Al McCoy AKA “The Voice of the Suns” continues to rule the radio

When you think of the Phoenix Suns, who comes to your mind first?

New fans may say Chris Paul, Devin Booker or Deandre Ayton. Longer tenured fanatics may say Steve Nash or Charles Barkley. While none of these answers are wrong, I’m going with Al McCoy.

This is the 52^nd season that the Suns have existed and will be his 49th calling play-by-play action for all home games. He’s the longest tenured announcer with a single team in NBA history and the most popular broadcaster in Arizona history.

Yes, James Jones did solid work in the offseason. Monty Williams is indeed a really good coach. Devin Booker continues his rise among the best in the league. I feel one thing has been missing in all this talk, though.

There isn’t enough out there on Al McCoy, how great of an announcer he is and the fact that listening to him on the radio could get you pumped whether he was talking about Deandre Ayton or Tyler Ulis.

If you haven’t been a fan of Phoenix basketball, you may be a stranger to the intense elderly voice full of passion on the radio. However, longtime fans can’t imagine Suns games without his voice.

When Devin Booker nets that trey, you’ll hear “Shazam!”. As Cam Johnson nails daggers you’ll hear “Zing go the strings!” and Chris Paul’s mid-range game will get plenty of “Swish-a-roo for two”.

When an opponent makes a critical shot, he’ll say “Oh, brother!” and when the Suns lose a close game, a cry of “Heartbreak Hotel!” will be uttered.

As CP3 feeds Ayton for a dunk, you’ll hear an emphatic “Wham Bam Slam!” or “Whammo!” for short.

It may not sound like much for those not used to it but once you hear it you’ll understand why just reading those phrases brings chills to those of us that have been around for a while. We have to enjoy every single phrase because sadly, there will come a day when the little guy from tiny Williams, Iowa with the big voice for our Phoenix Suns will be gone.

I hope that is a long time from now because honestly, I’ll cry like a baby when it does. There have been countless times I’ve been dealing with something and I would just put on my headphones, listen to his voice and escape to another place.

He’s a true gentleman, full of class and as big of a deal as he is, humility is ever present. Humble roots will never escape him and you won’t ever find a nicer man. You can ask anyone that’s ever had an encounter with him.

Let’s hope this season we will hear a lot of “You can put this one in the old icebox” as the Suns pile up wins leading to Mr. McCoy’s 30^th year calling the playoffs.

Who knows? Maybe a championship is in store in the near future and he’ll get to be the one broadcasting it. There is no denying how much he deserves that.

Thank you for everything, Al! Carry on! Go Suns!