Hard work has paid off for Kevin Harlan. Harlan is a veteran NFL announcer for CBS and a longtime NBA announcer for TNT and has shown that persistence pays off. Harlan began broadcasting football, basketball, and hockey games as a teenager. While starting at a young age helped pave the way for his professional career, it also drove his brother crazy.

Kevin Harlan has become one of the top NFL and NBA announcers

Kevin Harlan is the son of former Green Bay Packers CEO Bob Harlan. He grew up as a ball boy for the Packers and began broadcasting games as a teenager. He would call games for Green Bay Premontre High School for a local radio station while he was a student.

As soon as Harlan graduated from college, he immediately became the television and radio voice of the Kansas City Kings basketball team in the NBA. He then went on to call games for the Kansas City Chiefs from 1985-93. Harlan also worked for the University of Missouri and the Minnesota Timberwolves.

Harlan began working for CBS in 1998 and still continues calling NFL games. He’s also a play-by-play announcer for the NBA on TNT. In 2017, Harlan was honored as the National Sports Media Association’s national broadcaster of the year. He joined the likes of Curt Gowdy, Vin Scully, and Bob Costas, among others.

Harlan is one of the busiest men in sports

During the NFL season, you can find Kevin Harlan calling a football game for CBS on Sunday. On Monday, you can listen to him on the radio doing the Monday Night Football game on Westwood One. During basketball season, he’s calling college basketball games and then working some games for the NBA on TNT.

He’s a busy man, but he wouldn’t change anything. He splits his time living between Missouri and Wisconsin. Broadcasting is something he’s always wanted to do. He considers himself a very lucky man.

“Not a day goes by that I don’t know how lucky I am to be in this position, working for three different networks and doing two, three different levels of sport — NBA, college basketball and the NFL — all at a national level,” Harlan said to PackersNews.com. “I say thank you dear Lord every time I put on that headset. I never take it for granted and love every minute.”

Harlan’s brother would rather hear Curt Gowdy

When Kevin Harlan was younger, he wanted to become a pilot. He had second thoughts when he realized he needed a heavy dose of trigonometry. He then focused on sports and was broadcasting in front of the TV when he was around 12 years old.

Bryan Harlan, a sports agent and Kevin’s brother, gives a lot of credit to Kevin for all the hard work he put in. Bryan said Kevin was very dedicated to mastering his field with constant practice. “He really worked at it,” said Bryan to PackersNews.com. “Not many kids 12, 13, 14 really know what they want to do. He did.”

While Kevin turned down the sound of the game he was watching and announced the game himself, Bryan was usually right there to listen. “I was in the room right next door so it was kind of bothersome,” Bryan said. “I’d have rather listened to Curt Gowdy do the game than Kevin. But we got used to it.”