Legendary NFL broadcaster Pat Summerall dead at 82

Pat Summerall, who enjoyed a 10-year NFL career as a kicker and then had a Hall of Fame broadcasting career which lasted more than four decades, has passed away at the age of 82.  A Dallas newspaper reported the news on Tuesday afternoon.

Summerall helped the Giants in is final four NFL seasons (1958-61) to three first-place finishes and an NFL championship game appearance thanks to converting 136-of-138 points after touchdowns -- which prompted his teammates to give the man whose given name was George the nickname, Pat, that lasted for the rest of his life.

As a broadcaster, Summerall called numerous golf events for CBS -- including The Masters -- but his best and most lasting work occurred in football. He was behind the microphone for a record 16 Super Bowls on network television, the first five as an analyst.

“Pat Summerall set the standard for play-by-play announcers regardless of sport,” said former president of Fox Sports Ed Goren in a statement, who worked with Summerall at CBS and Fox. “He had a Hall of Fame career.”

He worked for CBS from 1961 to 1993, moved with the NFL to Fox in 1994, then retired after the 2002 season, but not before working eight Super Bowls alongside partner and former Raiders head coach John Madden.

“I was so lucky I got to work with Pat,” Madden said in a statement. “He was so easy to work with. He knew how to use words. For a guy like myself who rambles on and on and doesn’t always make sense, he was sent from heaven.”

Source: Sports Network