For many sports fans in the 1960s through the 1990s, Pat
Summerall was the voice of the NFL, starting with CBS' Sunday
telecasts and later with Fox, famously paired for much of that time with John
Madden.
Summerall, 82, passed away Tuesday in Dallas, said his daughter,
Susie Wiles.
"He was an extraordinary man and a wonderful father,"
Wiles told the Associated Press. "I know he will be greatly missed."
The Dallas Morning News reported
Summerall died in his room at Dallas' Zale Lipshy Hospital, where he was
recovering from surgery for a broken hip.
Summerall worked a record 16 Super Bowls, drawing on his
football relationships made during his nine-plus years as a kicker in the NFL,
primarily for the then-Chicago Cardinals and New York Giants from 1952 to 1961.
He had been ill off and on in his later years. A recovering
alcoholic, Summerall had a liver transplant in 2004, needing it even after 12
years of sobriety.
His was a trusted, low-key, to the point voice, which made the
contrast to the effervescent Madden -- "Boom!" -- a pairing that was
informative and entertaining.
In a statement Tuesday, Madden said, "Pat was my
broadcasting partner for a long time, but more than that he was my friend for
all of these years. We never had one argument, and that was because of Pat. 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."
When CBS lost its NFL package after the 1993 season, Summerall
and Madden joined Fox Sports as that network's lead NFL announcer team.
A man with many interests, Summerall also was called on by CBS
to be the lead announcer for its coverage of PGA Tour events for many years as
well as such major tennis events as the U.S. Open. He called 13 Super Bowls, 26
Masters and 21 U.S. Opens for the network.
CBS announcers remembered him Tuesday:
*Jim Nantz: "Pat Summerall was a hero to me. I treasured
the gift of friendship that I had with him. I was his understudy for 10 years.
He could not have been more generous or kind to a young broadcaster. He was a
giant and one of the iconic figures in the history of the CBS television
network."
*Verne Lundquist: "Pat was a friend of nearly 40 years. He
was a master of restraint in his commentary, an example for all of us. He was
also one of the great storytellers who ever spoke into a microphone."
Summerall's last Super Bowl worked was for Fox on Feb. 3, 2002,
which also was his last game with Madden, ending a 21-year run together.
"You are what the NFL is all about, what pro football is
all about, and more important, what a man is all about and what a gentleman is
all about," Madden said then in a tribute to his partner to end that Super
Bowl telecast.
Before Madden, Summerall teamed with another former NFL player,
Tom Brookshier, in the 1970s, and they called three Super Bowls for CBS. Of
Brookshier, who died in January 2010, Summerall once told The New York
Times: "With Brookie, it was more of a conversation, like two guys in
a saloon."
Summerall's first taste of fame, however, did come in his
playing career. In the 1958 regular-season finale for the Giants, Summerall
nailed a game-winning 49-yard field goal through the driving snow to beat the
Cleveland Browns and keep New York's season alive.
Two weeks later, in the game known as the "Greatest Game
Ever Played," Summerall was the Giants' kicker in the NFL
championship won in overtime by the Baltimore Colts.
Summerall became so gifted at his second career, spanning more
than 40 years, that he was named National Sportscaster of the Year in 1977 by
the National Sportscasters and Sportswriters Association and inducted into its
Hall of Fame in 1994.
Pro football recognized him, too, as the 1994 recipient of the
Pete Rozelle Radio-Television Award, by the Pro Football Hall of Fame,
"for longtime exceptional contributions to radio and television in
professional football."
And in 1999 he was inducted into the American Sportscasters
Association Hall of Fame.
Lance Barrow, coordinating producer for CBS Sports, worked many
events with Summerall. In a statement, he said:
"In 1976 I was a junior in college and Chuck Will put me in
the 18th tower as a spotter for Pat Summerall. He told me, 'You're not going to
meet a finer man in this business than Pat Summerall.' And to this day, I never
have. He was kind to everyone. When you were around him you never knew that he
was the No. 1 broadcaster. He taught me so much, not only about this business,
but how to treat people. I'm sad on this day, but also smiling because I know
he will be with his good buddy Tom Brookshier."
George Allen "Pat" Summerall was born
May 10, 1930, in Lake City, Fla., a rural area midway between Jacksonville and
Tallahassee. He was an all-around athlete and attended the University of
Arkansas on a basketball scholarship. Once there he became an all-Southwest
Conference selection in basketball and football. He graduated with a degree in
education and later earned a master's degree in Russian history.
SOURCE - USA TODAY
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