Jim Nantz
Jim Nantz | |
---|---|
Born | James William Nantz III May 17, 1959 |
Alma mater | University of Houston |
Occupation | Sports commentator |
Years active | 1980–present |
Spouses |
|
Children | 3 |
Sports commentary career | |
Play-by-play | |
Sport(s) | National Football League NCAA March Madness PGA Tour |
Employer | CBS Sports (1985–present) |
James William Nantz III (born May 17, 1959) is an American
Early life and education
Born in
Nantz then matriculated at the
Broadcasting career
Before CBS Sports
Nantz started as an anchor and sportscaster for KHOU in Houston, Texas in the early 1980s and then became a weekend sports anchor on KSL-TV in Salt Lake City (1982–1985) where he called BYU football games and Utah Jazz games along with Hot Rod Hundley.[8][9]
At CBS Sports
Nantz joined CBS Sports in 1985, initially working as a studio host for the network's college
Nantz opens each of his broadcasts by saying, "Hello, friends". The greeting came about as a way for Nantz to identify himself to his father, who had been suffering from Alzheimer's disease.[12]
Nantz’s broadcast style includes a penchant for informing listeners of historical facts or statistics regarding athletes or situations as a competition progresses.
The NFL on CBS
After hosting CBS's pre-game program
On February 4, 2007, Nantz called the play-by-play of Super Bowl XLI. He joins Curt Gowdy, Kevin Harlan, and Dick Enberg as the only play-by-play announcers to ever call both a Super Bowl and an NCAA Men's Basketball Championship Game. (Greg Gumbel called CBS's previous Super Bowls, Super Bowl XXXV and Super Bowl XXXVIII.) Nantz is also one of two men to host a Super Bowl, announce an NCAA Men's Basketball Championship game, and host coverage of The Masters from Butler Cabin with Brent Musburger being the other. Musburger also accomplished all three feats with CBS. During Super Bowl XLVII, Joe Flacco unknowingly hit Nantz with the Vince Lombardi Trophy during the presentation, but Nantz simply brushed it off.
In 2014, Nantz and broadcast partner Phil Simms called Thursday Night Football games in a deal with CBS and the NFL Network. Tracy Wolfson was the sideline reporter for the Thursday games along with the Sunday games on CBS. In 2017, former Dallas Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo replaced Phil Simms as Nantz's color commentator for CBS' NFL telecasts.[13]
Nantz and Romo called Super Bowl LIII in 2019, Super Bowl LV in 2021, and Super Bowl LVIII in 2024. On January 9, 2022, Tom McCarthy filled in for Nantz for a Week 18 game featuring the Carolina Panthers and Tampa Bay Buccaneers.[14] Nantz, like Romo the year before, had to sit out of the final week of the regular season due to COVID protocols.
Media appearances
Nantz has appeared on episodes of
Since 2009, Nantz has guest commentated on the final round of The Open Championship for the BBC.[18]
Nantz teamed with
Career timeline
- 1985–1988; 1997: NCAA Football on CBS – studio host
- 1986–present: PGA Tour on CBS (since 1994 as host)
- 1986–1990: College Basketball on CBS– studio host
- 1986–1989: NBA on CBS – play-by-play
- 1987–1990: NFL on CBS Radio – play-by-play
- 1987–1995: US Open (tennis) – play-by-play
- 1989–present: The Masters host
- 1989–1991; 1996–1997: NCAA Football on CBS – lead play-by-play
- 1990–2023: College Basketball on CBS/Turner – lead play-by-play[20]
- 1988–1993; 2004–present: NFL on CBS – play-by-play (1993 as #2; 2004–present as lead)
- Winter Olympics– weekend daytime co-host
- 1994–1995; 2000–2001: Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade host (under the title "The Thanksgiving Day Parade on CBS")
- 1998–2003: The NFL Today host
- 1998: Olympic Winter Games – primetime host
- 2014–2017: Thursday Night Football – lead play-by-play
Awards and honors
- Two-time Sports Emmy Award winner for Outstanding Sports Personality, Play-by-Play (2009 and 2010).[21]
- Five-time NSMA National Sportscaster of the Year (1998, 2005, 2007, 2008, 2009).[22]
- 2002 Basketball Hall of Fame.[23]
- 2011 Pete Rozelle Radio-Television Award from the Pro Football Hall of Fame.[24]
- 2021 GCSAA Old Tom Morris Award from the Golf Course Superintendents Association of America[25]
- NSMA Hall of Fame inductee (class of 2021)
Personal life
Nantz's first book, Always By My Side – A Father's Grace and a Sports Journey Unlike Any Other, was released in May 2008. Nantz tells personal stories from football, basketball, and golf, and how he has met people along the way who remind him of the virtues his father instilled in him. The foreword in the book was written by one of his father figures, friend and frequent golf partner, former President George H. W. Bush. Nantz's father, Jim Nantz Jr., died in 2008 after being diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease; he was treated at The Methodist Hospital in Houston, Texas. In January 2011, Nantz and The Methodist Hospital in Houston, Texas, launched the Nantz National Alzheimer Center. The mission of the Center is to improve care and treatment for patients with Alzheimer's disease through the advancement of research and the investigation of its causes, including the role of concussions and other past neurological trauma.
