Play by Play: Calling the Wildest Games in Sports - From SEC Football to College Basketball, The Masters, and More (Signed Book)

by Verne Lundquist

Overview

One of America's most beloved sportscasters turns the spotlight on his own life, chronicling his incredible life covering Southeastern Conference football and some of the most iconic moments in sports history over the last five decades

Verne Lundquist's remarkable broadcasting career has placed him at the center of major sporting events in America for more than fifty years, from Jack Nicklaus's final victory at the 1986 Masters to Tonya Harding's attack on Nancy Kerrigan at the 1994 Olympics to the Auburn-Alabama shocker of 2013. In his first memoir, he replays highlights from his career, taking sports fans behind the scenes of some of the most dramatic moments in modern sports history.

Lundquist goes back to the early days of his broadcasting career, recalling his time as a producer and radio show host in Dallas when President John F. Kennedy was shot. He reminisces about Tom Landry and the great Dallas Cowboy teams of the 1970s, recalls the most unbelievable moments in Masters Tournament history, and relives the excitement of Christian Laettner's buzzer beater in the NCAA tournament and a host of other memorable thrills.

One of the defining voices of Saturday afternoon football for the SEC, Lundquist offers an in-depth look at the fans, the schools, and the game, recounting never-before-told stories about some of college football's biggest personalities. He also speaks honestly about his friendships with Terry Bradshaw, John Madden, and other greats, and his difficult relationship with legendary colleague Pat Summerall. Bringing these memories vibrantly to life with his beloved catchphrases and warm humor, and sharing fifty photos from his personal collection, Lundquist gives readers a front row seat to history as he witnessed it unfold.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780062897084
Publisher:	HarperCollins
Publication date:	11/23/2018
Edition description:	Signed Edition
Pages:	320
Product dimensions:	5.90(w) x 8.90(h) x 1.30(d)

About the Author

Verne Lundquist has been at the center of major sporting events in America for more than fifty years. He began his career at KTBC-TV in Austin, Texas, a station owned by President and Mrs. Lyndon Johnson. Lundquist joined CBS Sports in 1982, and during his tenure has broadcast more than twenty sports for the network. Lundquist was inducted into the National Sportscasters and Sportswriters Association Hall of Fame in 2007. In 2016 he was honored with the Lifetime Achievement Award for Sports at the 37th annual Sports Emmy Awards. He lives in Colorado.

Table of Contents

Preface ix

Chapter 1 Names And Tunes 1

Chapter 2 Finding My Direction 14

Chapter 3 Cowboy Days 34

Chapter 4 California Dreaming, Dallas Realities 55

Chapter 5 New Horizons 83

Chapter 6 Beyond Borders 98

Chapter 7 Yes, Sir: A New Home At The Masters 114

Chapter 8 Let's Invent Us A Football Player 138

Chapter 9 The Gang's All Here 162

Chapter 10 Live From Lillehammer It's Verne And Scott Meet Tonya And Nancy 176

Chapter 11 Conference Lines And Passions 201

Chapter 12 The Tournament And The Shot(S) 225

Chapter 13 In Your Life: Tiger And Other Pga Tales 251

Chapter 14 Lasting Memories Of The Sec 270

Chapter 15 Matters Of Consequence 300

Acknowledgments 306

Editorial Reviews

Uncle Verne made Saturdays better, he made the SEC better, and he made college football better. Thank you for sharing your story with sports fans everywhere. Readers are sure to be entertained by your powerful storytelling.

TIM TEBOW

10/01/2018
Lundquist's recounting of his 50-year career as a sports broadcaster displays a sweeping scope. Here, he recounts the Green Bay Packers-Dallas Cowboys in the "Ice Bowl" for the 1967 NFL championship as well as Jack Nicklaus, at age 46, on the 17th green in the last round of the 1986 Masters, putting for the lead. Other notable sporting events include Christian Laetner's buzzer-beater giving Duke a 104–103 win over Kentucky in the regional finals of the 1992 NCAA basketball tournament, figure skaters Nancy Kerrigan and Tonya Harding at the 1994 Winter Olympics, and Tiger Woods chipping in from long range onto an impossibly breaking green on the 16th hole in the final round of the 2005 Masters en route to a playoff victory. Included are many more "greatest moments in sports." VERDICT Lundquist's comprehensive look at the world of sports from the 1960s through the current decade will be an exciting trip down memory lane for many a fan.—Jim Burns, formerly with Jacksonville P.L., FL

Library Journal

2018-08-20

If there's a sport to be played, as this amiable memoir recounts, then Lundquist will be there to call it.

Recently retired after a long career, the author is known for his contributions to many areas of sportscasting, and so he has been for decades—or, as he puts it with characteristic enthusiasm, "for more than fifty years I've had a front-row seat to some of the greatest sporting events America has witnessed." True, and if he's done commentary on some of the dogs, too, he's done it with good humor, a colorful way with words, and a gelatinously shimmering belly laugh. But yet there are the big games, too, such as the 1979 match between the Dallas Cowboys and their archenemies, the Washington Redskins. Begins Lundquist, setting the scene for his pageslong analysis, "a great comeback is a beauty to behold, but it doesn't climb to the top of my charts if the results aren't of any real consequence." With matching records at season's end and an undying enmity, the two teams put on quite a show—and, writes the author, played their hearts out. Writing with the benefit of hindsight, Lundquist takes a moment to worry that Cowboys quarterback Roger Staubach may have been an early sufferer of chronic traumatic encephalopathy in a time when "tape an aspirin to your forehead was the league's concussion protocol." Every sport known to humankind, it seems, comes into consideration, for Lundquist is nothing if not versatile; it will surprise many of his viewers to know that he counts among the highest points of his professional career "my unlikely love affair with figure skating." That love affair began once his network lost a pro football contract, but even so, he writes, give him the choice between calling a Super Bowl and announcing the Winter Olympics with Scott Hamilton, and it'll be the latter every time out.

A textbook for would-be sports commentators and a pleasure for fans.

Kirkus Reviews