By Joseph Atmonavage

NJ Advance Media for NJ.com | May 31, 2018



The story of Doris Burke becoming the best basketball broadcaster working today starts in the 1970s, when her family of 10 moved from Long Island to the Jersey Shore because her father wanted a shorter commute.

Basketball was the first thing that greeted the 7-year-old Burke when she walked into her family’s new Manasquan home at 23 Fisk St. A left-behind basketball was just sitting there, waiting for her to pick it up. A basketball court — just a few strides away — was her newest neighbor and would become the place to find young Doris.

“A little divine providence,” Burke said.

All she ever needed was that ball and that court. Burke would step in between the lines and lose herself for hours, finding a confidence and self-worth that would propel her career.

“The love of the game is something I found in Manasquan,” Burke, 52, said in a phone interview a few days before announcing Game 3 of the Eastern Conference semifinals for ESPN. “I literally picked that ball up as a 7-year-old and I have not put it down to this day.”

Then, she was Doris Sable: the youngest of eight in a tough-as-nails Irish-Catholic family crammed into a minuscule home in the tiny, happy-go-lucky town. Just a basketball-possessed Shore kid people described as having a killer instinct on the court. Off of it, “there wasn’t a mean bone in Doris’ body,” childhood friend and teammate Tara Gunning said.

Now, she is Doris Burke: a trailblazer in the game of basketball as an ESPN color analyst — a role that is almost always filled by men and usually reserved for aging coaches and ex-players.

She was the first woman to announce a Big East men’s basketball game on TV, the first woman to do a New York Knicks game on TV or radio, the first woman to be a full-time NBA analyst on national television. And she’ll again work the sidelines at the highest levels during the NBA Finals, which start Thursday on ABC.

On air, Burke gracefully weaves her “I’m from Jersey” attitude with a humility and knowledge that the basketball world practically drools over. Within the hysteria of a basketball game, Burke is often the calmest person in the arena. She breaks down the game in a to-the-point fashion that both the sophisticated basketball viewer and someone watching for the first time can appreciate and understand. And when she transitions to the sidelines, Burke can put on a Ph.D.-level discourse of how to ask questions in a hectic, emotional environment, like she did at last year’s Finals. (According to Sports Illustrated, over 11 minutes and 25 seconds, she asked 13 questions of seven people.)

“She’s the LeBron James of sportscasters,” Jeff Van Gundy, ESPN’s top basketball analyst who has known Burke for nearly 30 years, told Deadspin last year. “There’s no better broadcaster out there right now.”

To fully understand how Burke became a Hall of Famer and one of the most prominent figures in basketball today, you need to do what millions do every summer: head to the Jersey Shore.

“When you are seeing Doris Burke, you are seeing Doris Sable at a young age. I see how she was in elementary and high school and I see that in her career now,” said Tracy Schultz Sullivan, who was voted “Most Inseparable” with Burke at Manasquan High School. “How she used to be on the court is how she is in her career. She wants to be the best. She is not going to stop until she is the best.”

Doris Burke, left, and Tracy Schultz Sullivan pose in the 1983 Manasquan High School yearbook after they were voted “Most Inseparable." (Courtesy of Manasquan High School) Doris Burke, left, and Tracy Schultz Sullivan pose in the 1983 Manasquan High School yearbook after they were voted “Most Inseparable." (Courtesy of Manasquan High School)

The people who knew Burke when she was just their floppy-haired friend and point guard aren’t surprised by her success. They point to traits outside of her ability to break down pick-and-roll coverage or highlight a missed defensive rotation for millions of viewers for why she reached the apex of her profession.

The real secret, though, may be in her willingness to learn, her treatment of others and her neverending work ethic, three traits that nearly 15 people interviewed for this story, who knew Burke before she was ever on a television screen, made sure to mention.

Cathy Parson, who coached Burke in college and was in her wedding, said it’s simple: “At the core of (Burke’s) being is an incredible person.”

Combine that personality with a near-manic obsession with basketball and you get Doris Burke: the best damn basketball broadcaster there is.