This is some damn fine work, CBS. At the end of the SEC Championship between Alabama and Florida, we also saw the end of a broadcasting era. CBS’s Verne Lundquist has officially retired from calling SEC football after an incredible 17 seasons of announcing games on CBS.
Verne Lundquist honored by this perfect video tribute after his last SEC game
Army-Navy will be his final CBS game before retirement. I’m not crying. You’re crying.
At the end of the video, Verne was visibly emotional, and he shared a special moment with Danielson to sign things off.
I’M CRYING OVER HERE, CBS.
Starting next season, CBS’s Brad Nessler will take over for Verne for the SEC games on CBS on Saturdays. Nessler is a great broadcaster, but Saturdays on the network will certainly feel a hell of a lot different.
One of Verne’s most memorable moments — although there are several — is his call of the 2013 Iron Bowl “Kick-Six,” when Auburn’s Chris Davis returned a blocked Bama field goal and shocked the college football world.
Lundquist touched on this, and other things, in an interview a few years ago with SB Nation’s Spencer Hall:
First of all, it was 21-21 at the end of three, and AJ McCarron hits a 99-yard touchdown pass to break the tie. If you think back about that game, in my mind, you really had to remember what happened. Sammie Coates catches a touchdown pass with 37 seconds left to tie it again at 28, and then we all remember the finish: the craziness of whether Yeldon did or did not get out of bounds with one second left or not, and the time it took for the replay official to determine if there was one second to put back on the clock in the first place. More than anything, Nick [Saban]‘s decisions, because he was disgusted with his senior field goal kicker to put a redshirt freshman from Poland out on the field to try a 56-yard field goal. The kid hit it pretty well.
I think all those things that preceded the actual return by Chris Davis make it extremely unlikely that we’ll ever have a finish like that again.
Lundquist will call next Saturday’s Army-Navy game alongside Gary Danielson, but Saturday’s SEC title game was Uncle Verne’s last in the conference.
Thanks for an amazing, unforgettable 17 years, Verne. This sport and all who go along with it will miss you dearly.
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