Pat Summerall George Allen " Pat " Summerall ( May 10 , 1930 – April 16 , 2013 ) was an American football player and television sportscaster , having worked at CBS , Fox , and ESPN . In addition to football , he also announced major golf and tennis events . In total , he announced 16 Super Bowl s on network television ( more than any other announcer ) , 26 Masters Tournament s , and 21 US Opens . He also contributed to 10 Super Bowl broadcasts on CBS Radio as a pregame host or analyst . Summerall played football for the Arkansas Razorbacks and in the National Football League ( NFL ) from 1952 through 1961 . After retiring as a player , he joined CBS as a color commentator the next year . He worked with Tom Brookshier and then John Madden on NFL telecasts for CBS and Fox . Though he retired in 2002 , Summerall continued to announce games on occasion , especially those near his Texas home . Summerall was named the National Sportscaster of the Year by the National Sportscasters and Sportswriters Association in 1977 , and inducted into their Hall of Fame in 1994 . That year , he also received the Pete Rozelle Radio - Television Award from the Pro Football Hall of Fame . He was inducted into the American Sportscasters Association Hall of Fame in 1999 . The " Pat Summerall Award " has been presented since 2006 during Super Bowl weekend at the NFL ' s headquarters hotel " to a deserving recipient who through their career has demonstrated the character , integrity and leadership both on and off the job that the name Pat Summerall represents . " Football career . High school . At Columbia High School in Lake City , Florida , Summerall played football , tennis , baseball , and basketball . Although basketball was his favorite sport , he was recognized as an All - State selection in basketball and football . He was inducted into the FHSAA hall of fame and was later named to the FHSAA ' s All - Century Team . College . Summerall played college football from 1949 to 1951 at the University of Arkansas , where he played defensive end , tight end , and placekicker positions for the Arkansas Razorbacks . He graduated from Arkansas in 1953 . Professional . Summerall spent ten years as a professional football player in the National Football League , primarily as a placekicker . The Detroit Lions drafted Summerall as a fourth - round draft choice in the 1952 NFL Draft . Summerall played the pre - season with the Lions before breaking his arm , which ended the year for him . After that season , he was traded and went on to play for the Chicago Cardinals from 1953 to 1957 and the New York Giants from 1958 to 1961 , during which he was a part of The Greatest Game Ever Played . His best professional year statistically was 1959 , when Summerall scored 90 points on 30 - for - 30 ( 100 % ) extra - point kicking and 20 - for - 29 ( 69 % ) field goal kicking . Summerall ' s most memorable professional moment may well have been at the very end of the Sunday , December 14 , 1958 regular season finale between his Giants and the Cleveland Browns at Yankee Stadium . Going into the game , the Browns were in first place in the Eastern Conference , holding a one - game lead over the second - place Giants . In that era , there was no overtime during regular season games , standings ties were broken by a playoff , and there were no wild - card teams . This meant that only the Eastern Conference champion would qualify for the NFL Championship Game to be held two weeks later , and it meant that the Giants had to win just to force a tiebreaker playoff game . The Browns , on the other hand , needed only a tie to clinch the Eastern championship . As time was running out , the Giants and Browns were tied , 10 – 10 , a situation that , as indicated , favored the Browns . The Giants got barely into Cleveland territory , and then sent out Summerall to try for a tiebreaking 49 - yard field goal . To add to the drama , there were swirling winds and snow . Summerall , a straight - ahead kicker , made the field goal with just two minutes to play , keeping the Giants alive for another week ( they defeated Cleveland a week later , 10 – 0 , in the Eastern Conference tiebreaker playoff before losing the sudden - death playoff to Baltimore the week after that ) . Giants ' offensive coach Vince Lombardi was against sending Summerall in ( Summerall had missed 31 yard attempt a few minutes earlier ) , and then gleefully greeted Summerall as he came off the field , “ You son of a bitch , you can ’ t kick it that far ! ” " Sports Illustrated " ran the story as one of its primary articles the next week , with a leading photograph showing the football heading between the uprights through the snow . Summerall ' s last professional game was the December 31 , 1961 NFL Championship Game held at Lambeau Field in Green Bay , Wisconsin . Vince Lombardi ' s Green Bay Packers defeated Summerall ' s Giants , 37 – 0 , holding New York to just six first downs . Summerall was not a factor in that game . The urban legend was his nickname became " Pat " because of the abbreviation