Irv Cross
No. 27 | |||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Position: | Cornerback | ||||||||
Personal information | |||||||||
Born: | Hammond, Indiana, U.S. | July 27, 1939||||||||
Died: | February 28, 2021 North Oaks, Minnesota, U.S. | (aged 81)||||||||
Height: | 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) | ||||||||
Weight: | 195 lb (88 kg) | ||||||||
Career information | |||||||||
High school: | Hammond (Hammond, Indiana) | ||||||||
College: | Northwestern | ||||||||
NFL draft: | 1961 / Round: 7 / Pick: 98 | ||||||||
Career history | |||||||||
| |||||||||
Career highlights and awards | |||||||||
Career NFL statistics | |||||||||
| |||||||||
Player stats at NFL.com · PFR |
Irvin Acie Cross (July 27, 1939 – February 28, 2021) was an American professional
After playing
Early life
Cross was born in Hammond, Indiana, as the eighth of 15 children.[1] He attended Hammond High, where he played football and basketball and was also a track athlete.[2] The Times named him the 1957 Male Athlete of the Year. He was inducted into the Hammond Sports Hall of Fame.[3]
College career
Cross graduated with a
Professional football career
Cross was selected by the Philadelphia Eagles in the seventh round (98th overall) of the 1961 NFL Draft.
In his second season in 1962, Cross had a career-high five interceptions.[11] He had consecutive Pro Bowl seasons in 1964 and 1965,[6] before he was traded to the Los Angeles Rams for Aaron Martin and Willie Brown in 1966.[12] In 1969, he returned to the Eagles and became a player/coach.[8] Cross retired from play before the 1970 season, becoming a coach for the Eagles.[7] He finished his playing career with 22 interceptions, 14 fumble recoveries, eight forced fumbles, and two defensive touchdowns.[13] He was inducted into the Indiana Football Hall of Fame.[7]
During his playing career, Cross did
After football
Cross became an analyst and commentator for CBS Sports in 1971, when he became the first African American to work as a sports analyst on national television.[1][8] In 1975, he teamed with Musburger and Phyllis George on The NFL Today and became the first African American to co-anchor a network sports program.[3] The show was the pregame model all networks used thereafter.[14] Previously, pregame shows were less prestigious than their postgame counterparts, which featured all the Sunday highlights.[15] Cross co-hosted The NFL Today from its inception through 1989.[11] In 1990, the network revamped the show after firing Musburger in a contract dispute, ending Cross's run on the show. He returned to being a game analyst.[10] In addition to his work on CBS's NFL coverage, Cross called NBA basketball, track and field, and gymnastics at various times for the network. He worked as an analyst through the conclusion of the 1991 season.[16] He did not return to network television. "I didn't have an agent, and I didn't search for a TV position as aggressively as I should have", he said in 1996.[10]
Cross served as
Cross was the 2009 recipient of the Pete Rozelle Radio-Television Award – the award, given annually by the Pro Football Hall of Fame, recognizes "long-time exceptional contributions to radio and television in professional football."[11] He was the first black person to receive the award.[13]
Personal life
Cross had two daughters from a first marriage and two children with his second wife Elizabeth.
Cross died on February 28, 2021, aged 81, at a hospice in North Oaks, Minnesota, near his home in Roseville. His cause of death was heart disease (ischemic cardiomyopathy).[10][22]
Publications
- Cross, Irv; Brown, Clifton (2017). Bearing the Cross: My Inspiring Journey from Poverty to the NFL and Sports Television. Sports Publishing. ISBN 9781683581178.
References
- ^ a b c d "Irv Cross, television sports pioneer, dead at 81". StarTribune. February 28, 2021. Retrieved February 28, 2021.
- ^ Rosenthal, Phil. "Irv Cross, the groundbreaking analyst on CBS' 'The NFL Today' by way of Northwestern and Hammond, Ind., dies at 81". orlandosentinel.com. Retrieved March 2, 2021.
- ^ a b c Ross, Doug (November 17, 2015). "Irv Cross". Northwest Indiana Times. Retrieved March 1, 2021.
- ^ a b Deardorff, Julie. "Bearing the Cross: Pioneering Broadcaster Pens Memoir," Northwestern University School of Education and Social Policy, Monday, January 15, 2018. Retrieved December 11, 2018
- ^ a b Northwestern University 2018 Football Media Guide. Retrieved December 11, 2018
- ^ a b Hunt, Donald (August 11, 2017). "Irv Cross details journey from poverty to football to TV booth". The Philadelphia Tribune. Retrieved March 1, 2021.
- ^ a b c d "CROSS, IRV". indiana-football.org. Retrieved April 10, 2017.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j Fitzpatrick, Frank (September 3, 2018). "Ex-Eagle Irv Cross tormented by pain but not bitterness". The Philadelphia Inquirer. Retrieved February 28, 2021.
- ^ Gehman, Jim (January 21, 2015). "Where Are They Now? CB Irv Cross". PhiladelphiaEagles.com. Archived from the original on April 10, 2017.
- ^ a b c d e Sandomir, Richard (March 1, 2021). "Irv Cross, First Black Network TV Sports Analyst, Dies at 81". The New York Times. Retrieved March 1, 2021.
- ^ a b c "IRV CROSS NAMED ROZELLE AWARD WINNER". profootballhof.com. July 7, 2009.
- ^ Cross, Irv & Brown, Clifton. Bearing the Cross: My Inspiring Journey from Poverty to the NFL and Sports Television. New York City: Skyhorse Publishing Inc., 2017. Retrieved December 11, 2018
- ^ a b "Irv Cross, pioneering Black sports analyst, dies at 81". ESPN.com. February 28, 2021. Retrieved March 1, 2021.
- ^ Shapiro, Leonard (September 4, 1992). "CROSS HIM OFF THE LIST, INSERT CBS AS THE LOSER". The Washington Post. Retrieved March 2, 2021.
- ^ Berman, Mark (September 3, 2017). "NFL notes: Browns add former Cave Spring QB Josh Woodrum". The Roanoake Times. Retrieved March 2, 2021.
- ^ https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/sports/1992/09/04/cross-him-off-the-list-insert-cbs-as-the-loser/ [bare URL]
- ^ "PLUS: COLLEGE FOOTBALL – IDAHO STATE; Irv Cross Dismissed". The New York Times. AP. November 6, 1998.
- ^ "Macalester hires new AD". D3hoops. June 29, 2005.
- ^ Nieto, Mike (August 4, 2009). "Where Are They Now?: Hammond High grad Irv Cross to receive Pete Rozelle Radio-TV Award". The Times of Northwest Indiana. Retrieved April 10, 2017 – via nwi.com.
- ^ "Former NFL star and CBS sports anchor Irv Cross had the brain disease CTE". National Public Radio. February 28, 2023. Retrieved March 26, 2023.
- ^ "Researchers Find CTE in 345 of 376 Former NFL Players Studied". Boston University Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine. Retrieved March 26, 2023.
- ^ "Pro Bowl CB and legendary broadcasting pioneer Irv Cross passes away at the age of 81". www.philadelphiaeagles.com. February 28, 2021. Retrieved February 28, 2021.
External links
- Career statistics and player information from NFL.com · Pro Football Reference