There
was a time when many sports play-by-play commentators broadcasts every sport across
the spectrum. One of those announcers was a proud man from Georgia, who would
go on to become the voice of college football. He made history calling the
first game of what has become a pro sports institution. He had many catch phrases,
and nicknames for a football stadium, a football offensive unit, and a famed college
bowl game that has become a part of the sports vocabulary today. On Friday, the
sports, and broadcast world said goodbye to this iconic voice, and what many of
those in this great field call him a true gentleman.
Keith
Jackson, who is regarded as the voice of college football passed away late
Friday night. He was 89 years old, and is survived by his wife, the former Turi
Ann Johnsen, their three children Melanie Ann, Lindsey, and Christopher, and
three grandchildren.
Jackson,
a long-time California resident of California, who resided in the Sherman Oaks
area of Los Angeles, CA spent nearly half a century calling sporting events in
a folksy, down-to-earth tone that made him one of the most popular play-by-play
commentators in the business.
He
used that unique tone particularly during his four-decade run with the American
Broadcasting Company’s (ABC’s) “Wide World of Sports” to come up with some of
the greatest sayings that are used by many commentators today.
His
phrases also described two iconic football stadiums for the Michigan
Wolverines, which is called “The Big House,” and “The Granddaddy of Them All,”
which Jackson called to describe The Rose Bowl in Pasadena, CA, which inducted Jackson
into their Hall of Fame in 1999.
Among
them was “Whoa, Nellie,” which trended over the weekend on Twitter, according
to Sunday’s edition of Newsday was
used to describe a big-time play made on the gridiron. Jackson attributes that
phrase to his great-grandfather, who used it when he was in the fields.
“Fummmbille,”
was Jackson’s phrase when an offensive player lost the football. Jackson’s phrase
“Big uglies,” describes offensive lineman.
Along
with being great at his job, he was a true gentleman that earned the respect of
all those that he worked with.
“I
woke up this morning very blue, as so many others did as well,” Jim Nantz of
CBS sports said during the network’s telecast of the American Football
Conference’s (AFC) Divisional Playoff contest of the Tennessee Titans versus
New England Patriots on Saturday night. “Very said times.”
Those
same sentiments were echoed in the other AFC’s other Divisional Playoff tilt
between the Jacksonville Jaguars versus Pittsburgh Steelers on Sunday when play-by-play
announcer Ian Eagle, who also is the lead broadcasters of the Brooklyn Nets of the
NBA called Jackson a “legendary broadcaster.”
“As
a broadcaster, we’ll never experience a better one, ever again,” Fouts, who was
alongside Jackson for the broadcast of the 41-38 victory by the Texas Longhorns
over the Southern California Trojans in the 2006 Rose Bowl, also said during
the broadcast on Sunday. “But more importantly to me, he became a mentor. An
important part of my life as a friend.”
That
thrilling national championship contest that saw former Longhorn, Titans’, and
Philadelphia Eagles’ QB Vince Young defeat the Trojans, and their two Heisman Trophy
winners, in former Arizona Cardinals signal caller Matt Leinart, now college
football studio analyst for FOX Sports Matt Leinart, and former New Orleans
Saints’ Miami Dolphins, and Buffalo Bills running back Reggie Bush was also the
final broadcast for ABC Sports as separate network before being joined by ESPN.
Some
of Jackson’s other great collegiate football broadcasts consists of the 2003
Fiesta Bowl between Ohio State versus University of Miami; 1994 contest of
Colorado versus Michigan, dubbed Kordell Stewart’s Hail Marry in the 1994 “Miracle
at Michigan;” Desmond Howard’s “Hello Heisman,” 1991 for the Wolverines; and “Wide
Right I,” and “Wide Right II,” in the Florida State-Miami rivalry.
“For
generations of fans, Keith Jackson was college football,” Bob Iger, chairman,
and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of The Walt Disney Company. “When you heard
his voice, you knew it was a big game. Keith was a true gentleman, and a
memorable presence. Our thoughts, and prayers go out to his wife, Turi Ann, and
his family.”
In
an ironic way, the merger of ESPN and ABC was a fitting way to begin a new era,
and the conclusion of a prior one, where it was headlined by Jackson, who was a
jack of all sports broadcasts, which began with the calling of college football
games for ABC in 1966 when the network acquired the broadcast rights by the
NCAA.
Jackson
also commentated NFL, and NBA contests, while also working 11 World Series for
MLB, 10 Winter, and Summer Olympics, and auto racing. He also traveled the
globe to 31 countries for the “Wide World of Sports,” for ABC.
Among
his broadcasting accomplishments, Jackson was the first voice of “Monday Night
Football,” which is now broadcast on ESPN, when it debuted on Sept. 21, 1970 with
the New York Jets versus Cleveland Browns, working alongside Howard Cosell, and
Don Meredith. The Browns won that contest 31-21. He was on the call for Bucky
Dent’s run against the Boston Red Sox in 1978, as well as Reggie Jackson’s
three-run blast in the 1977 World Series.
Mark
Spitz’s record seven Gold medals in the 1972 games, and speed skater Eric
Heiden’s five golds eight years later were amongst Jackson’s famed calls in the
summer.
Jackson
was born on Oct. 18, 1928 in Roopville, GA, and grew up on a farm outside of
Carrollton, at the state line of Alabama. As a child, he grew up listening to
sports on the radio.
