Gary Cohen up for 'pretty daunting' task: Seton Hall commencement speech
Gary Cohen has delivered the play-by-play for thousands of Major League Baseball games as one of the best broadcasters in sports.
On Tuesday, his robust baritone will deliver a commencement address for the first time.
Roughly 12 hours after calling the Mets’ series opener in Cleveland, Cohen will speak to Seton Hall University’s Class of 2024 at the Prudential Center in Newark.
“Not only have I not given a commencement address – I have not worn a cap and gown in my life,” Cohen said.
His high school, United Nations International School in Manhattan, did not use caps and gowns. As a collegian he finished up his degree from Columbia in midwinter, so “by the time commencement came around in May I was working and I couldn’t go,” he said.
Cohen's outfit Tuesday won’t be any old graduation regalia; he will don the striped robe and floppy-topped velvet tam befitting the honorary doctorate Seton Hall is bestowing on him. The award is not random. Cohen has served as the radio play-by-play voice for the university’s men’s basketball games since 2003.
Despite his long association with the school, he was shocked at the invitation to speak.
“It’s so totally out of nowhere and it’s pretty humbling, to think of the people normally called for this kind of role,” Cohen said. “I never envisioned anybody asking me to do this, so it’s very overwhelming.”
Though Cohen is a natural at the microphone – in addition to his game calls, his postgame interviews with Pirate coaches are must-listens – he stresses that this is a markedly different endeavor.
“I don’t really speak in public very much – I speak in private with people overhearing,” he said. “I don’t usually see my audience, so I don’t consider myself to be very good at speaking to people I can see.”
That's underselling it. Cohen’s speech at Citi Field last June on the occasion of his induction into the Mets’ Hall of Fame was well received.
“This obviously is completely different,” he said. “You’re trying to provide some kind of worldview/guidance/words to live by for a bunch of kids who are just starting their path into their adult lives. It’s pretty daunting.”
So what’s in the speech, in essence?
“My initial thought was that this generation has been through more turmoil than any that I can recall in my lifetime,” he said. “They have had to persevere through wars and recessions and pandemics to get to the place they are now. I think they all need to be rightfully proud of what they accomplished.”
One thing Cohen won’t include: a bunch of baseball or basketball stories.
“I will certainly talk about my relationship with Seton Hall, and there might be a story or two about resilience that touches on sports, but virtually none of what I have to say is about sports,” he said.
It’s not lost on Cohen, though, that four men's basketball players (Dylan Addae-Wusu, Dre Davis, Al-Amir Dawes and Kadary Richmond) will be among the graduates – some of them the first in their family to earn a degree.
“I think that’s fantastic and I’m so proud of them and happy for them,” he said. “That’s a big part of the Seton Hall experience, that you get a lot of the first-generation college grads at Seton Hall, and I think that really informs a lot of my pride for the graduates.”
After the commencement it’s back to Teterboro Airport for a return flight to Cleveland. First pitch of Mets-Guardians game two is slated for 6:10 p.m. Tuesday.
It’s a long day, but for Cohen, this is more than a guest-speaker appearance.
“I came there to be the basketball announcer, but I now feel like I am part of the Seton Hall community,” he said. “I’m incredibly proud they’ve asked me to participate in this way.”
Jerry Carino has covered the New Jersey sports scene since 1996 and the college basketball beat since 2003. He is an Associated Press Top 25 voter. Contact him at jcarino@gannettnj.com.
This article originally appeared on Asbury Park Press: Gary Cohen up for 'pretty daunting' task: Seton Hall graduation speech
