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Jeff Asch holds the game ball given to him by the Philadelphia Eagles.(Photo courtesy of Jeff Asch)<\/p>\n Jeff Asch holds the game ball given to him by the Philadelphia Eagles.(Photo courtesy of Jeff Asch)<\/p>\n
Ever since the days of Mike Schmidt, Ron Jaworski and Julius Erving, Philadelphia sports fans have been listening to the voice of Jeff Asch.<\/p>\n
Over his 45-year career, Asch has piled up a lengthy list of experiences and accomplishments: 24 years as a sports reporter and anchor for KYW news radio, co-hosting one of the country\u2019s first nationally syndicated sports talk shows, working as a professor at La Salle University and Montgomery County Community College and spending 20 years as the public address announcer for the Philadelphia Eagles.<\/p>\n
Asch was recently honored by the team, receiving a game ball after its home game against the Denver Broncos on Oct. 5.<\/p>\n
But beyond sports, Asch is an involved member of the Jewish community as a member of Congregation Beth Or, and he said he\u2019s proud to pass his Jewish legacy to his two sons.<\/p>\n
Asch lives in Blue Bell.<\/p>\n
What got you interested in broadcasting?<\/p>\n
When I was a junior in high school at Central High School of Philadelphia, I took stock of myself, and I said, \u2018What are the things that I like most in life?\u2019 At the time, and it probably still is, sports, travel and television. And I put the three of them together and said, \u2018Why don\u2019t I see what\u2019s going on in the world of sports broadcasting?\u2019 And it\u2019s funny, whenever I go back to my high school yearbook, it says sports broadcasting, which, back then, is what I wanted to do. And I\u2019m fortunate enough to have done that for 45 years professionally, and fortunate enough to do it in Philadelphia for all those years. I never had to move.<\/p>\n
What has it been like to find a career you were so passionate about?<\/p>\n
It\u2019s a blessing. I said this when I was inducted into the Philadelphia Jewish Sports Hall of Fame, I never thought that a kid from Mount Airy that used to love to play sports would one day grow up and be reporting and talking about them for 45 years as a profession. It\u2019s cliche, but I never did work a day in my life because I loved it that much. I got to meet some of the greatest sports people in the world, some of the greatest athletes, coaches. It\u2019s just been awesome. I wouldn\u2019t trade it for anything in the world.<\/p>\n
Tell me about getting inducted into the Jewish Sports Hall of Fame.<\/p>\n
That was an incredible moment, when I got a phone call and they said, \u2018You\u2019re going to be inducted into the Philadelphia Jewish Sports Hall of Fame,\u2019 in 2022. It was just a few years ago, and it was just a terrific moment. I was inducted at the ceremony at Rodeph Shalom in Philadelphia, I had my friends fly up from Florida. Of course, my nuclear family was there as well, in-laws and friends, and it just meant so much to me.<\/p>\n
How does your Jewish identity impact you?<\/p>\n
It literally affects me every day. I have a deep faith, and even though I don\u2019t go to synagogue every Friday night, I still consider myself pretty religious because of the teachings and the values. As a matter of fact, when I was younger, I did not become a bar mitzvah at 13 like the rest of the world. I just didn\u2019t believe reading from the Torah makes you a man in the eyes of God. But fast forward 45 years, my wife and two kids went on a trip to Israel with our synagogue, and Rabbi [Gregory] Marx had me become a bar mitzvah at the [Western] Wall, and boy, that was emotional as well.<\/p>\n