There are few people in the world who can say that their distinct voice is recognized by millions of others.  Sam Rosen’s trademark lines and phrases lie true in the hearts of New Yorkers, sports fans, Rangers’ fans, and hockey mavens alike.

A Stuyvesant alumnus, Rosen (’64) is currently a play-by-play announcer for the New York Rangers hockey team on the Madison Square Garden Network, where he has been working since 1977. In addition, he calls play-by-play for Fox’s coverage of the National Football League (NFL). He was recently inducted into the National Jewish Sports Hall of Fame.

After immigrating to Brooklyn from Germany at the age of two, Rosen attended Stuyvesant High School when it was still an all-boys’ school on 15th Street. During his time at Stuyvesant, he was captain of the varsity baseball team, which was then known as the Peglegs.

Rosen met with The Spectator to discuss his Stuyvesant experience:

The Spectator: What comes to mind when you think back upon your experiences at Stuyvesant?

Sam Rosen: Well, we were in the building on 15th Street just off of First Avenue. It was an old facility but it was like we had this great bond. I guess, as I think back now, I made friends and know people that I still have some contact with-Len Berman of Channel Four (NBC) is in that class. I have a couple of other people I’m still in touch with, so we go back a long way but it was an interesting experience. It was one of those- there’s more inside than outside. The look of the building was almost nondescript, the gray building tucked in on a side street of Manhattan, but you knew when you walked inside the doors, you were amongst the brightest and well-educated, and people with great potential that you’d find anywhere in New York and anywhere in the country.

TS: The Spectator actually did an interview with Len Berman last year, are there any fond memories you could share?

SR: Len Berman signed my book, the graduation book. And this was 1964, June of ’64, and he wrote, “Sam, Mets, number one in five years.” And he was right. In ’69 they won.  So whenever I see him I always remind him that he was on the money with that pick, and I was a Yankee fan so it was just… eh.

TS: Outside of the classroom, what were your main passions and interests?

SR: Well baseball was really my number one thing. I remember wanting to go out for football, but my father wouldn’t approve it so baseball was really the activity that kept me most involved. But you know what? I was involved in the athletics. There was one year where I ran track to stay in shape. There was another year I remember, in 1963, we had a lot of friends on the basketball team. We followed the basketball team around [the city].

TS: What is your fondest high school memory?

SR: Fondest memory of high school, boy. That’s a tough question. I just think it’s the overall experience-the experience of being involved with, as I mentioned before, people who were very bright. It was like you pushed each other. But it was just the opportunity at Stuyvesant to meet people from all over the city who weren’t limited to your own neighborhood. It was a chance to kind of expand your horizons, and as I mentioned, I made friendships all around.

TS: What were your biggest dreams and aspirations coming out of high school?

SR: Well, deep down I always wanted to be a baseball player. So even though the academics were great, my parents probably wanted me to be something like, a lawyer. But my aspirations, I loved sports. So even coming out of high school, though it was probably a pipe dream, I always wanted to play baseball. And I went to City College over all the other city university schools because they had a better baseball team. We played a very tough schedule. My first thought was always: what would enhance my sports activities, you know? Where could I get a better athletic climate? And City College was what I chose at the time coming out of high school, and I went on to be captain of the freshmen team at City, and captain of the varsity team as well.

TS: At what point did you realize that sports broadcasting was the right choice for your career?

SR: As you start to get older, even though I still have the baseball dream of wanting to play baseball, you have to have some alternative. And I started in the end of my sophomore year to look at a broadcasting career, and getting involved. And I started to work part time at WINS radio. I got a job there working in the newsroom, and I really started to learn the broadcasting business while I was there, and as I went on in school, I started to take classes that were geared towards broadcasting and broadcast journalism-I would take journalism classes, public speaking classes, acting classes. When you finally realize that, “Hey you know what? I’m not going to make it as a baseball player,” that was the next best thing.

TS: Is the WINS radio station you mention the same as today’s 1010 WINS?

SR: Yup. They became an all news station in 1964, and I went to work for them in December of 1966 in the newsroom as kind of a jack-of-all-trades type thing. It was called the “desk assistant,” where you helped out the editor, helped out with copy, did some occasional writing. They quickly knew that I knew everything there was to know about sports. And I would basically put together the sportscast for the newscasters. And they relished that because that took the pressure off of them. I would basically put together their three minutes of sports copy, and they’d go on with whatever they needed. That was the basic foundation of my broadcasting career. Later on down the road when I came back to New York after being out of town for a few years, I worked part time at WINS as a news man. So it was kind of a full circle, I grew up from a desk assistant to becoming a news man on the air.

TS: While at Stuyvesant, did you ever imagine yourself as a sportscaster?

SR: Yeah. I think so. I mean we’d fool around in the cafeteria, and I’d announce different things-I’d take the horse racing chart from the Daily News and announce the races. We’d have fun with that, we’d go up to basketball games, as I told you, and I’d sit off on the side and do play-by-play for the guys, and we’d fool around with that. I guess I always had that. That was something that even when I was younger and growing up and listening to the announcers in the city, that I loved very much. Because of my involvement in sports, whether it was listening to Mel Allen do baseball for the Yankees, or Marty Glickman do football for the Giants, Jim Gordon doing hockey, there was something that drew me to listening to the games. I guess you can say that was what started me on the road.

TS: What is the most rewarding part of your job?

SR: The most rewarding thing is probably the people you get to meet and the places you get to go. For example, we opened this season in Prague. I mean, its one of the greatest cities in the world, and we were able to be there because I was there broadcasting for the Rangers. We’ve gone to London with the Rangers, and I’ve been to Germany doing Fox football when they had the NFL Europe League. Places that I’ve gone to do events, the people that you meet from all over the world, and the hockey community made up of people from the various countries in Europe, they bring just a different perspective on life and getting to know them and getting to learn about their life experiences are tremendous. I think all of that just enriches me as a person, because I’m able to go places, and meet people that I otherwise would never have had the opportunity to meet.

TS: If you could trade your job for any other, what would it be?

SR: President of the United-no. I guess if I could trade this job for one other job, I’d probably want to play for the New York Yankees. Yeah, I want to be either catcher, shortstop, or center fielder on the Yankees. Maybe first base also.

TS: There are so many sports fans who know your voice distinctly. Your quotes and phrases live true in the hearts of many New Yorkers and Rangers fans. How does it feel to be such a significant piece of New York sports? How much does this define you, and mean to you?

SR: I am very flattered when people go out of their way to come over and say something encouraging, say something complimentary, say something positive about the work I’ve done, or the way I’ve impacted the way they watch sports, or the fact that I brought enjoyment into their homes. I feel very good about it because when you meet people, they don’t have to say anything. They don’t have to acknowledge anything other than saying hello. But when they go out of their way to be complimentary like that, it makes me feel particularly good because it makes me know-it reassures me that the efforts I put into my work are having an effect on people and they’re reaching people. I like people, I love sports. It just all fits together. And it’s a very rewarding experience. I’m very lucky to be in the position I’m in and to have been there for as long as I’ve been there. It’s a special business that we’re in. What I love about sports is you don’t know from one day to the next when you’re going to see the next great play, or meet the next great player.