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NEW YORK – NOVEMBER 11: Sterling attends the 8th annual Joe Torre Safe at Home Foundation Gala at Pier 60 at Chelsea Piers on November 11, 2010 in New York City. photo by Debby Wong /Bigstock.com
Birth Name: John B. Sloss
Date of Birth: July 4, 1938
Place of Birth: New York City, New York, U.S.
Date of Death: May 4, 2026
Place of Death: Englewood, New Jersey, U.S.
Ethnicity: Ashkenazi Jewish
John Sterling was an American sportscaster. He was the play-by-play announcer of the Baltimore Bullets, from 1970 to 1971; the New York/New Jersey Nets, from 1975 to 1981; the New York Islanders, from 1975 to 1978; the Atlanta Hawks, from 1981 to 1989; the Atlanta Braves, from 1982 to 1987; and the New York Yankees, from 1989 to 2024.
John was the son of Gladys C. and Carl Henry Townsend Sloss, an advertising executive. His parents were from Jewish families. His father was buried in a Catholic cemetery, likely due converting in a later marriage. John was raised on Manhattan’s Upper East Side. He had four children.
John’s paternal grandfather was named Julius H. Sloss (the son of Henry Sloss and Sophia). Julius was born in Syracuse, Onondaga County, New York, to German Jewish parents, his father from Weisburg and his mother from Bavaria.
John’s paternal grandmother was named Betty Waldeck. Betty was born in Neuwied, Landkreis Neuwied, Rheinland-Pfalz, Germany.
John’s maternal grandfather’s surname was Chodrov/Hodrov.
Sources: https://forward.com
Genealogy of John Sterling – https://www.findagrave.com
John Sterling/Sloss on the 1940 U.S. Census – https://www.familysearch.org