OT: Ah, Memories, The Theme Songs of the 1972-73 New York Knickerbockers and Rangers

[Source]

I was reminiscing back to when I first started watching the New York Knicks and Rangers. It was right at the start of the Knicks winning the 1972-73 NBA Championship. Marv Albert calling their games on WHN and Bob Wolff on Channel 9. The broadcast started with a Knicks theme song that was in use during the 1970s. I always remembered the tune but for years could never find it on You Tube until tonight. The song would play over the team play of the Knicks - Frazier, Reed, Debusschere, Bradley and Barnett passing the ball around.

So here they are, the New York Knickerbockers and New York Rangers theme songs that were in use up until 1980. For those of you who were on the planet at the time and living in and around NYC, hope it brings back several minutes of fond nostalgia.

I even remember Marv's opening read to start his broadcast.... something like:

"New York Knickerbocker basketball...

brought to you by....

Manufacturer's Hanover - It's banking the way you want it to be.

Burger King featuring the Whopper - It takes two hands to handle a Whopper.

and Eastern Airlines! The Wings of Man."

New York Knicks intro music (up to 1979):

Intro Music for the New York Rangers

 

[rufeelinit]

Back in those days only road games on Channel 9 as home games were on closed circuit TV. Vaguely recall the tune. Amazing how you remember some things from so long ago but not others.

 

[RU#1fan]

Remember listening to Marv Albert on my family’s old Radio Table.
“Frazier from the top of the key, he stops, he pumps, he shoots .....YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSS !

 

[BigEastPhil]

I was reminiscing back to when I first started watching the New York Knicks and Rangers. It was right at the start of the Knicks winning the 1969-70 NBA Championship (and later 1973). Marv Albert had just started calling their games on WHN and Bob Wolff on Channel 9. The broadcast started with a Knicks theme song that was in use during the 1970s. I always remembered the tune but for years could never find it on You Tube until tonight. The song would play over the team play of the Knicks - Frazier, Reed, Debusschere, Bradley and Barnett passing the ball around.

So here they are, the New York Knickerbockers and New York Rangers theme songs that were in use up until 1980. For those of you who were on the planet at the time and living in and around NYC, hope it brings back several minutes of fond nostalgia.

I even remember Marv's opening read to start his broadcast.... something like:

"New York Knickerbocker basketball...

brought to you by....

Manufacturer's Hanover - It's banking the way you want it to be.

Burger King featuring the Whopper - It takes two hands to handle a Whopper.

and Eastern Airlines! The Wings of Man."

New York Knicks intro music (circa 1969-79):

View embedded media

Intro Music for the New York Rangers

View embedded media

Great memories ! We must be about the same age (57) as my first memories of Rangers and Knicks were from early 70s. The rivalry with the Celtics and Bruins at the time were outstanding. Knicks then fell off the face of the earth by 75/76 but Rangers remained relevant with intense rivalries with Flyers, Islanders etc. Loved Jim Gordon and Bill Chadwick.

 

[e5fdny]

Great memories ! We must be about the same age (57) as my first memories of Rangers and Knicks were from early 70s. The rivalry with the Celtics and Bruins at the time were outstanding. Knicks then fell off the face of the earth by 75/76 but Rangers remained relevant with intense rivalries with Flyers, Islanders etc. Loved Jim Gordon and Bill Chadwick.

Loved him on eleven three O (WNEW 1130AM) for Giants games.

 

[zappaa]

I remember that theme well.
Everything in that era had to sound like Quincy Jones

 

[Greene Rice FIG]

I remember the PA announcer John Condon

John F. X. Condon, Announcer For New York Knicks, Dies at 75 (Published 1989)

www.nytimes.com

 

[Source]

I remember that theme well.
Everything in that era had to sound like Quincy Jones

It always reminded me of the "Theme from Shaft."

BigEastPhil: "Great memories ! We must be about the same age (57) as my first memories of Rangers and Knicks were from early 70s."

