Of course, you know the calls.Verne Lundqvist has provided the soundtrack to many iconic sports moments, from Jack Nicklaus’ birdie putt on the 17th hole (“Yes, sir!”) at the 1986 Masters to 1992 Christian Laettner’s buzzer-beating jumper in the NCAA tournament (“Yeah!”) to Tiger Woods’ famous 16th-place chip at the 2005 Masters (“On your Life, have you ever seen such a thing? ! There are a lot more.
But here’s something you might not know: On the night of November 22, 1963, 23-year-old Lundquist was just the weekend sportscaster and afternoon disc jockey for KTBC-AM-FM-TV in Austin, Texas. . That night, he volunteered to drive CBS News reporter David Schumacher and two other CBS staffers the 60 miles from Austin to Johnson City so they could interview friends, relatives and high school classmates of Johnson, who would become President of the United States. He would never forget that night. How can you?
But my favorite Verne story is how he met his wife Nancy. He told me this in a Sports Illustrated article years ago. In his own words, this is it:
We met at a bar—a high-end bar in Dallas, I hasten to add. It was a place called Arthur. I walked in after watching the Ten O’Clock News (WFAA-TV in Dallas) and I just didn’t want to go home. Nancy was at a bar with her date, who recognized me on local television and invited me for a drink. He introduced me to his date, her name was Nancy Miller. This is their first date, a blind date. So we sat down to chat, and her date, Raymond Wiley, said to me, “Listen, I know you’re single. I’m going to set you up with a friend of mine and we can go to dinner together. He Look at Nancy and ask her, “What are you doing on Thursday night? She said: “Nothing.” He said: “Very well, you are my date. We will arrange for Verne to meet this teacher friend of mine, and then we will go to dinner.” ” Meanwhile, I looked at Nancy and thought to myself that she is the most beautiful person I have ever seen in my life. So, Raymond finally left to go about his business and I asked Nancy, “So, you and Raymond How deep is the relationship? She said, “Oh, this is our first date, and it’s a blind date.” ’ So I said, ‘Well, forget what he was talking about on Thursday night. What were you doing on Saturday night?’ She said, ‘I guess I’m doing what you’re doing. “
Lundqvist was off the air for the last time Sunday afternoon on CBS Sports after playing his 40th Masters, a good number that he felt at age 83. is the way to exit.
“(CBS Sports President) Sean (McManus) and I had a conversation a few years ago about what was the appropriate time to move off stage left, and he and I agreed that 40 had a good feel for the circle and we would Withdrawing from the Masters and CBS at the end of the second week of April this year,” Lundqvist said on a recent conference call. “I have a lot of great memories from our visit to Augusta.”
It’s an exciting week in Augusta for the CBS Sports staff due to the retirements of Lundqvist and McManus, with Lundqvist picking up the pieces from all over this weekend Many flowers arrived, Including Augusta National Park, ESPN, The Washington Post and Golf Digest. CBS Sports paid tribute, with Verne and Nancy standing on the 16th hole where we often heard his voice.
“Have you ever seen anything like this in your life?”
When it comes to the legendary career of Verne Lundqvist, the answer is no.
After 40 years at Augusta National, he bid a fond farewell to the Masters. pic.twitter.com/9ZQSaKtPd5— Golf on CBS ⛳ (@GolfonCBS) April 14, 2024
“They celebrated their 42nd wedding anniversary this week at the Masters,” host Jim Nantz said of the couple during a tribute video on CBS. “As long as there’s a Masters, we’ll be celebrating you, Verne Lundquist.”
Lundqvist already had a successful career before reaching the net level. From 1972-84, he served as the radio voice of the Dallas Cowboys and sports director of WFAA-TV in Dallas. The “CBS SEC” job is Lundquist’s first job as a lead broadcaster, and in addition to CBS, he has also worked at ABC Sports Network and Turner Sports Network. In 2000, McManus offered Lundquist a play-by-play role on SEC football games, which quickly became a big deal due to the SEC’s explosive growth across the country. It also changed the way sports fans viewed him.
“(CBS) lost the NFL to Fox in 1994, and I stayed at CBS for a year, and then a great guy, the late Mike Pearl, who was our executive producer for the Olympics , went to Turner Sports and invited me to come there and I stayed there for two years,” Lundqvist said. “I’ll never forget we were in Nagano, Japan, and CBS reacquired the rights to the NFL. Before the men’s (figure skating) championships, Sean came up to me. We talked for about six or seven minutes and he patted me on the back. over his shoulder and said, “Are you ready to go home? ” That’s probably the biggest question I’ve ever received in my life. So I’m back, of course, back in the Masters rotation. It’s been a great run. Hey, I’m 83. I’m blessed to have Amazing professional life and wonderful personal life I’m not the first to say this but thank you for the memories.
