Jeff Asch holds the game ball given to him by the Philadelphia Eagles.(Photo courtesy of Jeff Asch)
Ever since the days of Mike Schmidt, Ron Jaworski and Julius Erving, Philadelphia sports fans have been listening to the voice of Jeff Asch.
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’s 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.
Asch was recently honored by the team, receiving a game ball after its home game against the Denver Broncos on Oct. 5.
But beyond sports, Asch is an involved member of the Jewish community as a member of Congregation Beth Or, and he said he’s proud to pass his Jewish legacy to his two sons.
Asch lives in Blue Bell.
What got you interested in broadcasting?
When I was a junior in high school at Central High School of Philadelphia, I took stock of myself, and I said, ‘What are the things that I like most in life?’ At the time, and it probably still is, sports, travel and television. And I put the three of them together and said, ‘Why don’t I see what’s going on in the world of sports broadcasting?’ And it’s 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’m 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.
What has it been like to find a career you were so passionate about?
It’s 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’s 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’s just been awesome. I wouldn’t trade it for anything in the world.
Tell me about getting inducted into the Jewish Sports Hall of Fame.
That was an incredible moment, when I got a phone call and they said, ‘You’re going to be inducted into the Philadelphia Jewish Sports Hall of Fame,’ 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.
How does your Jewish identity impact you?
It literally affects me every day. I have a deep faith, and even though I don’t 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’t 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.