Nantz was married to Ann-Lorraine "Lorrie" Carlsen Nantz for 26 years before divorcing in 2009. The couple lived in Westport, Connecticut, and had one child, daughter Caroline.[26] In November 2009, Nantz was ordered to pay his ex-wife $916,000 a year in child support and alimony. Nantz acknowledged dating a 29-year-old woman before the divorce was final, although the judge concluded the marriage deteriorated years earlier and "this remote event in no way contributed to the breakdown of the marriage." Nantz was said to earn $7 million in 2009.[27]
On June 9, 2012, Nantz married Courtney Richards in a ceremony at the Pebble Beach Golf Links in Pebble Beach, California,[28] specifically at the tee of the course's famed seventh hole.[29] Nantz and his wife have a daughter born in 2014 and a son born in 2016.[30][31]
Nantz and his family used to live in a home overlooking the Pebble Beach Links that he bought in October 2011.[32] The home's most notable feature is a 50%-scale replica of the seventh hole at Pebble Beach, located in the backyard. The backyard hole is a popular spot for visiting golfers, sports luminaries, and other celebrities. Visitors who make a hole-in-one have their names inscribed on a rock that stands next to the tee box.[33] Nantz and his family currently reside in Nashville, Tennessee.
Winemaking
In 2009, Nantz partnered with wine producer Peter Deutsch to launch a private wine label The Calling with its first vintage released in 2012. The wine's name is in reference to Nantz's calling of the Masters Tournament.[34]
See also
References
- ^ Radio Interview on The Don Geronimo Show. Aired January 30, 2012.
- ^ CBS Sports Team: Jim Nantz Archived March 27, 2008, at the Wayback Machine, CBS Sports. Accessed April 4, 2008. "He was born May 17, 1959, in Charlotte, N.C., and grew up in Colts Neck, N.J."
- Boston Globe, November 11, 1988. Accessed September 10, 2015. "'It took me one-tenth of a second to answer. My wife and I grew up in Marlboro, New Jersey. We were coming home,' he said. Three years later, Nantz and his wife are living in Westport, Conn."
- ^ Cox Classic Headliners Archived November 5, 2006, at the Wayback Machine, accessed November 29, 2006.
- ^ "Broadcaster Nantz in front row for sports history". Houston Chronicle. September 12, 2010.
- ^ "CBS Announcer Jim Nantz To Deliver UH Commencement Address," University of Houston, Monday, April 2, 2001. Retrieved August 23, 2022.
- ^ Sandomir, Richard (September 20, 1998). "Win Elliot, Who Broadcast Sports With Flair, Dies at 83". The New York Times. Retrieved April 6, 2021.
- ^ "Jim Nantz: CBS broadcaster on Peyton Manning in Denver and how to win the NCAA tournament". Denver Post. March 15, 2012.
