Remembering Pat Summerall

It will be hard to describe the greatness of Pat Summerall in just one article, but I will try. For people who group in my era, the 1990s, Summerall basically WAS the NFL. The tandem of him and John Madden is arguably the most famous announcing duo in not just NFL history, but sports history. When you woke up on Sunday mornings and come home from church and turn on the television set, if you heard Summerall, you knew it was a big game.

Summerall announced 16 Super Bowls, 26 Masters Tournaments and 21 U.S. Opens. He and Madden announced eight Super Bowls together, including five while with CBS. The final Super Bowl the tandem announced was one of the most memorable in NFL history, a New England Patriots 20-17 upset over the the heavily favored St. Louis Rams. Of those Super Bowls he announced, he and Madden called Super Bowl XXXI, a victory for the Green Bay Packers against the Patriots.

Summerall and Madden went together like peanut butter and jelly. Upon hearing about Summerall's death, Madden called his longtime friend and announcing partner 'The Voice of Football.' It is hard to argue with him. He was the Keith Jackson of the NFL.

Jackson announced college football for 41 seasons for ABC, including 16 Sugar Bowls and 15 Rose Bowls. He also was credited with nicknaming the Rose Bowl, 'The Granddaddy of them all.' Coincidentally, Jackson's final game was also a memorable one, as Vince Young led the Texas Longhorns to an upset win over Southern California, ending the 34-game winning streak of the Trojans.

Both Summerall and Jackson have more than just that in common, though. They both had that calm announcing voice that made you want to tune in. It was like "Edward R. Murrow reporting on World War II." They both did not need to go over the top to be noticed like Gus Johnson. They both had their style and both were darn good at it.

As a fan of the Packers, I have very fond memories of Summerall announcing games, as the Packers were just beginning their dominance when Summerall and Madden switched over to FOX following the 1993 season. It does not seem like that long ago when he announced the Packers/Patriots Super Bowl. I still can hear Summerall's call of Desmond Howard's 99-yard kickoff return in my head.

For fans of the 90s and even the 80s, if you think of the NFL, one of the first things you think of, right along with the 49ers, Packers and Cowboys, is the tandem of Summerall and Madden. They worked brilliantly together and we can only hope a tandem half as good as that one will emerge in the future.