SVG is profiling this year's 10 Sports Broadcasting Hall of Fame inductees in the weeks leading up to the ceremony on Dec. 13 at the New York Hilton. For more information, visit sportsbroadcastinghalloffame.org.
Yes, sir! There's the pass to Laettner. Puts it up. Yes! In your life, have you seen anything like that? By George, the dream is alive. An answered prayer!
Few, if any, broadcasters have found themselves calling as many iconic sports moments as Verne Lundquist. His minimalist, sincere phrasing has punctuated some of the most memorable moments in the history of sports television. However, although luck and timing have lent a helping hand, Lundquist took these moments and made them his own.
Coach K [Duke men's basketball coach Mike Krzyzewski] once said, It's been my experience that you can be presented with an opportunity, but then it's up to you to capture it.' And I suppose that's what I've been able to do - and more often than most folks have had an opportunity to do, says Lundquist. In those moments, I've just tried to say exactly what I thought everyone else at home watching was saying to themselves. If I have a philosophy, then that's it. I've tried to be a conduit for people's emotions as they are home watching the game.
Verne Lundquist
During his 54 years in broadcasting, Lundquist has manned the announce booth at ABC Sports, CBS Sports, and Turner Sports, in addition to serving as the radio voice of the Dallas Cowboys for more than a decade. He has called more than 20 sports but is best-known today as the lead play-by-play voice of the SEC on CBS, a role that has made him one of the most recognizable personalities in the business.
I truly believe that the mantle of the voice of college football was passed from Chris Schenkel to Keith Jackson and then to Verne, says CBS Sports Chairman Sean McManus. He has upheld the highest of standards as he assumed this role. Verne has set the standard for college-football broadcasting.
A Pastor's Son With a Passion for Broadcasting
The son of a Lutheran minister, Lundquist was born in 1940 in Duluth, MN, and grew up in Everett, WA, and Austin, TX , attending Austin High School and serving as PA announcer for basketball games. While at Texas Lutheran College (now Texas Lutheran University), he worked at the local radio station, KWED, his first professional broadcasting gig. After graduating, he looked to follow in his father's footsteps and entered Augustana Seminary College in Rock Island, IL, supporting himself working as a nighttime disc jockey at nearby WOC-AM.
I knew I enjoyed radio a great deal, recounts Lundquist, and, more importantly, I knew that I enjoyed being a performer on radio a lot more than the seminary. That made the decision for me.
In 1963, he joined KTBC-TV/Radio Austin as weekend TV sports anchor and afternoon-drive radio host and was soon named full-time sports anchor. After a short stint as nightly news anchor at WOAI-TV San Antonio in 1966, he became lead sports anchor and sports director at WFAA-TV Dallas, serving for 16 years.
The Voice of America's Team
In addition to his role at WFAA, Lundquist spent four years as pre/postgame and halftime host for the Dallas Cowboys on KLIF-AM, including for the famed Ice Bowl NFL Championship Game in 1967. In 1970, he entered the Cowboys booth as color commentator alongside play-by-play man Bill Mercer and was elevated to lead play-by-play voice in 1972, a role he would remain in throughout the team's glory years until 1984.
At that time, I had an offer to go to Los Angeles and serve as sports director at the CBS O&O, KNXT, but [Cowboys President/GM] Tex [Schramm] offered me the job [as lead play-by-play] only if I stayed in Dallas. I wanted to be a national-TV-network play-by-play guy, and he said, If I give you the radio job, the networks will find you because we're gonna be pretty darn good in the next decade.' So I turned down the job in L .A., and I stayed in Dallas. Obviously, it obviously worked out quite well for both of us.
He became a beloved sports figure in Dallas, winning seven consecutive Texas Sportscaster of the Year Awards (1977-83). He was inducted into the Texas Radio Hall of Fame in 2003 and Texas Sports Hall of Fame in 2005.
Survival of the Fittest at ABC
The massive exposure offered by calling games for America's Team - which was broadcast on 120 stations in 19 states at that time - indeed led to his first broadcast-network opportunity with ABC Sports, calling a handful of college football games in 1974. The following year, he called his first national game - No. 2 Texas A&M vs. No. 5 Texas - and became a fixture on ABC Sports, serving on Wide World of Sports and calling everything from golf to bowling to boxing and even the North American Soccer League. However, ABC Sports' Murderers' Row of play-by-play announcers made it difficult for Lundquist to prosper in the rankings.
It was survival of the fittest at ABC, he acknowledges. The talent pool was pretty amazing. At one point, when I was the No. 4 play-by-play guy, Keith Jackson was No. 1, Chris Schenkel was No. 2, and Al Michaels was No. 3. It was tough to move up: the elevator kept stopping on the fourth floor for me. It was frustrating.
A Fresh Start at CBS
By 1982, both Lundquist and ABC Sports were ready to move on. After his contract was not renewed, CBS Sports offered him a small package of six football games and two basketball games.
I was 42, and this was my last real opportunity to be a top network play-by-play guy, Lundquist recalls. It worked out beyond my wildest imagination.
Before the football season was out, that six-game package became 10. Then Sports Broadcasting Hall of Famer and CBS Golf Executive Producer Frank Chirkinian came calling with an
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SVG is profiling this year's 10 Sports Broadcasting Hall of Fame inductees in the weeks leading up to the ceremony on Dec. 13 at the New York Hilton. For more information, visit sportsbroadcastinghalloffame.org.