From your mouth to God's ears! Heh-heh. I used to tune in on my transistor radio each night. It's still the most amazing sports era for the tri-state area. The Jets, followed by the Mets, followed by the Knicks -- and all of them underdogs and long shots. Every moment during the games tense. The MSG crowd of 17,000 would chant "Defense! defense!" in unison. It became so popular that they started doing it when the Rangers were ahead and protecting a lead in hockey. It hung around and became a staple of Rutgers Football games in 1975 and 1976.

 

[zappaa]

It always reminded me of the "Theme from Shaft."

BigEastPhil: "Great memories ! We must be about the same age (57) as my first memories of Rangers and Knicks were from early 70s."

From your mouth to God's ears! Heh-heh. I used to tune in on my transistor radio each night. It's still the most amazing sports era for the tri-state area. The Jets, followed by the Mets, followed by the Knicks -- and all of them underdogs and long shots. Every moment during the games tense. The MSG crowd of 17,000 would chant "Defense! defense!" in unison. It became so popular that they started doing it when the Rangers were ahead and protecting a lead in hockey. It hung around and became a staple of Rutgers Football games in 1975 and 1976.

View embedded media

I’m 64.
Lapped up everything Giants, Rangers, Knicks....Mets I could watch or get my hands on.
I felt like a had a personal relationship with every radio voice.
Mets from the coast on a weekday night in bed with Ralph, Bob and Lindsay....so great.
Sports extra.
Giants highlights
Marv on radio with Rangers was out of this world.

 

[Source]

I’m 64. Lapped up everything Giants, Rangers, Knicks....Mets I could watch or get my hands on. I felt like a had a personal relationship with every radio voice. Mets from the coast on a weekday night in bed with Ralph, Bob and Lindsay....so great. Sports extra. Giants highlights Marv on radio with Rangers was out of this world.

Remember it the same way. Still remember listening in 1971 to all news radio reports during the Ali-Frazier fight from MSG because there was a blackout on fight news and it was agreed the news stations could put out a 50 word news report on each round shortly after they happened.

For those interested in getting the feel of the excitement, here's a link to Game 7 for the 1969-70 NBA Championship game between the Knicks and Lakers. Chris Schenkel doing the game, Willis Reed appearing during warm ups, hitting his first two shots, Frazier taking over the game and a host of players destined for the Hall of Fame:

 

[HeavenUniv.]

New Jersey Americans (now Nets)theme song. Former Rutgers star Bobby Lloyd played for them at the Teaneck Armory.

D'Alessandro: The labored birth of a franchise -- New Jersey's first pro basketball team almost wasn't

From humble beginnings in Teaneck, the game began to grow in the Garden State

www.nj.com

 

[phlop87]

I’m right there in age, I’ll be 57 this year. I love the Rangers of the 70’s. My favorite player at the time was Walt Tkaczuk, but I had posters and pictures of many of the Knicks, Rangers Packers and Orioles
Favorite players on each team:
Walt Tkaczuk
Walt Frazier
John brockingtin
And my favorite player and idol brooks Robinson

 

[RU#1fan]

Great memories ! We must be about the same age (57) as my first memories of Rangers and Knicks were from early 70s. The rivalry with the Celtics and Bruins at the time were outstanding. Knicks then fell off the face of the earth by 75/76 but Rangers remained relevant with intense rivalries with Flyers, Islanders etc. Loved Jim Gordon and Bill Chadwick.

Bill Chadwick was the best . During one Ranger game : “ Ron Harris can play Defense with a Refrigerator on his back “.

 

[SJScarlet]

The Rangers song is a jazzed up version of the long time “Rangers Victory Song”, still played after every Rangers victory (haven’t been hearing it very often lately.
If you enjoy these memories, you might want to YouTube the song CBS use in the sixties, when they had exclusive rites to NFL games (NBC had the AFL), called “Confidence”. Used to get me fired up to watch my Giants (lose).🤪

 

[rutgersron]

Marv was one of the best sports announcer around. He made you feel like you were at the game even though it was on the radio.

