Don Criqui

Don Criqui (born October 1, 1940) is an American sportscaster.

Don Criqui
Born (1940-10-01) October 1, 1940
Buffalo, New York, U.S.
Years active1967-present
Sports commentary career
Genre(s)Play-by-play
SportsAmerican football, basketball, ice hockey, golf, tennis

He holds the record for longest-tenured NFL broadcaster in U.S. TV history, calling NFL football for 47 seasons (1967-2013) on NBC and CBS.[1] Criqui's final NFL broadcast came on December 8, 2013, when he filled in for Bill Macatee as he was having traveling issues in a snow storm in Dallas, calling the 27-26 New England Patriots victory over the Cleveland Browns.[2]

Criqui's most recent network assignment was CBS Sports from 1998 until 2013, where he called the NFL, women's and men's college basketball and college football. From 1995 to 2012, he was the voice of New England Patriots pre-season football with Randy Cross.

From 2006 until 2017, Criqui served as the football radio play-by-play voice for Notre Dame, his alma mater.

Early life

Criqui is a native of Buffalo, New York and grew up in the suburb of Kenmore.[3]

He graduated from St. Joseph's Collegiate Institute in Kenmore, before attending the University of Notre Dame.[4] He served in the U.S. Air Force Reserve.[5]

Career

Though, for Week 6 of the 1990 the top announcer for a NFL on NBC only, Criqui has always been a featured announcer in the American sports scene and is notable for his longevity.

Criqui began with CBS in 1967 before moving to NBC Sports in 1979; he was 'traded' by CBS to NBC for Curt Gowdy.[6] When CBS reacquired the NFL in 1998, Criqui rejoined the network, and continued to serve as a play-by-play announcer as part of the NFL on CBS until his retirement from that position after the 2012 season.[7] From 1999 to 2004, Criqui and Steve Tasker were the designated play-by-play team for most Buffalo Bills games on CBS.

He has also announced a number of other sports for CBS, NBC and ESPN including college football, college basketball, the ABA, the NBA, the NHL, professional golf and tennis tournaments, Triple Crown horse racing, the Canadian Football League (Archived October 27, 2009, at the Wayback Machine) and several Summer Olympics events.

During his tenure at NBC, Criqui called 14 Orange Bowl games. Criqui's most memorable call was the 1984 Orange Bowl between undefeated Nebraska and Miami. Nebraska was on a 22-game winning streak coming into the game, but lost to Miami 31–30 when the Cornhuskers failed on a two-point conversion attempt which would have won the game. His most famous college basketball call was most likely the last-second upset by St. Joseph's over top-seeded DePaul in the Mideast regional second round of the 1981 NCAA Tournament.

Criqui was the radio play-by-play voice of Notre Dame Fighting Irish football on the Notre Dame IMG Sports Network from 2006-2018, offering such memorable calls as the end of the 2011 Notre Dame-Michigan Wolverines football game in which Criqui audibly showed his disdain for the result as well as a blind optimism that Roy Roundtree did not catch the winning pass.[8]

Other projects

His other projects include hosting radio talk shows about sports, serving as a part-time TV announcer for the New York Mets in 1991, and working as the play-by-play announcer for New England Patriots pre-season telecasts on WCVB-TV, Boston from 1995 to 2008 and for WBZ-TV, Boston from 2009 to 2012. Criqui was also for many years the key spokesperson for Trans World Airlines, appearing as himself in many television, radio and print advertisements as part of the Ogilvy & Mather-produced advertising campaign: "You're Gonna Like Us (sm). TWA.", which ran between 1978 and 1984 in support of the airline's domestic U.S. marketing efforts.

For years, he also served as co-host of the weekend version of the newsmagazine Inside Edition. He also served as a sportscaster on WOR radio in New York on the Rambling with Gambling show, as well as on WNBC radio on Imus in the Morning.

Memorable NFL calls

One of Criqui's memorable NFL calls came on November 8, 1970: Tom Dempsey's 63-yard field goal that lifted the New Orleans Saints to a 19–17 victory over the Detroit Lions at New Orleans' Tulane Stadium. Other memorable NFL games that Criqui took part in were the 1978 "Miracle at the Meadowlands" and the 1982 "Epic in Miami". Criqui also did play-by-play of the 1985–86 seasons of Monday Night Football and Super Bowls XX and XXI (alongside Bob Trumpy) for NBC Radio. He also called "Red Right 88" in 1980, when Brian Sipe threw an interception in the end zone to end the Cleveland Browns' season. He along with Randy Cross called the Detroit Lions' comeback victory over the Browns in 2009.

He was presented with the Pete Rozelle Radio-Television Award from the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2003.[9] He is also a member of the Greater Buffalo Sports Hall of Fame.[10]

Personal life

Criqui lives with his wife Molly in Essex Fells, New Jersey; Together, they have five children and are grandparents to twelve grandchildren.[11]

References
  1. "Who is the longest tenured NFL announcer on national television?". 20 December 2013.
  2. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on December 14, 2013. Retrieved December 9, 2013.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  3. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2014-11-03. Retrieved 2014-11-03.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  4. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2013-12-30. Retrieved 2014-03-06.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  5. "Don Criqui". buffalosportshallfame.com.
  6. "Once upon a time, NBC traded Curt Gowdy for Don Criqui". 8 October 2014.
  7. Pergament, Alan (August 21, 2013). American Pickers filming here, Criqui out of CBS games Archived 2014-01-03 at the Wayback Machine. The Buffalo News. Retrieved August 21, 2013.
  8. "Allen Pinkett, Don Criqui out amid changes to Notre Dame radio team". ESPN.com. June 18, 2018. Retrieved August 28, 2018.
  9. "Don Criqui". Archived from the original on December 30, 2013. Retrieved March 6, 2014.
  10. "Don Criqui". buffalosportshallfame.com.
  11. Don Criqui Archived 2013-12-30 at the Wayback Machine, CBS Sports. Accessed May 8, 2012. "He was born in Buffalo, N.Y., and lives with his wife, Molly, in Essex Fells, N.J."
Preceded by
Jack Buck		 Monday Night Football national radio play-by-play announcer
1985-1986		 Succeeded by
Jack Buck
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