BOSTON – In 1981, Iran released 52 American hostages, Ronald Reagan succeeded Jimmy Carter as president and was later shot by John Hinckley Jr.; Pope John Paul II was shot in Rome; Prince Charles married Lady Diana Spencer, and Sandra Day O’Connor was named the first woman U.S. Supreme Court Justice.

Oh yeah, there was one other noteworthy development which barely registered as a blip in the regional, let alone, national news: A modest, cable/satellite sports network based in Connecticut and called PRISM was launched with 500 subscribers a little less than three months after O’Connor was appointed.

More than 3.2 million viewers, more than 1,000 Boston Celtics telecasts, and three name changes later, Fox Sports Net New England is the third-oldest regional sports network in the country.

From modest beginnings with two sports teams, FSNNE has evolved to its current status as a major regional player that offers a diverse programming lineup. Although its name has gone through frequent revisions, its Celtics announcing duo has not.

Celtics and NBA Hall of Fame player Tom Heinsohn and veteran New England broadcaster Mike Gorman have been the only Celtics TV broadcasting team in the network’s history and make up America’s longest-running sports TV broadcast duo. They do all Celtics games except for those broadcast nationally.

Microphonic marriage

A 27-year relationship – whether it be a business partnership, friendship, or marriage – is a noteworthy achievement.

When Heinsohn was introduced to new TV broadcast partner Gorman by former Providence College athletic director Dave Gavitt (who would later become Big East Conference commissioner and Celtics CEO) back in the fall of 1979, he knew nothing about the Dorchester, Mass., native and hoops enthusiast who cut his broadcast teeth on radio in New Bedford, Mass., and Providence, R.I.

Gorman couldn’t say the same for Heinsohn, however. He vividly remembers watching the 1957 NBA Rookie of the Year and six-time NBA All-Star bang the boards and gut it out in the paint as an integral member of eight NBA championship teams.

“A friend of mine and I used to take the train to North Station and sneak up the fire escape to the second balcony level and bang on a fire exit door until someone let us in,” Gorman recalled. “We’d just sit up in the nosebleed seats and watch the games and then move closer once we figured out which seats were going to be empty. In those days, Celtics games weren’t as popular, so sometimes we’d get as close as the 15th row.”

So it was with great excitement that Gorman got to know a man who was one of his hoop heroes growing up while the two of them broadcast Providence College games on TV for two seasons.

Heinsohn, who was also well-versed in broadcasting as he first broadcast Celtics games while still a player in 1961, handled color/analyst duties while Gorman did most of the play-by-play. The two men quickly developed a comfortable rapport and interplay during broadcasts which would only become smoother as they meshed their approaches.

“We just kind of lucked into that. We never seemed to really have to go through any awkward transition,” said Gorman, a 1969 Boston State College graduate. “He never really wanted to be a play-by-play guy and I never really wanted to be an analyst.”

Heinsohn says their approach is simple.

“The way we kind of do it is he does the what and I do the why. He records the facts and I say why certain things happened. We each have our role,” said Heinsohn. “Mike and I are contrasts to each other. We have certain temperaments, but it all meshes together very well.

“We’re right in sync 99 percent of the time. I’ve had more arguments with my wife than I’ve had with Mike over the years.”

Heinsohn and second wife Helen have been married for the last 11 years.

“I can count on one hand the number of times we’ve ever had any strong disagreements,” said the 56-year-old Gorman, a winner of five New England Emmy awards.

Gorman has a daughter (Kristen) and has been married to wife Teri for 18 years. He began his broadcasting career at New Bedford (Mass.) radio station WNBH five years before joining Heinsohn. He also worked at WPRO in Providence prior to joining the Celtics and later served as Providence TV station WPRI’s sports anchor for several years.

When Heinsohn, who also handled CBS’s NBA coverage for seven years and NCAA basketball for four, was offered the job as analyst for PRISM’s home Celtics broadcasts, he was also asked to recommend people for the play-by-play position.

“I had worked doing college games with other people on local channels every now and then, so I knew a few guys, but I also knew I worked very easily with Mike and recommended him,” Heinsohn recalled. “We have fun working together.”

No one can argue that point, especially where Heinsohn is concerned. Many viewers lump him in the same category of sports boosters with legendary Celtics play-by-play voice Johnny Most.

“There’s a tendency to be a booster of sorts, and it’s different doing games for a national audience vs. a regional one,” Heinsohn said. “When I was on CBS, it was a broader audience and it was tough for me at first, because I hated the Lakers and those were the days they played the Celtics almost every year in the playoffs. Now, I’m broadcasting for Fox predominantly to Celtics fans.”

A whole new ballgame

Much like New England Sports Network has done with its nightly NESN Sportsdesk program via its Boston Red Sox and Bruins broadcasts, FSNNE is making the Celtics its signature entity to an even greater degree.