for " point after touchdown " that a field - goal kicker was credited for in a game summary . But in a 1997 " Dallas Morning News " story , Summerall said after his parents divorced , he was taken in by an aunt and uncle who had a son named Mike . " My aunt and uncle just started calling me Pat to go with their Mike , " said Summerall , referring to frequently named characters in Irish jokes told during that time . Broadcasting career . In the early 1960s , Summerall was the morning host on WINS ( AM ) radio in New York City . He left the job when WINS went all - news in 1965 . He also co - hosted the syndicated NFL Films series " This Week in Pro Football " in the late 1960s and early ' 70s . Summerall was also associated with a production company in Dallas , from about 1998 through 2005 . It was called Pat Summerall Productions . He was featured and hosted different production shows such as , Summerall Success Stories and Champions of Industry . These qualified production segments would air on the Fox News Channel and later , CNN Headline News . During the mid - 1990s , Summerall hosted the " Summerall - Aikman " Cowboys report with quarterback Troy Aikman . Summerall served as the host of " Sports Stars of Tomorrow " and " Future Phenoms " , two nationally syndicated high school sports shows based out of Fort Worth , Texas . CBS Sports . NFL . After retiring from football , Summerall was hired by CBS Sports in 1962 to work as a color commentator on the network ' s NFL coverage . CBS initially paired Summerall with Chris Schenkel on Giants games ; three years later he shifted to working with Jim Gibbons on Washington Redskins games . In 1968 , after CBS abandoned the practice of assigning dedicated announcing crews to particular NFL teams , Summerall ascended to the network ' s lead national crew , pairing with Jack Buck and then Ray Scott . For the postgame coverage of the very first Super Bowl at the end of the 1967 season ( which was simulcast by CBS and NBC ) , trophy presentation ceremony was handled by CBS ' Summerall ( who worked as a reporter as CBS ' game coverage was called by Ray Scott , Jack Whitaker and Frank Gifford ) and NBC ' s George Ratterman . Summerall and Ratterman were forced to share a single microphone . In 1969 , Summerall took part in NBC ' s coverage of Super Bowl III . NBC used Pat Summerall to provide an " NFL prospective " on the coverage . This was due in part to the fact that NBC was at the time , the network television provider of the American Football League ( whereas CBS was the network television provider for the pre - merger National Football League ) . In return , for CBS Radio ' s coverage of Super Bowls I , II and IV , they used Tom Hedrick , normally the radio voice of the Kansas City Chiefs , to provide an " AFL perspective " for their coverage . Midway through the 1974 NFL season , CBS shifted Summerall from color to play - by - play . The network ' s # 1 NFL crew now consisted of Summerall and analyst Tom Brookshier ( with whom he had previously worked on " This Week in Pro Football " ) , and the colorful Summerall - Brookshier duo worked three Super Bowls ( X , XII , and XIV ) together . Summerall , Brookshier , " NFL on CBS " producer Bob Wussler , and Miami Dolphins owner Joe Robbie appeared as themselves during the 1977 film " Black Sunday " , which was filmed on location at the Orange Bowl in Miami during Super Bowl X . In 1981 , Summerall was teamed with former Oakland Raiders coach John Madden , a pairing that would last for 22 seasons on two networks and become one of the most well - known partnerships in TV sportscasting history . Summerall and Madden were first teamed on a November 25 , 1979 broadcast of a Minnesota Vikings – Tampa Bay Buccaneers game . While the two were paired on CBS , they called Super Bowls XVI , XVIII , XXI , XXIV , and XXVI together . It is often mistakenly assumed that Summerall and Madden handled the call on CBS - TV for the 1981 NFC Championship Game , when San Francisco 49ers wide receiver Dwight Clark made " The Catch " to lift the 49ers to a 28 – 27 victory over the Dallas Cowboys and a berth in Super Bowl XVI . Instead , CBS ' # 2 broadcast team of Vin Scully and Hank Stram handled the broadcast while Madden was given the weekend off to travel to Pontiac , Michigan for the game and to prepare for the broadcast . Since Stram was Jack Buck ' s color commentator on CBS Radio , Summerall substituted for Stram as Buck ' s partner ; this was the first time Buck and Summerall had called a game together since 1974 , when then - lead color commentator Summerall was moved off of Buck ' s team to become CBS television ' s lead play - by - play voice for the NFL . During the 1982 NFL strike , CBS ' NCAA football contract required the network to show four Division III games . CBS initially intended to show those games on Saturday afternoons , with only the interested markets receiving the broadcasts . However , with no NFL games to show on Sunday October 3 , 1982 due to the strike , CBS decided to show all of its NCAA Division