DALLAS — Pat Summerall, the deep-voiced NFL player-turned-broadcaster who spent half of his four decades calling sports famously paired with John Madden, died Tuesday. He was 82. DALLAS — Pat Summerall, the deep-voiced NFL player-turned-broadcaster who spent half of his
DALLAS — Pat Summerall, the deep-voiced NFL player-turned-broadcaster who spent half of his four decades calling sports famously paired with John Madden, died Tuesday. He was 82.
Susie Wiles, Summerall’s daughter, said her father died in Dallas.
“He was an extraordinary man and a wonderful father,” Wiles said. “I know he will be greatly missed.”
Summerall was part of network television broadcasts for 16 Super Bowls. His last championship game was for Fox on Feb. 3, 2002, also his last game with longtime partner Madden. The popular duo worked together for 21 years, moving to Fox in 1994 after years as the lead team for CBS.
At the end of their final broadcast together, Madden described Summerall as “a treasure” and the “spirit of the National Football League” in a tribute to the partner who complemented the former coach so well.
“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.
As former teammate and broadcaster Frank Gifford put it in an accompanying video tribute: “America is very comfortable with Pat Summerall.”
Summerall played 10 NFL seasons (1952-61) with the Chicago Cardinals and New York Giants. In his second career, he became a voice so familiar to several generations of sports fans, not only those of the NFL.
He started doing NFL games for CBS in 1964, and became a play-by-play guy 10 years later. He was also part of CBS’s coverage of the PGA Tour, including the Masters from 1968-94, and the U.S. Open tennis tournament.
When CBS lost its NFL deal after the 1993 season, Summerall switched to Fox to keep calling NFL games with Madden. He had hoped to keep working with CBS for other events like the Masters, but network executives saw it otherwise. At the time, CBS Sports anchor Jim Nantz said he was “very saddened” that Summerall didn’t get to leave CBS under his own terms.
“He is CBS Sports. I always thought he could work here until he was 75 or 80 years old,” Nantz told The Philadelphia Daily News then.
