Legendary College Football Announcer Keith Jackson Passes Away

Legendary college football announcer Keith Jackson has passed away at the age of 89.

While he covered many sports, Jackson was the voice of college football when I was young, continuing that career until his last broadcast of the 2006 Rose Bowl.

Nearly every college football game is broadcast or streamed nowadays. Years ago, TV showed only the “big games”, mostly, and when you turned on the TV and heard Jackson’s voice, every one of those games seemed bigger. He had a grace and wit about him that cannot be replicated, and his

Jackson was a beautiful talent at the right place and right time in college football history. Were an announcer to repeatedly use phrases

Here’s some of Jackson’s more memorable calls, some regarding Nebraska football:

Here’s Keith Jackson calling a 88-yard run by... Oklahoma’s Keith Jackson.

If there’s a thread here with Oklahoma, Nebraska, and Keith Jackson’s voice, it’s because the Oklahoma - Nebraska games was one of the biggest games in college football for a few decades running, and like I said, made even bigger by Jackson’s voice.

The end of legendary Ohio State coach Woody Hayes’ career:

Wisconsin upsets Nebraska in 1974:

I am forever grateful for Jackson’s ability to keep sidekick Bob Griese’s mouth at bay. And unlike a lot of today’s announcers, Jackson knew when it was time to use one of his great catch phrases, but also knew when it was time to be quiet and let the sport show itself.

The mothership - SBNation.com - has assembled quite a few tributes to Jackson.