III games on a single Sunday afternoon in front of a mass audience . CBS also used their regular NFL crews ( Pat Summerall and John Madden at Wittenberg – Baldwin - Wallace , Tom Brookshier and Wayne Walker at West Georgia – Millsaps , Tim Ryan and Johnny Morris at Wisconsin – Oshkosh – Wisconsin – Stout , and Dick Stockton and Roger Staubach at San Diego – Occidental ) and showed " The NFL Today " instead of using their regular college football broadcasters . His last game alongside Madden for CBS ( before the NFC television contract moved over to Fox ) was the 1993 NFC Championship Game ( that saw the Dallas Cowboys defeat the San Francisco 49ers to go to Super Bowl XXVIII against the Buffalo Bills in Atlanta ) in Irving , Texas . Other CBS Sports assignments . Summerall also covered other events such as ABA for CBS during this period . Through 1966 , he hosted a morning drive - time music / talk program for WCBS - AM radio in New York . Summerall also broadcast PGA Tour matches on CBS , including The Masters Tournament , as well as the US Open of tennis , during his tenure at CBS , and he was the play - by - play announcer for the 1974 NBA Finals ( working alongside Rick Barry and Rod Hundley ) , CBS ' first season broadcasting the " NBA on CBS " . In 1975 , Summerall hosted the Pan American Games in Mexico . In 1970 , Summerall and then - Boston Bruins ' TV announcer Don Earle did a short postgame segment from inside the team ' s dressing room at the end of CBS ' coverage of the fourth ( and what turned out to be the final game ) of the 1970 Stanley Cup Finals . WSBK - 38 , which was the team ' s the Bruins ' TV flagship then , simulcast the CBS coverage and did a longer post - game locker - room segment after CBS ' coverage ended . After Bobby Orr scored the championship - winning goal after just 40 seconds , so the story went , Summerall turned to Bobby ' s father , Doug Orr ( who was reportedly , too nervous to go back to his seat from the Bruins ' dressing room for the start of overtime ) and yelled over the crowd in the stands above " Mr . Orr , your son has scored and Boston has won the Stanley Cup ! " Doug Orr is said to have told Summerall " I know Boston scored , but we didn ' t see it ! What makes you think my son scored ? " Summerall supposedly replied " Because they wouldn ' t be yelling this loudly if ( Phil ) Esposito ( another high - scoring Boston player of the era ) had scored ! " From 1969 – 1973 , Summerall broadcast CBS ' National Invitation Tournament coverage with Don Criqui . In 1985 , Summerall once again called college basketball , working the NCAA men ' s tournament for CBS with Larry Conley . Summerall and Conley called the Boston College - Duke game at Houston . Summerall broadcast his first Masters in 1968 when he anchored the coverage at hole 18 . In 1983 , Summerall replaced Vin Scully ( who had left CBS to work for NBC on their Major League Baseball and golf coverage ) in the 18th hole tower role ( a role that Scully was in since 1975 ) . Summerall ' s broadcast partner during this period was Ken Venturi . Summerall ' s last on - air assignment for CBS Sports was the 1994 Masters Tournament . Fox Sports . In 1994 , the Fox network surprised NFL fans by outbidding CBS for the NFC broadcast package . One of the network ' s first moves was to hire Summerall and Madden as its lead announcing team . While at Fox the pair called Super Bowls XXXI , XXXIII , and XXXVI together . The long - time partnership ended after Super Bowl XXXVI in early 2002 , as Summerall had announced he would be retiring from announcing and Madden ' s contract had expired . Summerall was lured out of retirement and re - signed with Fox for the 2002 season . However , since Madden had left to take over the color commentator position on " Monday Night Football " from Dan Fouts and Dennis Miller for ABC and Fox had promoted Joe Buck to be its number one NFL play - by - play voice ( Troy Aikman and Cris Collinsworth replaced Madden as Fox ' s lead NFL color commentators ) , Summerall was paired with Brian Baldinger on regional telecasts . Most of the games Summerall covered featured the Dallas Cowboys , due in part to his residency in the city . One of the games Summerall called was the Cowboys ' game against the Seattle Seahawks at Texas Stadium , in which Emmitt Smith broke Walter Payton ' s career rushing yardage record . Summerall and Baldinger were joined by Daryl Johnston , who at the time was working as Fox ' s # 2 color man with Dick Stockton and who was a longtime teammate of Smith ' s with the Cowboys , for this game . Summerall retired again following the 2002 season but in 2006 , he served as a substitute for Kenny Albert alongside Baldinger for the Week 8 ( October 29 ) game between the eventual NFC champion Chicago Bears and the San Francisco 49ers . Summerall returned for one game the following year to take Stockton ' s place alongside Baldinger and provide the play - by - play for the December 9 , 2007 game between the Cincinnati Bengals and St . Louis Rams in Cincinnati . From 2007 until 