1966 cbs nfl commentator lineup

[timmy b]

a little explanation here:

from 1956 thru 1967, cbs assigned a tv crew to each nfl team to call its games for the season. by 67, with 16 teams in the nfl, there were 32 announcers! with a new contract in place in 1968 with the nfl, cbs had stipulated in the new deal with the nfl, that no longer would they have a crew for each team (chopping the crews from 16 to 8), but rather a phase-in where a few crews would work a lot of a team's games, and the rest would be assigned on a merit basis.

since 1966 was the year i first followed the nfl passionately, i'll list those crews here:

Falcons: Ed Thelinius, Johnny Sauer

Colts: Chuck Thompson, Jim Mutscheller

Bears: Lindsey Nelson, George Connor

Browns: Frank Glieber, Warren Lahr

Cowboys: Jack Buck, Eddie LeBaron

Lions: Van Patrick, Sonny Grandelius

Packers: Ray Scott, Tony Canadeo

Rams: Gil Stratton, Don Paul

Vikings: Hal Scott, Clayton Tonnemaker

Giants: Jack Whitaker, Frank Gifford

Eagles: Stu Nahan, Tom Brookshier

Steelers: Joe Tucker, Lowell Perry

Cardinals: Jack Drees, Bill McPeak

49ers: Bob Fouts, Gordy Soltau

Redskins: Jim Gibbons, Pat Summerall

cbs employed a pool video/split audio feed for the telecasts. meaning that on a cowboys at redskins telecast, the dallas area viewers would hear buck-lebaron and the washington viewers (d.c. blacked out) would hear gibbons-summerall, with both dallas & washington viewers seeing the same videocast.

the colts, eagles & steelers networks only had a total of three affiliates and all were within the 75 mile radius for a blackout and thus only did the 7 road games on their networks.

for the nfl title game (packers-cowboys) ray scott & jack buck each called a half as pxp announcers for the teams involved, and pat summerall was analyst as a top analyst in the cbs food chain.

for super bowl i, scott did one half, jack whitaker did the other half on pxp (perhaps because he did giants games as the #1 market??), and frank gifford was the analyst.

the pre-game show was the nfl today with frank gifford as host.

the post-games show was pro football report with bruce roberts as host.

how it was almost 40 years ago.

tb

p.s. yes, bob fouts is dan fouts' dad.

lowell perry - steeler analyst - was the first african-american in an nfl booth.

[yh]

Wow, that's really great information. By the time I was old enough to really comprehend an NFL telecast (1974) the networks had already started "platooning" announcing teams, sending the more prominent broadcasters to the highest profile games. I never knew about this split audiocast stuff.

Thanks for sharing this. Hope you'll continue to share interesting tidbits like this in the future.

[VirginiaTechSucks]

Amazing stuff thank you for putting that together. I just wish the actual broadcasts survived so game collectors like me could enjoy watching football before it became all about the announcers and more about the game. I can add a couple to this

1961 NFL TITLE game New York vs Green Bay: NBC Chris Shenkel and Lindsay Nelson, each announcer called one half.

1962 AFL TITLE Dallas vs Houston: ABC Kurt Gowdy did Play by play, cannot remember until I look at the tape again who did color.

1969 Pre Season Detroit vs Washington from Tampa Bay: CBS Jack Buck and Pat Summerall

1969 NFL Division Final Cleveland at Dallas: The 5 min of broadcast footage I have has Jack Buck and Pat Summerall doing the broadcast. They also did SB 4 together.

Super Bowl 3 Baltimore vs Jets: NBC Kurt Gowdy and Al De Rogatis

I have to go through my other games to see who did what game

[winghaz]

I was thinking of the old Ice Bowl between the Packers and Cowboys, and I'm pretty sure Ray Scott was one of the announcers. Not totally sure, but pretty sure.

And I'm almost positive that Curt Gowdy and Al De Rogatis also did the AFL title game in 1968. Heck, those two seemed to be the voice of AFL title games for quite a while.

[timmy b]

Amazing stuff thank you for putting that together. I just wish the actual broadcasts survived so game collectors like me could enjoy watching football before it became all about the announcers and more about the game. I can add a couple to this

1961 NFL TITLE game New York vs Green Bay: NBC Chris Shenkel and Lindsay Nelson, each announcer called one half.

1962 AFL TITLE Dallas vs Houston: ABC Kurt Gowdy did Play by play, cannot remember until I look at the tape again who did color.

1969 Pre Season Detroit vs Washington from Tampa Bay: CBS Jack Buck and Pat Summerall

1969 NFL Division Final Cleveland at Dallas: The 5 min of broadcast footage I have has Jack Buck and Pat Summerall doing the broadcast. They also did SB 4 together.

Super Bowl 3 Baltimore vs Jets: NBC Kurt Gowdy and Al De Rogatis

I have to go through my other games to see who did what game

guys,

paul christman was the analyst with curt gowdy for the 62 afl title game on abc.

frank gifford also joined in on sb iv with buck & summerall on cbs.

kyle rote was also with gowdy & derogatis for sb iii on nbc.

as for the ice bowl, scott called the first half, buck the second half, and frank gifford was the analyst thruout the game.

it is a tragedy that so much is missing from the early days of pro football on tv.

down the road i will post lists that i have for virtually all the playoff games on tv ever.

tb