It’s doing so this season with the hiring of more reporters to handle in-studio, sideline, pregame, and postgame coverage and using its unique Celtics access to supplement its material and coverage on New England Sports Tonight, its daily, live sports report airing weeknights at 6:30 and 10.

Gary Tanguay, a Rumford native and University of Maine alumnus, is NEST co-anchor and the studio host of Celtics telecasts. This is his sixth year with FSNNE.

Greg Dickerson, NEST co-anchor, serves as courtside reporter. The Milford, Mass., native joined FSNNE in March 2002.

Mattapan, Mass., native and former Celtics player Dana Barros is FSNNE’s NBA analyst and works with Dickerson during Celtics home telecasts and also fills in as an in-studio analyst during the season.

Barros, a Boston College communications and broadcast major, started out on the production side of broadcasting while learning the business but feels at ease in front of the camera in his third year with FSNNE.

“To be able to still be around the sport I love and the camaraderie and being around the guys and the court… The atmosphere is great,” said the father of two sons and veteran of 14 NBA seasons.

The “new kid” is former University of Connecticut standout player Donny Marshall, who also played six seasons in the NBA. The Washington state product serves as the primary in-studio NBA analyst alongside Tanguay.

The complexity of FSNNE’s Celtics broadcasts is apparent when visiting the control trailer stationed outside and behind the Garden. Nine people man three banks of controls, six computers, 10 speakers, and 75 video screens, used to control and monitor the broadcasts. Four of the cameras used for broadcasts are partly controlled remotely from the trailer.

This is the second year FSNNE has aired all Celtics games in high definition.

The Maine influence

Tanguay isn’t the only “Maine-ah” to add the Pine Tree State scent or flavor to Celtics broadcasts. There are plenty of Vacationland connections at the network.

One of the more notable ones is chief photographer/videographer Barry Alley, a Jonesport native who has won a New England Emmy Award for Celtics coverage.

“I’ll have been working here six years in February,” Alley said while filming courtside action during last week’s exhibition game at the TD Banknorth Garden against the Cleveland Cavaliers.

For Alley, FSNNE’s evolution has been obvious, even over a relatively short period of time. But the main advances, as far as he’s concerned, come in the area of comfort.

“My legs would fall asleep and my back would be killing me,” said Alley, referring to his condition after hours spent sitting, kneeling, or standing courtside on the floor for hours during his first couple of years.

Now he sits, Indian-style, very comfortably with the aid of portable, fold-out cushioned seats made specifically for photographers.

“Yeah, these cushion chairs really make a difference now,” said Alley, who is one of five cameramen working exhibition broadcasts and one of seven for regular-season games.

Even Gorman and Heinsohn have a slight Maine accent.

Gorman lived in Harpswell and was stationed at Brunswick Naval Air Station for 41/2 years as a member of the VP-44 squadron and submarine patrol unit.

“I still can’t get lobster any better than what they have up there,” he said.

Heinsohn visited Maine regularly while playing for the Celtics.

“We joked that we must have dedicated every high school gym ever made up there,” said Heinsohn. “I can remember driving all the way up to Houlton without the turnpike and it took forever.”

The experience didn’t sour him on America’s most Northeast state as he still makes regular visits.

“I go up to Maine and paint quite a lot in Ellsworth, Stonington, Deer Isle, Rockport, and other areas,” said Heinsohn, who has been to Bangor several times for basketball camps and clinics. “I was just up over Labor Day week in Brunswick and Cundys Harbor and Bailey’s Island and Orrs Island. I like coastal scenery and foliage in New England.”

Not all of Heinsohn’s Maine travels as a player or Celtics coach were work-related. He fished several times with former BDN executive sports editor and outdoors columnist Bud Leavitt.

“Bud was a good friend of [Celtics/NBA Hall of amer Bob] Cousy’s and we’d go fishing up there every once in awhile,” he recalled fondly. “Great fishing up there.”

WHAT’S IN A NAME?

The 25-year evolutionary timeline of Fox Sports Net New England:

1981 – The PRISM/New England regional cable sports network is launched on Nov. 6 with 500 subscribers in Connecticut. Its first broadcast is of an NBA game between the Boston Celtics and Indiana Pacers which the Celtics won 111-94.

1983 – Cablevision Systems corporation acquires PRISM and re-launches it as SportsChannel New England.

1996 – SportsChannel New England becomes available in two million homes.

1998 – SportsChannel is bought by Fox Sports Net and renamed as Fox Sports New England. The Network is now available in three million homes.

1999 – Further refinements in the network name make it Fox Sports Net New England.

2002 – Fox Sports Net New England airs its 1,000th Celtics telecast and eclipses the 3.7 million viewer mark.

2005 – FSNNE starts its 25th season of Celtics basketball.