Broadcaster George Blaha, known as the “Voice of the Pistons” for almost five decades, has been given the highest honor for media by the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.

The Hall of Fame announced on Friday that Blaha is a recipient of the 2025 Curt Gowdy Media Award for electronic media. Blaha will be presented the award during Hall of Fame Enshrinement Ceremonies in Springfield, Mass. during the weekend of Sept. 5-6.

Blaha is in his 49th season of NBA broadcasting, starting his career with the Pistons in 1976. He has called more than 3,700 regular-season games and more than 260 playoff games.“When I got a call this week from Springfield, Mass., I was trying to think if I knew anybody,” Blaha told The Detroit News on Friday. “I said, ‘You never know; it could be the Hall of Fame.”

It was the Hall of Fame that finally came calling, as Blaha, 79, was nearing the golden anniversary of his broadcast career.

“I have to say, it’s thrilling to be part of that organization and truly to be singled out among the broadcasters,” Blaha said. “I’ve been to Springfield any number of times, and now I get to go back as an honoree. It’s going to be awesome.”

Blaha has been there for all of the Pistons’ great moments. From Bob Lanier to Isiah Thomas, from Grant Hill to Chauncey Billups and Ben Wallace, from Rasheed Wallace to Cade Cunningham.

From Bad Boys to Goin’ to Work — and now to Springfield.

Blaha is known for his signature calls on the broadcasts, including “Count that baby and a foul!” for a potential three-point play and “Off the high glass!” for a sensational bank shot. They’re as embedded in the fabric of Pistons culture as some of the luminaries that Blaha described in those calls.

For decades, fans were getting locked-in to Blaha’s words on the TV broadcasts, but this week, the tables turned. It was Blaha who got the call to let him know that he would be immortalized this fall.

“It was a wonderful phone call. It went by quickly … I was probably on the phone for two minutes. After I thanked him and said goodbye, it finally sunk in,” Blaha said. “I had a chance to collect my thoughts and realized how fortunate I’ve been to have fan support, team support and team success.

“When the Pistons are important, it makes all of us the beneficiary. People like Isiah Thomas and people like Ben Wallace and Chauncey and the rest of Goin’ to Work guys, they all had a lot to do with this.

“The better they play, the more exciting the broadcasts are. The coaches who shared opinions and game plans … I could thank 500 people for this, or maybe 1,000, between players, coaches, everyone in the front office. I owe thank you’s to more people than I can thank.”

Blaha has called the action in four Detroit-area venues: Cobo Arena, the Pontiac Silverdome, The Palace of Auburn Hills and Little Caesars Arena. He has chronicled five Eastern Conference championships, five NBA Finals appearances and reached the pinnacle, as the Pistons won three NBA championships, in 1989, ’90 and 2004.

A native Detroiter, Blaha is a graduate of the University of Notre Dame and the University of Michigan. He was inducted into the Michigan Sports Hall of Fame in 2008.

Joining Blaha as winners of the Gowdy Award this year are CBS analyst Clark Kellogg, women’s basketball writer Michelle Smith and former NBA journalist Adrian Wojnarowski.

The Hall of Fame said the Gowdy awards are “presented to members of the print, electronic, and transformative media whose efforts have made a significant contribution to the game of basketball.”