the reason I know that is because the ratings told me that was the case. She was out-rating NBA games.”

Burke’s mantra Friday was “it takes everyone to change things,” and she went back to that here.

“The way LeBron (James) or Steph (Curry) or some of these great players interacted with me (as a sideline reporter), the casual viewer at home, male or female, was affected by the interaction because there was respect on both sides of that,” Burke said.

Another student asked Burke to list her top five NBA players if she were building a team. She narrowed her response to players she’s covered in her time with the league.

“I’d have to start with LeBron James,” she said. “He’s worked as hard as any human being I’ve ever seen.”

Then, in no particular order: Kevin Durant, Steph Curry, Giannis Antetokounmpo and Nikola Jokić.

“I know I’m going to leave somebody out and this is going to go viral,” she joked.

In response to a question from a manager on Seton Hall’s women’s basketball team about breaking barriers, Burke said “nothing worthwhile is easy” and pledged to keep pioneering despite naysayers.

“I’m not going away,” she said. “I’m just going to keep going and eventually you’re going to have to come around. Friends say, ‘How do you deal with it?’ I say, ‘I love what I do. I’m not going to quit. I can’t quit.’”

Jerry Carino has covered the New Jersey sports scene since 1996 and the college basketball beat since 2003. He is an Associated Press Top 25 voter. Contact him at jcarino@gannettnj.com.

This article originally appeared on Asbury Park Press: Doris Burke's Top 5 NBA players if she was starting a team