After
an enlistment, and service in the United States Marine Corps as a mechanic,
Jackson attended Washington State University in Pullman, WA under the G.I.
Bill. He started as a political science major, but his interest turned to
broadcasting.
His
sports broadcast journey began in 1952 calling games a game between the Stanford
Cardinal and the Cougars.
After
graduated in 1954 with his B.A. in speech communications, Jackson worked for
KOMO radio in Seattle, WA, and then worked for KOMO-TV for 10 years as co-anchor
for the stations first news team. He covered Sefair hydroplane races, minor
league Seattle Rainiers baseball games, and University of Washington Huskies
football contests.
In
1964, Jackson became a radio news correspondent for ABC News Radio, and sports
director of ABC Radio West before joining ABC Sports 52 years ago.
His
broadcast career doing pro football came in the early 1960s covering the
American Football League (AFL).
When
he was chosen to be the first play-by-play commentator for Monday Night Football
in 1970, Jackson was the fallback choice because for New York Giants star the
late Frank Gifford was unable to get out of his analyst deal with CBS Sports until
the conclusion of the 1970 campaign. Gifford did land the job one year later
when they removed Jackson, and that led to some contention between him and the
ABC top brass.
When
Gifford, the husband of Kathie Lee Gifford, and father to Cody and Cassidy
passed away in August 2015, Jackson became the only living member of the original
broadcast team from the MNF team from the early 1970s.
For
a two-year period (1983-85), Jackson was the lead play-by-play man for the
United States Football League (USFL) broadcast for ABC, pairing with Lynn
Swann, and Tim Brant, calling all three title games in the league’s short
history.
He
also at one time was the lead play-by-play announcer calling NBA games on ABC
with the 11-time NBA champion with the Boston Celtics, and Hall of Famer Bill
Russell as his co-pilot for four years.
“I
am saddened to hear the news of Keith Jackson’s death,” Swann, the Pro Football
Hall of Fame wide receiver, and current USC Athletic Director said in a
statement on Saturday. “Keith covered games I played in, and we worked together
at ABC Sports for decades. Every step of the way, he shared his knowledge, and
his friendship.”
“Not
just his voice, but the spirit of college football. My heart, and prayers go
out to his wife, and children on this day, and I thank them for allowing so
many of us to have shared in Keith’s life.”
As
mentioned earlier, the sports world said goodbye to a legend. A jack of all
sports. Jackson had the ability to broadcast any sport. He was not just a
broadcaster, he was a story teller who can take what we say on the small screen,
and could articulate the images we saw in a way that made us feel like we were
right there as the action was unfolding.
He
was the last of an iconic baby booming generation of voices that were fading
into the sunset, which included the recent passing of the legendary Dick
Enberg, who we lost last month.
While
we have said to goodbye to two of the greatest voices that have called some of
the best moments that college, and professional sports has to offer, the great
work of Jackson, and Enberg paved the way to some of the best voices of sports
broadcasting today like the previously mentioned Nantz, Al Michaels, who the
lead play-by-play announcer for NBC’s Sunday Night Football, Joe Buck of FOX Sports,
and Mike Tirico of NBC, and previously with ESPN/ABC.
Jackson
however was one of a kind. When Saturday afternoon came around in the fall, you
knew that Jackson was going to be lead voice at the headline game of that day,
and you hoped to catch his call. That is what made as many have called him the soundtrack
of college football, period.
Two
of the great coaches of college football in the late Joe Paterno of the Penn
State Nittany Lions, and former Wolverines lead man on the sidelines Lloyd Carr
both concur to that.
“I
don’t think you could say that there is any one person who is not a coach,
athletic director, or administrator who has done more for college football than
Keith Jackson,” Paterno once said.
“A
symbol of all the good things in college football,” is what Carr said of his
description of Jackson.
His
great work on the air made him the first broadcaster to be awarded the National
Football Foundation, and Hall of Fame Gold Medal in 1999. The National
Sportswriters, and Sportscasters Association named him the National
Sportscaster of the Year five straights times starting in 1995. He was the
first sports announcer to receive the Stagg award.
Keith
Max Jackson was a legend in his profession. He was the voice of some of the
best moments, games, and individual performances in sports for nearly five
decades. He was kind, proud man who was a husband, father, and grandfather who
had a special way of connecting with those that watched his telecast. He was a
mentor, who made his co-pilot(s) as important to the broadcast as to those that
commentated along with him, as well as those watching the action on the television.
His impact has had a lasting impact on current, and future generations of
studio, and game commentators great to be versatile in their knowledge, and
commentary of all sports.
“That
big smiling face, and just the thrill, and love he had for doing college
football,” ESPN/ABC color analyst Bob Griese said on “Sportscenter,” over the
weekend when asked what he would remember about the man he worked with starting
back in 1985.
“He
did it for a long, long time…. He never intruded on the game. It was always
about the kids on the field. Never, never shining the light on himself. And
that was one of the things that I most admired about him.”
Information,
and quotations courtesy of 1/13/18 www.espn.com
article “Legendary Broadcaster Keith Jackson Dies at Age 89;” 1/14/18 Newsday article “Whoa, Nellie,” by Neil
Best; https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/LCS;
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lynn_Swann;
and https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keith_Jackson.
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