Major League Soccer’s 25th season provides a timely opportunity to recognize the voices who for many fans have become synonymous with the league and its teams: The announcers who call games on national and local broadcasts.
Some of those calling matches today on TV, radio and online have been around since the very beginning in 1996 and a few of them have careers that go back even further. Here's a nod to the originals who are still broadcasting MLS in 2020, with a special shoutout to Columbus broadcasting legend Dwight Burgess, who was calling matches in 1996 and only recently decided to step back from the daily grind for health reasons:
Carlos Alvarado (Dallas)
An institution in Dallas, Alvarado has been the the Spanish-language voice of the club from the very beginning and he has the photos to prove it (above): This FCDallas.com feature tells his story. Today the native of El Salvador can be heard locally on 1270AM radio and he's also a regular content creator for the club.
Chris Dangerfield (San Jose)
A beloved figure in San Jose, "Danger" played for the Earthquakes during their NASL days and he was there during the 1996 inaugural MLS season as the team's TV color analyst. He held that role until 1999 and then returned in 2014, keeping the position ever since as part of a regular three-person broadcast team on NBC Sports Bay Area. The Englishman was inducted to the Earthquakes Hall of Fame in 2018.
Glenn Davis (Houston)
A pro player in the post-NASL landscape of the 1980s, Davis is another veteran who got his broadcasting start in the indoor game.
He began as an analyst on Houston Hotshots games in 1994 in addition to his work as a youth coach. Then he crisscrossed the country in MLS’s infant years doing commentary work for the Dallas Burn and Tampa Bay Mutiny beginning in 1996. The arrival of the Dynamo in his home market ahead of the 2006 season led to opportunities on La Naranja’s TV team, and he’s been a mainstay on their broadcasts ever since.
Over the years Davis added a play-by-play skill set, and that versatility has served him well as he’s covered five men’s and one women’s World Cups, two Olympics and a range of other national and international events. A former play-by-play lead for MLS broadcasts on HDNet, he’s also hosted “Soccer Matters with Glenn Davis”, a weekly radio show and podcast, since 2002.
“The game is going to tell the story," he says. "It's about the players, it's about the coaches. It's about the tactics, it's about the environment. I always felt that I was there to just hopefully enhance that.”
JP Dellacamera
If you had to pick just one narrator for the current epoch of North American soccer, it would probably be JPD.
The Massachusetts native has been on the grind since the early 1980s, working across a range of sports — hockey was priority No. 1 early in his career — before growing into a seasoned soccer pro with a spare but spirited rhythm and an unshakable professionalism.
“I try to capture the moment in the most concise and exciting way that I can,” Dellacamera, the voice of the Philadelphia Union since that club’s debut, told MLSsoccer.com.
In addition to calling local MLS broadcasts since 1996, he has been a fixture on national TV for ESPN, FOX and just about every other network in the game since the league’s birth a quarter-century ago. Also on his resume is a list of international events including more than a dozen FIFA men’s and women’s World Cups and myriad US men’s and women’s national team games. In 2018 he was honored with the Colin Jose Media Award from the U.S. National Soccer Hall of Fame.
Rolando Gonzalez (Los Angeles)
The 73-year-old Guatemalan play-by-play man, nicknamed "Veloz" (fast) for the pace of his broadcasting on KWKW 1330, has seen it all with the LA Galaxy since 1996. One of his most memorable moments: calling the golden goal game-winner by compatriot Carlos Ruiz in MLS Cup 2002.
Dave Johnson (DC)
Johnson’s signature “It’s in the net!” goal call has been part and parcel of the D.C. United experience since the founding MLS club first took the field in 1996. A D.C.-Maryland-Virginia local and passionate advocate of soccer dating back even further — he called his first match in 1987 — the iconic play-by-play commentator has also worked World Cup matches for SiriusXM as well as a range of other local, national and international broadcasts.
One of the most beloved and hardest-working media personalities in the capital region, Johnson is also the longtime radio voice of the NBA’s Washington Wizards, he won an Emmy for his TV coverage of the Washington Capitals and he has called football, lacrosse and a range of other sports, serving as the senior sports director of DMV news-radio mainstay WTOP for decades.
Last year Johnson was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis and has resolved to fight off the disease and maintain his busy schedule for as long as he possibly can.
Tommy Smyth
The convivial Irishman’s unmistakable cadence and folksy turns of phrase like “putting a bulge in the old onion bag” adorned MetroStars broadcasts from their very first match in 1996. Smyth also worked for ESPN during those years, handling color for UEFA Champions League, World Cup and myriad other competitions for a quarter century before he joined JP Dellacamera on the Philadelphia Union’s commentary team starting in 2017.
Rob Stone
A college soccer standout at Colgate, Stone worked as an analyst on Tampa Bay Mutiny matches at the dawn of MLS before climbing the ranks at ESPN. That included a central role on the network’s early MLS coverage and an engaging, energetic approach to a litany of other sports from bowling to college football to competitive eating. He moved to FOX in 2012 and anchors their studio shows for MLS, World Cups and other properties.
Luis Omar Tapia
One of the most recognized voices in soccer was calling MLS matches for ESPN Latin America back in 1996. Known for his catchphrase "comienzan 90 minutos del deporte mas hermoso del mundo" (kicking off 90 minutes of the most beautiful sport in the world), the native Chilean went on to call Champions League finals and World Cups. Today he is part of the rotation on TUDN's MLS broadcasts.
Joe Tolleson (New York)
An ever-present on the New York sportscasting landscape for decades with WFAN, MSG and YES, Tolleson (above, left) called MetroStars games at MLS’s dawn. He later juggled ESPN soccer work with the New York Rangers and other NHL gigs as well as the New York Power of the defunct WUSA women’s league.
Today he’s the program director of SiriusXM FC and play-by-play man for New York City FC’s local TV broadcasts. He’s also covered every Olympics this century for Westwood One, showcasing his polished delivery and striking versatility across a huge spectrum of sports and events.
That voice has for many years also graced the historic confines of Madison Square Garden, where he serves as the Rangers’ public-address announcer.
Joe Tutino (LA)
No club has won more MLS Cups than the LA Galaxy, and no voice has been associated with them as deeply or for as long as Tutino’s.
A San Diego native who got his start in the business calling Sockers indoor matches, Tutino worked in the indoor game for years before getting involved with the Galaxy as MLS launched, first as the public-address announcer at the Rose Bowl, then as the host of the “Galaxy Talk” show, their radio play-by-play man, and eventually on local television broadcasts.
Along the way he’s also achieved a great deal in the world of sports-talk radio, helping launch and produce “The Jim Rome Show” — “at that time when we were together, soccer wasn't a bad word for him,” recalled Tutino of his famous colleague — and both hosting and producing a range of programming on Southern California’s airwaves over the decades.
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