Gary Nedrow Bender (born September 1, 1940) [1] is a retired Americansportscaster and 2008 inductee into the Kansas Sports Hall of Fame. He officially retired, April 13, 2011,[2][3] from Fox Sports Arizona after 18 years calling the NBA's Phoenix Suns games.
Gary Bender has also worked as a play by play man for the NBA on TNT mainly during the NBA Playoffs.
Biography
Early career
Bender, who was born in Norton, Kansas, and raised in Ulysses, Kansas,[4] graduated from Ulysses High School in 1958. He then attended Wichita State University (then known as the University of Wichita), graduating with a journalism degree in 1962 and a master's degree from the University of Kansas in 1964. Bender then began his broadcasting career calling games at Hutchinson Community College in Hutchinson, Kansas, and then went on to do the same at the University of Kansas' football and basketball programs in the 1960s. He also spent years as a broadcaster in Wisconsin and called all of the Wisconsin Athletic Association championship games, as well as Green Bay Packers radio and Milwaukee Brewers television in the early 1970s.
Bender is also co-author with Michael Johnson of the biographyCall of the Game, in which he shares his life story, tips on how to become a better broadcaster, and his Christiantestimony.
Bender did a series of Kendall Motor Oil commercials in mid-1980s.
In the first five months of 2001, Bender presided as host of the nationally syndicated Focus on the Family radio show after the resignation of previous host Mike Trout (1985–2000) because of an extramarital affair. Bender was replaced on a full-time basis by Focus vice president of broadcasting John Fuller.
Gary Bender is an alumnus of the Kansas Delta chapter of Phi Delta Theta at Wichita State where he received his bachelor's degree. He received his master's degree in radio and TV from the University of Kansas.