‘How ‘bout this Jazz?’ Dan Roberts calls his final game

Dan Roberts isn’t quite sure what life is going to look like.

He admits to laying awake at night lately, just wondering what it will mean to not be behind a microphone on Utah Jazz game nights.

After 46 years and more than 2,100 games as the Jazz’s public address announcer, Roberts hung up the mic and called his final game on Friday night.

“I’m pretty flat — I don’t know where to be, to be honest with you,“ Roberts said when asked how he was feeling before the the Jazz’s final home game of the season tipped off on Friday night.

”It’s been a habit and now it’s all at the end, so I’ll wrestle with that for a while.”

Roberts’ 46-year career with the Jazz does not tell the complete story of his importance to sport, basketball and Utah. He started in radio before becoming the PA announcer for the Utah Stars of the ABA and he also worked for the Utah Prospectors of the Western Basketball Association and gave his voice to University of Utah games.

His work announcing the Utes was a volunteer gig, but it led to one of the brightest moments in Roberts’ storied career: working the Michigan State vs. Indiana State NCAA championship game between Magic Johnson and Larry Bird in 1979.

When the Jazz relocated to Utah from New Orleans in 1979, Roberts auditioned and got the job to be the first — and to this point, the only — PA announcer for the Utah Jazz.

And if you ask Roberts what the most memorable moments were for him — from all of the playoff runs, the incredible shots, the buzzer beaters, the unbelievable scenarios, the laughs — he said it’s easy.

“The answer to that is the two championship years with Karl (Malone) and John (Stockton),” Roberts said.

What Roberts didn’t realize, but is wrapping his head around these days, is the impact that his voice has had on other people.

“It’s important because it can help dictate the energy of the crowd,” Will Hardy said. “It’s a voice, whether you’re intentionally focused on it or not, is going to be a sound that you know... On a personal level, it’s a voice I’ll never forget saying for the first time over the loudspeaker, ‘and head coach of the Utah Jazz, Will Hardy.’

“He’s been a massive part of our fans’ experience in our home games. We’ll miss him a lot.”

And it’s not just Hardy who has life milestones tied to Roberts. For decades, Roberts has been the one who has announced starters, his pipes bellowing out the names of players who have dreamed of being named an NBA starter.

Jazz second-year wing Brice Sensabaugh said that March 26, 2024 is a day that he always dreamed of, and Roberts is a part of that.

“It was against the Chicago Bulls last year. I had a pretty good game too,” Sensabaugh said. “That was pretty surreal, something you obviously dream of as a kid and to really, like, hear your name announced, it’s not something you think of before, when you’re trying to prepare for the game, but when it happens...so cool.”

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Roberts has announced players from Ron Boone and Pete Maravich to Lauri Markkanen and Jordan Clarkson, Malone, Stockton, Mehmet Okur, Andrei Kirilenko, Deron William, Donovan Mitchell, Rudy Gobert and everyone in between.

His voice has been the ambient and familiar background to thousands of Jazz games, so it’s hard to imagine his life on the other side of the mic.

Next season, he’ll have a chance to watch the Jazz from a seat in the arena, as a fan, something that he has never done, not even once.

And his advice for the Jazz’s next PA announcer (yet to be announced): “Don’t imitate me,” he said, “and there’s nothing you could do that could match me, and I’m not bragging when I say that. Be prepared for it to be hard.”

It’s unfortunate that the final game of Roberts’ tenure was an unceremonious Jazz loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder at the end of a tanking season, but Jazz players made sure to corral Roberts and take a photo with him at center court after the game.

Before the fanfare was over on Friday, Roberts shared a moment with Jazz rookie Kyle Filipowski, telling the young player that he is special and that he has a bright future in the NBA.

Coming from someone who has seen all of the greatest basketball players in the world for nearly half a century, it meant a lot for the rookie.

It seems only fitting that at the end of an era for someone whose booming voice has filled Jazz fans ears for so long, that Roberts should have the last word to those fans.

“Thank you and I love you all,” Roberts said. “Thank you for being with me.”

How ‘bout this Jazz.