Where are they now? Sports broadcaster Al Trautwig

Al Trautwig realizes a return to full-time television work is not likely at this stage of his life and career. But that does not mean the 68-year-old has run out of things to say.

“I’m planning on writing a book,” he told Newsday recently. “There’s a lot of good stuff in there – or will be.”

That figures. Surely, he managed to collect plenty of good behind-the-scenes material during his decades in sports television, including 30 at MSG Networks.

“Oh, my God,” he said, indicating an affirmative.

Still, do not expect much dirt.

“That’s always a hard thing to do,” he said. “It’s always like, what kind of dirt can you dish? I’m not really sure yet. I don’t really have that much dirt.”

It has been three years since Trautwig left MSG when the network opted not to renew his contract.

In the interim, he has taught at Adelphi, his alma mater, through last spring. He also recently underwent cancer treatment. He did not specify the type of cancer but said he has been “cleared, and now it is just a matter of getting better.”

The cancer scare did affect his speech, which was not as clear as usual in a phone conversation with Newsday. But his plan when fully healthy is to return to college teaching and/or to tackle that book.

Trautwig grew up in Garden City South, graduated from Carey High School then Adelphi and currently lives in Glen Cove, part of a lifelong tie to Long Island that included stints as an Islanders stick boy and Nets ball boy in the 1970s.

He also over decades became one of the most versatile and recognizable figures in sports media nationally, including 16 Olympics (11 for NBC, 5 for ABC), and locally, notably as a studio host for MSG.

When he left MSG in 2021, he told Newsday, “I have over 30 years of wonderful memories at MSG. Unfortunately, the non-renewal of my contract after 30 years with no real explanation is not one of them.”

MSG…