Pat Summerall Passes

Tuesday Night, legendary NFL Broadcaster Pat Summerall passed away. He was 82 at the time of his passing. During his younger years, Pat made a living in the NFL as a kicker and defensive end. He played one season (1952) playing for the Detroit Lions, then spent four years (1953-57) playing for the Chicago Cardinals, and finished his playing days (1958-61) with the New York Giants. Summerall's last professional game was the December 31, 1961 NFL Championship Game held at Lambeau Field in Green Bay, Wisconsin. Vince Lombardi's Green Bay Packers defeated Summerall's Giants, 37-0, holding New York to just six first downs. Summerall was not a factor in that game.

After his playing career ended, Summerall took up a career in Broadcasting. He got his first break in broadcasting in 1962 when he was hired by CBS radio to work as a color commentator on NFL games. Midway through the 1974 NFL season, CBS shifted Summerall from color to play-by-play. The network's #1 NFL crew now consisted of Summerall and analyst Tom Brookshier (with whom he had previously worked on This Week in Pro Football), and the colorful Summerall-Brookshier duo worked three Super Bowls (X, XII, and XIV) together. Summerall, Brookshier, NFL on CBS producer Bob Wussler, and Miami Dolphins owner Joe Robbie appeared as themselves during the 1977 film Black Sunday, which was filmed on location at the Orange Bowl in Miami during Super Bowl X.

In 1981, Summerall was teamed with former Oakland Raiders coach John Madden, a pairing that would last for 22 seasons on two networks and become one of the most well-known partnerships in TV sportscasting history. Summerall and Madden were first teamed on a November 25, 1979 broadcast of a Minnesota Vikings–Tampa Bay Buccaneers game. While the two were paired on CBS, they called Super Bowls XVI, XVIII, XXI, XXIV, and XXVI together.

Pat had a GREAT career in the booth calling NFL games, and it landed him some pretty high praise. The National Sportscasters and Sportswriters Association named Summerall National Sportscaster of the Year in 1977, and inducted him into its Hall of Fame in 1994. Summerall was the 1994 recipient of the Pete Rozelle Radio-Television Award, bestowed by the Pro Football Hall of Fame "for longtime exceptional contributions to radio and television in professional football". In 1999 he was inducted into the American Sportscasters Association Hall of Fame.

Here now is a video tribute put together by the NFL Network remembering the life and works of Pat Summerall:


Pat Summerall passes at the age of 82! He will be missed as not only a broadcaster, but as a person!