It’s 6:30 PM on Tuesday, December 10. I’m standing in the concourse of the Wells Fargo Center — by the Shake Shack, to be precise. Peering left and right as if I’m preparing to cross the street, I’m searching for the subject of tonight’s pregame interview. Out of a throng of Sixers fans, he emerges: 76ers PA announcer Matt Cord. He welcomes me with an easy smile and a handshake before ushering me through the hallways and down to the scorers table. Among fans, Cord goes largely unnoticed by sight — little do they know that he’s the man whose voice they’ve imitated and adored for over two decades on South Broad Street. Among fellow Sixers and arena staffers, Cord is well-liked and well-respected. He shows me to his cubicle: the scorers table nestled between the home and away benches at center court. There, Matt Cord has not only bore witness to, but narrated some of the Sixers’ most joyous and painful moments of the last 20 years, as his deep timbre echoed off the walls of the building, and into the hearts of 20,000 Sixers fans on a nightly basis.
Read the full piece here.