He’s probably in most people’s Mt. Rushmore of UNM Athletics. While there have been three “Voice of the Lobos” over the past 50 years, in the minds of many, Mike Roberts will always be “THE Voice of the Lobos”.
After 83 years, countless games, and many more countless memories, that voice … the staccato voice that so many people associate with the heyday of Lobo Athletics, has been silenced. Mike Roberts, UNM’s broadcaster from 1966 through 2008, passed away on Tuesday at the age of 83 after a battle with cancer.
If The Pit is the iconic visual symbol of UNM Athletics, then it’s Roberts’ golden tones that provided the audio track for 42 years of Lobo sports. Starting his career at UNM in 1966 with the football program, Roberts started calling basketball a year later. Forty-one years after beginning his broadcasting career with UNM, he had the call for UNM’s New Mexico Bowl win over Nevada in 2007, 23-0.
However, it’s probably basketball that he is most associated with, as prior to the more recent television deals, it was only the sound of Roberts that would bring Lobo basketball into the living rooms of so many New Mexicans. And oh boy did he bring it.
An unabashed homer for the Lobos, Roberts was known for, well, gently disagreeing with call made by officials. However, while it was that homerism that made him a huge hit with many Lobo fans, his genial nature and how he called games, deftly describing the action regardless of the sport, made him a legend.
His Albuquerque broadcasting career spanned outside of the walls of UNM Athletics, as he was also a longtime play-by-play announcer for both the Albuquerque Dukes and the Albuquerque Isotopes. After his UNM career, Roberts called high school games through the 2013 season.
He started his broadcast career as an 18-year old in Atmore, Alabama, and eventually made stops in Texas, Florida, Wyoming and Washington before becoming an Albuquerque mainstay. It was in Albuquerque that he passed away.
Over his distinguished career, he was named New Mexico Broadcaster of the Year 13 times. In 1999 he was an inductee into the UNM Athletic Hall of Honor as it’s Distinguished Service Award winner. Governor Bill Richardson declared Mary 8, 2008 as “Mike Roberts Appreciation Day” throughout the state of New Mexico.
Mike Roberts ended every broadcast the same way, for 42 years with UNM, and for 47 years all told, and the sentiment is appropriate. “So long, everybody.”
So long indeed Mike. Thanks for being a Lobo.
Legendary Former Announcer Mike Roberts Passes Away
