Rest in peace, Pat Summerall

[Keith Doleshel]

As a guy in my late 20s, I knew him as the broadcast partner of John Madden, calling many of the best NFL games of my childhood.  For some of you, he was one of the voices of golf for many years.  A true sports icon, one of the best in the business passed away today. 

[V. Kmetz]

I'm 45 and Pat Summerall was the re-assuring face/voice of the two sports I like best, Football and Golf.

In his prime (for a long-time with former Eagle Tom Brookshier on NFL games, before partnering with Madden) he was the Cronkite standard of objective play-by-play, who had a lsublime and wry way of injecting an opinion or capturing the essence of a moment with stark clarity.

I never thought Pat was better than his call of the Giants-49ers NFC Championship game in 1991, perhaps the finest NFL game I have seen.  As the giants surged towards a hard-fought 5 FG victory (15-13), Leonard Marshall obliterated Joe Montana on a right-side waggle/sprint pass.  Joe was knocked out and had to be lead off by the elbows, sitting on the bench...first with trainers, then alone.  In a brief pause in the frenetic action soem minutes later the camera randonly focused on Montana's "16" jersey back, sitting on the bench, looking as if he'd aged 50 years in five minutes.  He was alone and clearly on another planet.

After a further silent pause, Summerall intoned, "The report from the bench...everything hurts."

thank you Pat - you gave me many hours of added pleasure watching the sports I love.

cheers

vk

[Matthew Rose]

With Ken Venturi, the original voices of the Masters, at least for my generation. One fine example from the "less is more" broadcasting school.

[Jud_T]

Remember the old "This week in Pro Football" broadcasts in the late '60s, early '70's?  I used to watch them religiously as a kid and Summerall was the embodiment of gravitas.

[John McCarthy]

From my youth there were two voices of The Masters - Summeral and Scully.  

Scully bowed out in the early 80s.  It was a shame but baseball is clearly where he belongs.

Pat was golf for two decades.  Amazing being a football player and doing golf so well.

[Bill Gayne]

Hard to believe he was born with a backward foot and the doctor broke the infant foot and turned it around. He went on to kick in the NFL. Summerall made his broadcasting partners (Venturi, Madden, and Brookshire) better by knowing when to speak and when to get out of the way.

[Bill Brightly]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NNgaPmoIsOA

[Jim Hoak]

My favorite Summerall story was when CBS substituted Madden for Summerall's favorite drinking buddy, Brookshire.  The press asked him, "Are you going to miss Tom on Sunday afternoons?"  Summerall said with his gravelly voice, "No, but I'll sure miss him Saturday nights."
RIP, maybe the best ever!

[Steve_ Shaffer]

Here's the NYT Obit:

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/17/sports/football/pat-summerall-star-with-nfl-giants-and-on-tv-dies-at-82.html?hpw&_r=0


Brookshire and Summerall were a helluva team.

[Phil McDade]

Sad news. He'd dealt with, and overcome, a lot late in his life.

To me, there were two voices of the NFL -- Ray Scott, and Pat Summerall.

[Rich Goodale]

I met Mr. Summerall twice, firstly when he interviewed me on WCBS radio in 1964 and 24 years later when I played through him and Tony Trabert at Sawgrass CC, and he was the definition of a gentleman on both occasions.  In 1988 he even pretended to remember me when I reminded him of our previous encounter.  I never knew until I read his extended obituary that he was miles better than I ever was as a junior tennis player.  RIP, Pat.

[Tim_Cronin]

As Rich might remember, before he went into sports broadcasting full time, Pat Summerall was the morning drive man on WCBS before it went all-news. A consummate voice for football, golf, tennis and even basketball (he called one NBA Finals for CBS and an NCAA subregional the first year CBS did every game). And when it came time for the promo read, only Summerall could make silence stand for a comma: "Tonight on CBS, 60 Minutes, followed by Murder ... She Wrote."

RIP.

[Wayne_Kozun]

To me, there were two voices of the NFL -- Ray Scott, and Pat Summerall.

And John Facenda, the voice of NFL films. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x9gAqltc-fM

[Steve_ Shaffer]

Here's the obit from the Dallas Morning  News:

http://www.dallasnews.com/sports/dallas-cowboys/headlines/20130416-nfl-broadcaster-local-icon-pat-summerall-dies-at-age-82.ece

Master's Degree in Russian history, baseball, basketball...a true renaissance man

[Rick Shefchik]

Sad news. He'd dealt with, and overcome, a lot late in his life.

To me, there were two voices of the NFL -- Ray Scott, and Pat Summerall.

Interesting you should mention Ray Scott, Phil. This morning I heard a clip on the radio of Summerall saying he learned economy of words from Scott. He learned well.

[Dan Kelly]

Sad news. He'd dealt with, and overcome, a lot late in his life.

To me, there were two voices of the NFL -- Ray Scott, and Pat Summerall.

Interesting you should mention Ray Scott, Phil. This morning I heard a clip on the radio of Summerall saying he learned economy of words from Scott. He learned well.

In Wisconsin, Ray Scott was a voice of the NFL.

Here in Minnesota, Ray Scott was (at least to me) *the* voice of the Minnesota Twins. He did Twins radio and TV during the team's early years -- and he was unsurpassed, by anyone anywhere (or by anyone who has followed him into the Twins' broadcasting booths).

If anyone could find a copy of the LP "The Bottom of the Ninth" (highlights of the Twins' 1965 pennant-winning season), he would get a tutorial in great baseball announcing.

Maybe Pat Summerall listened to it.

R.I.P., to both men.

[Tim_Cronin]

Before Summerall did play-by-play, he was an analyst, and often worked alongside Scott in big games (CBS often shuffled crews then). I have a copy of the 1970-71 NFC Championship Game broadcast, Dallas at San Francisco, the last game at Kezar Stadium. Scott is Scott, economical in his play-by-play. Summerall says a tenth of what an analyst would say now. There were only two or three replays in the first quarter. A different time, but Summerall learned well from one of the masters. (And Scott and Summerall, with the rest of the CBS golf crew, worked several Masters together before Scott left CBS in 1974.)

[Michael Moore]

To me, Summerall's gorgeous voice is the voice of existential dread, coming as it did on freezing cold afternoons, the twilight rapidly deteriorating into pitch blackness, my adolescent self consumed by a silent alpha state, my homework undone, my weekend accelerating towards its demise with each snap of the football.

[Dan Kelly]

To me, Summerall's gorgeous voice is the voice of existential dread, coming as it did on freezing cold afternoons, the twilight rapidly deteriorating into pitch blackness, my adolescent self consumed by a silent alpha state, my homework undone, my weekend accelerating towards its demise with each snap of the football.

I was just going to ask you about golf in Maine -- but now I'm afraid of what I might hear! (LOL.)

I just found a sample of Ray Scott's baseball announcing: http://classicminnesotatwins.blogspot.com/2010/10/classic-minnesota-twins-game-week-game.html. Not his best, but...

[Howard Riefs]

“He was bigger than life to me,” said Lance Barrow, coordinating producer for CBS Sports. “The TV industry lost a true legend last night.”

A nice tribute from Golfweek on the passing of Pat Summerall:

http://golfweek.com/news/2013/apr/17/pat-summerall-obituary-golf-voice-masters/

[Rick Shefchik]

When you find pipes like that on a guy who's actually been in the arena, you've really got something.