 

[Riderbronc]

Back in the 60’s, Rangers seemed to be on Channel 9 every Saturday night against Boston. My memories of those games are the brawls Reggie Flemming started every game.

 

[rutger80]

I’m 64.
Lapped up everything Giants, Rangers, Knicks....Mets I could watch or get my hands on.
I felt like a had a personal relationship with every radio voice.
Mets from the coast on a weekday night in bed with Ralph, Bob and Lindsay....so great.
Sports extra.
Giants highlights
Marv on radio with Rangers was out of this world.

Exactly! I'm 62 and my parents put up an antenna on the roof so we could get the NY games, being that I was in South Jersey. Worked great, unless it froze. The Knicks usually played Saturday nights at home and the Rangers, Sunday nights. Used to have a radio to pick up Marv with Sal "Red Light" Messina, although that may have been later. But the TV broadcasts with Jim Gordon and Bill "the Big Whistle" Chadwick were great.
The Yanks, with Messer, Rizzuto and White and as you said, the Mets with Ralph, Bob and Lindsey.

Even though I did not like the teams, the Philly announcers were good: Gene Hart and Bob Earle for the Flyers and Harry Kalas with Richie Ashburn for the Phils.

 

[BigEastPhil]

Exactly! I'm 62 and my parents put up an antenna on the roof so we could get the NY games, being that I was in South Jersey. Worked great, unless it froze. The Knicks usually played Saturday nights at home and the Rangers, Sunday nights. Used to have a radio to pick up Marv with Sal "Red Light" Messina, although that may have been later. But the TV broadcasts with Jim Gordon and Bill "the Big Whistle" Chadwick were great.
The Yanks, with Messer, Rizzuto and White and as you said, the Mets with Ralph, Bob and Lindsey.

Even though I did not like the teams, the Philly announcers were good: Gene Hart and Bob Earle for the Flyers and Harry Kalas with Richie Ashburn for the Phils.

Knicks also played Tuesday nights and Rangers played Wednesday Nights as well.

 

[Altrev]

I'm 61, having a somewhat crappy day, but man, this stuff pulled me right out of it!!!

So, a great memory... In 1982, I'm a daytime bartender at the KnightClub. I have two people at my bar...Pete Carill from Princeton and Bob Duquette from St. Peters. They were in NB for some kind of meeting and stopped in for a quick drink. I asked them a general question about the 1970 Knick championship team. It turned into the coolest 10 minute conversation ever!!

 

[zappaa]

I’m right there in age, I’ll be 57 this year. I love the Rangers of the 70’s. My favorite player at the time was Walt Tkaczuk, but I had posters and pictures of many of the Knicks, Rangers Packers and Orioles
Favorite players on each team:
Walt Tkaczuk
Walt Frazier
John brockingtin
And my favorite player and idol brooks Robinson

Espo calked Walt the one of toughest, strongest centers he played against, nearly impossible to knock Walt of his skates, and was a tremendous face off man.
He was a 70s version of Bobby Holik in his prime.
Espo only scored 2 instead of 3 against us phlox....😀 lol

 

[BigEastPhil]

Espo calked Walt the one of toughest, strongest centers he played against, nearly impossible to knock Walt of his skates, and was a tremendous face off man.
He was a 70s version of Bobby Holik in his prime.
Espo only scored 2 instead of 3 against us phlox....😀 lol

Nice comparative analysis

Rangers lines were:

Hadfield - Ratelle -Gilbert
Vickers -Tkauchuk - Fairbairn
Irvine - Stemkowski - Rousseau

Defense:

Park - Rolfe
Seiling - Nielsen
Marrotte - Harris

Goalies:

Giacomin - Villemure

 

[zappaa]

Nice comparative analysis

Rangers lines were:

Hadfield - Ratelle -Gilbert
Vickers -Tkauchuk - Fairbairn
Irvine - Stemkowski - Rousseau

Defense:

Park - Rolfe
Seiling - Nielsen
Marrotte - Harris

Goalies:

Giacomin - Villemure

Rousseau to the point on the power play.
Teddy Irvine could throw em

 

[AreYouNUTS]

I barely remember the cheesy CBS song...

