WESTWOOD—Following a 23-year career as the voice of both UCLA basketball and football, play-by-play man Chris Roberts will retire from broadcasting.
Roberts, a Los Angeles native, wound-up working his dream job, a sentiment he expressed in his farewell announcement before the Pauley Pavilion crowd.
“You have made a young boy from Baldwin Park a very happy grown man,” said Roberts. “All I ever wanted to do as a young kid was be the announcer for one of the great teams of Los Angeles and there’s no better college to call play-by-play for than the UCLA Bruins.”
Roberts, an inductee into the Southern California Sports Broadcasters Asociation Hall of Fame, is a four-time winner of the Golden Mike Award.
A Westwood fixture synonymous with UCLA athletics, Roberts unique energy and rich voice will be missed by those looking to catch the game on the way home from work or those who still appreciate the dying art of making sports come to life through spontaneous storytelling.
Roberts, who fittingly announced his retirement during the season finale against rival USC, has set his sights upon real estate brokerage, a business he can fully dedicate himself to now that he is no longer the voice of Westwood.
