Kate Scott hired as Sixers play-by-play announcer

It appears the Sixers have found their replacement for legendary announcer Marc Zumoff.

Kate Scott, a veteran play-by-play announcer from California, will take over as the television voice of the Sixers for NBC Sports Philadelphia. Rob Tornoe of The Inquirer was the first to report the news. Color analyst Alaa Abdelnaby confirmed the news on Twitter.

The team and NBCSP made the announcement official Thursday afternoon.

Scott will be the first full-time female play-by-play television announcer in major Philadelphia sports history. She’s also just the second full-time female television play-by-play announcer in the NBA, joining Lisa Byington who was hired last week by the Milwaukee Bucks.

Though being an announcing pioneer sounds like familiar territory for Scott:

“The first woman to call men’s basketball at the Olympics, the first to call a Golden State Warriors game, the first to call an NFL game on the radio, football for the Pac-12 Networks, Copa América and Gold Cup soccer matches for Fox Sports, and the play-by-play announcer for the first all-female NHL broadcast in the United States, Kate Scott continues to break barriers as a leader in sports broadcasting.” — KateScott.com

Scott’s resume is extremely impressive. Just this summer she called women’s and men’s basketball games at the Tokyo Olympics. She calls college football games alongside color analyst Mike Golic for Learfield Audio. She also has experience with sports talk radio at 95.7 The Game in San Francisco.

If you want to get familiar with Scott’s style, you can check out the highlights from the USWNT soccer match the other night.

You can definitely imagine her calling Joel Embiid step-back jumpers, Matisse Thybulle steals, and Tyrese Maxey drives with that excitement level.

It’s no secret that Scott will have incredibly large shoes to fill. Zumoff retired following the 2020-21 season after 27 years as the television voice of the Sixers. Zoo’s catchphrases — Turning garbage into gold! ... Hang on, Alaa, we’re coming in for a landing! ... Locking all windows and doors! — became part of the lexicon of Sixers basketball. On top of that, Zumoff was a “Philly guy.” He’s local and is a diehard fan of all the Philly sports teams.

With that said, as far as the pure announcing aspect of things, Scott seems like an excellent hire. Her experience is vast and she seems to bring that enthusiasm and passion to the job us Philly fans love.