Out of college I worked at KSL in Salt Lake City, one of my assignments was BYU football play-by-play, back in the time when BYU was winning the national championship. I did those games with Steve Young in the booth.
- Salt Lake Tribune. June 8, 2011.
From 1982 to 1985, he was the weekend sports anchor at Ch. 5; he did BYU football play-by-play alongside Steve Young; he did Jazz commentary alongside Hot Rod Hundley.
- ^ Fine, Marshall, "The Voice of Sports", Cigar Aficionado, June 2011, pp. 62–76.
- ^ Marchand, Andrew (October 24, 2022). "Jim Nantz to call his final NCAA Tournament with Ian Eagle as successor". New York Post. Retrieved April 2, 2023.
- ^ Curtis, Charles (April 1, 2023). "'Hello, friends.' Here's the story behind Jim Nantz's iconic catchphrase". USA Today. Retrieved April 2, 2023.
- ^ Breech, John (April 4, 2017). "Tony Romo officially joins CBS Sports as lead NFL game analyst after retiring". CBSSports.com. Retrieved December 22, 2021.
- ^ Florio, Mike (January 7, 2022). "Jim Nantz out for Sunday due to COVID protocols". Pro Football Talk.
- ^ "The Price is Right (1972): Episode #37.129". IMDB.
- ^ Alex Myers (August 16, 2016). "The 5 most authentic golf moments in "Tin Cup" (And 5 others that rang hollow)". Golf Digest.
- ^ "Jim Nantz". IMDB.
- ^ Ted Bishop (August 7, 2010). "Jim Nantz, icon of CBS Sports, still shows passion for golf as PGA Championship nears". PGA.com.
- ^ Jasmine Watkins (March 22, 2019). "Jim Nantz, Charles Barkley, Samuel L. Jackson and Spike Lee Star in Funny March Madness Ads". Athlon Sports.
- ^ Marchand, Andrew (October 24, 2022). "Jim Nantz to call his final NCAA Tournament with Ian Eagle as successor". New York Post. Retrieved October 25, 2022.
- ^ "Awards-Jim Nantz". m.imdb.com. Retrieved March 22, 2023.
- ^ "National Winners - NSSA Hall of Fame General". Archived from the original on April 26, 2010. Retrieved June 22, 2010.
- ^ "JIM NANTZ – Lead Play-by-Play Announcer: NFL on CBS". CBS Sports.
- ^ "Jim Nantz named Rozelle Award winner". July 6, 2011. Archived from the original on July 9, 2011.
- ^ "Sports Commentator Jim Nantz to receive Old Tom Morris Award from GCSAA". November 3, 2020.
- ^ Connecticut Post, CBS sportscaster, wife testify in Bridgeport
- Chicago Sun Times. November 3, 2009. Archived from the originalon March 19, 2014. Retrieved July 17, 2013.
- ^ "Jim Nantz Is Getting Married At Pebble Beach Today". Deadspin. June 9, 2012. Retrieved July 17, 2013.
- ^ Nantz, Jim (January 7, 2020). "How Jim Nantz built the coolest back-yard par 3". Golf Digest. Retrieved March 3, 2021.
- ^ Brown, Larry (March 15, 2014). "Jim Nantz and wife Courtney have baby girl". Larry Brown Sports. Retrieved March 18, 2014.
- ^ Terranova, Justin (February 4, 2016). "Son's birth saves Jim Nantz from agonizing Super Bowl decision". Nypost.com. Retrieved December 22, 2021.
- ^ Schupak, Adam (February 5, 2020). "The never-before-told story of how Jim Nantz bought his Pebble Beach dream home". Golfweek. Retrieved March 3, 2021.
- ^ Dougherty, Jack (February 2, 2021). "Jim Nantz Got a Taste of Patrick Mahomes' Ruthless Competitiveness at His Backyard Golf Hole". Sportscasting.com. Retrieved March 3, 2021.
- ^ Jennifer Mayerle "Sports Commentator Jim Nantz has a second calling, wine Archived December 27, 2013, at the Wayback Machine" CBS Atlanta, April 11, 2013