“you’ll get the best of basketball...when you watch the NBA...when you watch, the NBA, on CBSSSS!”

 

[Altrev]

Espo calked Walt the one of toughest, strongest centers he played against, nearly impossible to knock Walt of his skates, and was a tremendous face off man.
He was a 70s version of Bobby Holik in his prime.
Espo only scored 2 instead of 3 against us phlox....😀 lol

Wasnt there a point where announcers stopped pronouncing walt's name as "cachuck" and started calling him "Tachuck"?

 

[Mr Magoo]

I was reminiscing back to when I first started watching the New York Knicks and Rangers. It was right at the start of the Knicks winning the 1969-70 NBA Championship (and later 1973). Marv Albert had just started calling their games on WHN and Bob Wolff on Channel 9. The broadcast started with a Knicks theme song that was in use during the 1970s. I always remembered the tune but for years could never find it on You Tube until tonight. The song would play over the team play of the Knicks - Frazier, Reed, Debusschere, Bradley and Barnett passing the ball around.

So here they are, the New York Knickerbockers and New York Rangers theme songs that were in use up until 1980. For those of you who were on the planet at the time and living in and around NYC, hope it brings back several minutes of fond nostalgia.

I even remember Marv's opening read to start his broadcast.... something like:

"New York Knickerbocker basketball...

brought to you by....

Manufacturer's Hanover - It's banking the way you want it to be.

Burger King featuring the Whopper - It takes two hands to handle a Whopper.

and Eastern Airlines! The Wings of Man."

New York Knicks intro music (circa 1969-79):

View embedded media

Intro Music for the New York Rangers

View embedded media

Thanks for this. Brought back memories and the theme was so 70s. Friday night when the Knicks were on the west coast were the absolute best as my parents let me stay up for the entire games. Recently heard the theme from Sports Extra which aired at 10:30 with Bill Mazur every Sunday night and I never missed it. Great times.

 

[zappaa]

Wasnt there a point where announcers stopped pronouncing walt's name as "cachuck" and started calling him "Tachuck"?

The opposite

 

[Altrev]

The opposite

Yup. You're right.

 

[G- RUnit]

I barely remember the cheesy CBS song...

“you’ll get the best of basketball...when you watch the NBA...when you watch, the NBA, on CBSSSS!”

I remember, “Time out for the NBA game of the Week....”

 

[e5fdny]

The Rangers song is a jazzed up version of the long time “Rangers Victory Song”, still played after every Rangers victory (haven’t been hearing it very often lately.
If you enjoy these memories, you might want to YouTube the song CBS use in the sixties, when they had exclusive rites to NFL games (NBC had the AFL), called “Confidence”. Used to get me fired up to watch my Giants (lose).🤪

This one...

 

[B0ski]

Classic Marv listening on my transistor in 1972: Frazier, top of the key. Veers left on Chenier. Turnaround jumper, YES and it counts!

 

[HeavenUniv.]

NBA songs—

A Theme Song for Every NBA Team's Season Thus Far

Oftentimes, the one thing you can remember most vividly about some television shows are their theme song, so with that on my mind, I figured that the NBA teams around the league would be interested in having their own theme song...

www.google.com

 

[HeavenUniv.]

Various sports on various networks—

The 25 greatest sports TV theme songs, ranked

Here are the songs that pump you up before big sporting events.

www.google.com

 

[HeavenUniv.]

76ers—