2010 , Summerall appeared as the play - by - play voice of the network ' s coverage of the Cotton Bowl Classic game . Summerall teamed with Brian Baldinger on the 2007 – 09 Cotton Bowl Classic telecasts , and worked with Daryl Johnston on the 2010 game between Ole Miss and Oklahoma State . In 2011 , Summerall appeared on the pregame coverage of the Cotton Bowl . Post - Fox . In the 2000s , Summerall provided voiceover sponsorship credits for the CBS Masters golf telecasts , and voice - overs for game coverage on NFL Network . He has also provided game commentary for the " Golden Tee Golf " video game series . " NFL on ESPN " . Summerall called several preseason and early regular - season NFL games for the ESPN network in 2004 , substituting for regular announcer Mike Patrick while the latter recovered from heart surgery . " Sports Stars of Tomorrow " . As previously mentioned , Summerall hosted this syndicated program dedicated to high school and collegiate athletics from 2005 to 2012 . Charles Davis assumed hosting duties in 2012 . Awards and honors . The National Sportscasters and Sportswriters Association named Summerall National Sportscaster of the Year in 1977 , and inducted him into its Hall of Fame in 1994 . Summerall was the 1994 recipient of the Pete Rozelle Radio - Television Award , bestowed by the Pro Football Hall of Fame " for longtime exceptional contributions to radio and television in professional football " . In 1999 , he was inducted into the American Sportscasters Association Hall of Fame . Since 2006 , the " Pat Summerall Award " has been presented at the annual Legends for Charity Luncheon given on Super Bowl weekend at the NFL ' s headquarters hotel in the host city . The award is given " to a deserving recipient who through their career has demonstrated the character , integrity and leadership both on and off the job that the name Pat Summerall represents . " Recipients have included James Brown ( 2006 ) , Greg Gumbel ( 2007 ) , Jim Nantz ( 2008 ) , Chris Berman ( 2009 ) , Cris Collinsworth ( 2010 ) , and the entire " NFL on Fox " crew ( 2011 ) . Health issues . During the 1990 season , Summerall was hospitalized with a bleeding ulcer after vomiting on a plane during a flight after a Bears – Redskins game , and was out for a considerable amount of time . While Verne Lundquist replaced Summerall on games with Madden , Jack Buck ( who was at CBS during the time as the network ' s lead Major League Baseball announcer ) was added as a regular NFL broadcaster to fill - in . In the spring of 2004 , Summerall , a recovering alcoholic who had been sober for many years , underwent a liver transplant . Summerall recently preached a sermon at Travis Avenue Baptist Church in Ft . Worth , Texas . He also was a featured speaker at the Men ' s Gridiron Conference in Tuscaloosa , Alabama , in which he related his giving his life to Christ during his stay at the Betty Ford Clinic during his recovery from alcoholism . In 2006 , Pat Summerall underwent cataract surgery , and had an intraocular lens implanted . In January 2008 , Summerall had a hip replacement surgery . On June 19 , he was hospitalized for internal bleeding caused by a new medicine he was taking . Death . Summerall checked into Zale Lipshy University Hospital in Dallas , Texas , for surgery on a broken hip . He died there on April 16 , 2013 , of cardiac arrest at the age of 82 . After his death , Jerry Jones referred to Summerall as " royalty in the broadcast booth " while Madden called him " a great broadcaster and a great man " and added that " Pat Summerall is the voice of football and always will be . " Fellow broadcasters Jim Nantz and Verne Lundquist also made statements on Summerall ' s life . Summerall spent his final years residing in Southlake , Texas . Outside of sports broadcasting . For many years Summerall was a commercial spokesperson for True Value , often ending advertisements with his tag line " and tell ' em Pat Summerall sent you " . Ironically , his long - time broadcast partner Madden was the spokesperson for Ace Hardware , True Value ' s main competitor in the independent hardware store market . Summerall has served as the longtime radio spokesman for the Dux Beds company , a Swedish maker of mattresses , and its " Duxiana " stores . Summerall was name - checked on " The Simpsons " in the 2007 episode " Springfield Up " , where his caricature and name appear on the cover of a book held by Homer Simpson titled " Smut Yuks . " Summerall and his partner Madden also appeared in ( and lent their voices to ) the " Simpsons " episode " Sunday , Cruddy Sunday " , which premiered following the duo ' s broadcast of Super Bowl XXXIII on Fox in 1999 , and on the same night Summerall appeared on the " Family Guy " premiere episode " Death Has a Shadow " . Summerall also provided commentary , alongside Madden , on Cartoon Network ' s annual Super Bowl parodies , " The Big Game " , from 1998 through 2001 . Summerall appeared in the music video for Forever the Sickest Kids ' 2010 single " She Likes ( Bittersweet Love ) " .