NFL Broadcaster Pat Summerall Dies at 82
Longtime NFL broadcaster Pat Summerall has died at age 82.
Summerall was an announcer with CBS in radio and television for 32 years, before joining Fox when the network took over CBS’ NFL package in 1994. An analyst or play-by-play man on 16 Super Bowls for television and 10 on radio, Summerall was best known for teaming with commentator John Madden and before him, Tom Brookshier.
“We never had one argument, and that was because of Pat,” Madden said Tuesday. “He was a great broadcaster and a great man. He always had a joke. Pat never complained and we never had an unhappy moment. He was something very special. Pat Summerall is the voice of football and always will be.”
Summerall also frequently broadcast major golf and tennis events such as the Masters and the U.S. Open. He was named national sportscaster of the year in 1977 and elected to the National Sportscasters and Sportswriters Assn. Hall of Fame in 1994. That same year, he was honored with the Pro Football Hall of Fame’s Pete Rozelle Radio-Television Award.
Prior to becoming a broadcaster, Summerall was an NFL kicker for nine seasons, scoring 563 points, and was with the New York Giants in the so-called “Greatest Game Ever Played,” the 1958 NFL Championship Game that was the first overtime game in league history.