In 2016, I traveled to Baton Rouge to watch Lundqvist and CBS SEC Football work in Lundqvist’s final season. What I saw first hand was how much the people around him cared about him. He was 76 years old at the time, and the staff cared for him like a father.
“He looks exactly like the Uncle Verne I knew when I first met him in 1985,” Nantz said. “Of course, I got to know him very well before joining the CBS team. In 1985, we were assigned to play a Christmas football game (the Blue-Gray Football Classic). It was really big. I was nervous about it. Verne and Nancy invited me to have dinner with them the night before the game, which was huge in a lot of ways and I think it showed me the culture at CBS and how you behave as a teammate. At that time, Verne was also unknowingly teaching me how to be tolerant, kind, caring, and treat people like family, which meant a lot.
It was nice to hear Lundquist shout out for the last time, as Ludvig Åberg, Max Homa, Collin Morikawa and Scottie Scheffler each finished 16th at 6pm ET. At 6:30 p.m., as Morikawa and Scheffler received a standing ovation from the No. 16 walking crowd, Nantz said, “Verne, that crowd might stand for you, too.”
Verne made his final birdie as Scheffler took a four-shot lead.
“This moment belongs to Scottie Scheffler,” eventual Masters champion Lundqvist said as he left the hole, but he could really talk about himself.
Verne, thank you for the memories. pic.twitter.com/pUB5nTPWk9
— Golf on CBS ⛳ (@GolfonCBS) April 14, 2024
How can women’s college basketball maintain TV momentum in the post-Caitlin Clark era? This is my article.
Three sports media podcasts you might be interested in:
• A conversation with Flora Kelly, vice president of brand strategy and content research at ESPN. Kelly explains her role at ESPN, how it impacts the company, how her research team works, and her thoughts on the macro trends in sports in 2024.
• A conversation with James Andrew Miller, bestselling author of CAA, ESPN, “Saturday Night Live” and HBO. Miller discusses ESPN’s Norby Williamson, who has been involved in nearly every part of ESPN’s content and operations, from programming and production to news, during his nearly four decades at ESPN.
• A conversation with Jon Lewis, founder and editor of Sports Media Watch. Lewis discussed the ratings for the women’s and men’s tournaments.
Some things I read last week that intrigued me (note: there are a lot of paywalls here):
• Best article I’ve read this month – “The Forgotten”: 14 years, 140 police officers and a dark secret that engulfed a small Ontario town. How the Lucas Shortred case was solved. By Jon Wells of The Hamilton Observer.
• Kentucky charged with “conspiracy” in alleged sexual violence against former swim coach.Author: Katie Strong Competitor.
• Drug insurgencies push once-peaceful countries to the brink of collapse. By Samantha Schmidt and Arturo Torres of The Washington Post.
• Green Master: The black caddy at Augusta National. By Latria Graham of Garden and Gun.
• OJ Simpson’s Hall of Fame spot may be a sure thing, but there’s no rule against certain circumstances. By Jonathan Jones, CBS Sports.
• What would happen if a generation of sports fans became addicted to gambling?Author: Steve Buckley Competitor.
• Amazon is committed to cracking Trader Joe’s and dominating them all. By Dana Mattioli of The Wall Street Journal.
• To build muscle, the number of sets is important. By Alex Hutchinson of Outside.
• America’s next generation of soldiers will be machines. By Jack Deitch of Foreign Policy magazine.
• Fifty years later, Henry Aaron’s legacy lives on in Atlanta and beyond. By Michael Lee of The Washington Post.
• A vigilante hacker took down North Korea’s networks. Now he’s taking off his mask. By Andy Greenberg of Wired.
• Test your sports IQ with the New York Times
• Crucial details missing from the narrative about orange juice and race. By Joel Anderson for Slate.
• Caitlin Clark posted a highlight reel On “Saturday Night Live.”“
• Did one person just stop a massive cyber attack? By Kevin Ross of The New York Times.
• How artificial intelligence could change baseball forever. By Josh Terangir of The Washington Post.
• What about the damages OJ Simpson owes the victim’s family? By Anna Bates for The New York Times.
(Photo of Verne Lundquist at Augusta National Golf Club in 2012: Augusta National/Getty Images)
