James William Nantz III (born May 17, 1959) is an American sportscaster who has worked on telecasts of the National Football League (NFL), NCAA Division I men's basketball, the NBA, and the PGA Tour for CBS Sports since the 1980s. He has anchored CBS's coverage of the Masters Tournament since 1989 and been the lead play-by-play announcer on CBS's NFL coverage since 2004. He was also the lead broadcaster for the NCAA men's basketball tournament from 1990 to 2023.
Early life and education
Born in Charlotte, North Carolina, Nantz grew up in New Orleans, Louisiana,
[Radio Interview on The Don Geronimo Show. Aired January 30, 2012.] Colts Neck Township, New Jersey,
[ CBS Sports Team: Jim Nantz , CBS Sports. Accessed April 4, 2008. "He was born May 17, 1959, in Charlotte, N.C., and grew up in Colts Neck, N.J."] and Marlboro Township, New Jersey,
[Craig, Jack. "CBS' Nantz a Smoothie from Start", Boston Globe, November 11, 1988. Accessed September 10, 2015. "'It took me one-tenth of a second to answer. My wife and I grew up in Marlboro, New Jersey. We were coming home,' he said. Three years later, Nantz and his wife are living in Westport, Conn."] where he attended Marlboro High School.
[ Cox Classic Headliners , accessed November 29, 2006.] In high school, he was co-captain of the
basketball team and co-captain and number one player on the
golf team. He was a member of Bamm Hollow Country Club.
Nantz then matriculated at the University of Houston where he played on the Cougars men's golf team, rooming with future professional golfers Fred Couples and Blaine McCallister.[ "CBS Announcer Jim Nantz To Deliver UH Commencement Address," University of Houston, Monday, April 2, 2001. Retrieved August 23, 2022.] It was during this time that Nantz got his first experience in sports broadcasting with the CBS Radio Network, transmitting taped interviews to Win Elliot for the latter's Sports Central USA weekend reports.
Broadcasting career
Before CBS Sports
Nantz started as an anchor and sportscaster for
KHOU in
Houston in the early 1980s and then became a weekend sports anchor on
KSL-TV in Salt Lake City (1982β1985) where he called BYU football games and
Utah Jazz games along with Hot Rod Hundley.
At CBS Sports
Nantz joined CBS Sports in 1985, initially working as a studio host for CBS's college football and basketball coverage, and as an on-course reporter for PGA Tour golf, as well as calling NFL games on Westwood One (from 1988 to 1990, when he was moved to television, Nantz called
Sunday Night Football games for what was then called CBS Radio Sports). In 1989, he moved from the college football studio show to play-by-play for two seasons, calling a full season of games including the Army-Navy game and the Cotton Bowl, with analysts
Pat Haden (in 1989) and
Tim Brant (in 1990).
Nantz has anchored CBS' coverage of the Masters Tournament since 1989. Following Brent Musburger's ouster from CBS in 1990, Nantz moved into the lead play-by-play role on the NCAA Final Four men's basketball finals, working with Billy Packer (1991β2008), Clark Kellogg (2009β2013), Steve Kerr (2011β2014), and Greg Anthony (2013β2014). Nantz's most recent partners on March Madness coverage were Bill Raftery and Grant Hill.[Fine, Marshall, "The Voice of Sports", Cigar Aficionado, June 2011, pp. 62β76.] In October 2022, Nantz announced his intention to step away from basketball coverage to spend time with family and will be replaced by Ian Eagle.
Nantz opens each of his broadcasts by saying, "Hello, friends". The greeting came about as a way for Nantz to identify himself to his father, who had been suffering from Alzheimer's disease.
Nantz's broadcast style includes a penchant for informing listeners of historical facts or statistics regarding athletes or situations as a competition progresses.
The NFL on CBS (1987β1992)
On October 4, 1987, Nantz made his first on-air appearance during an NFL game when he served as a reporter during the Dallas Cowboys at New York Jets game during the NFL strike in a game which featured replacement players, he appeared outside the stadium and in the crowd interviewing fans, in a time before sideline reporters were commonplace at regular season games. It would be his only appearance on CBS's NFL coverage during the 1987 season. In 1988, Nantz would work his first NFL play-by-play assignments, covering the October 16 Tampa Bay Buccaneers at Indianapolis Colts game (with his college football partner Haden) and the December 4 Dallas Cowboys at Cleveland Browns game (with analyst
Ken Stabler). In 1989, Nantz would call three more NFL games (with Haden), and in 1990 he would call two games with analyst
Tim Brant. Nantz would work a full schedule of NFL games on play-by-play for the first time in 1991, calling games with analyst
Hank Stram and would then work again with Stram during the 1992 season, also paring with
Dan Fouts for two games in September 1992 (when
Pat Summerall was calling US Open tennis).
On October 4, 1992, he paired with analyst Randy Cross when Cross' regular broadcast partner, Dick Stockton, was covering MLB baseball. For the 1993 season, Nantz would join Cross full-time, and they would be assigned to the January 16, 1994 NFC Divisional Playoff game between the Green Bay Packers and the Dallas Cowboys.
College Football (1994β1997)
CBS would lose the NFL contract after the 1993 season, and Nantz would return to college football and call three games during the next two seasons, the 1994 Sun Bowl (with analyst
Doug Flutie), and during the 1995 season, both the Sun Bowl and the Fiesta Bowl, with analyst
Terry Donahue. He would work with Donahue again for a full season of play-by-play in 1996, while in 1997 he would return to hosting the College Football studio show.
The NFL returns to CBS (1998βpresent)
After hosting CBS's pre-game program
The NFL Today from 1998 to 2003, he became
The NFL on CBS top play-by-play announcer in 2004. That move sent
Greg Gumbel to the studio, and Nantz to the stadium booth with
Phil Simms.
On February 4, 2007, Nantz called the play-by-play of Super Bowl XLI. He joins Curt Gowdy, Kevin Harlan, and Dick Enberg as the only play-by-play announcers to ever call both a Super Bowl and an NCAA Men's Basketball Championship Game. (Greg Gumbel called CBS's previous Super Bowls, Super Bowl XXXV and Super Bowl XXXVIII.) Nantz is also one of two men to host a Super Bowl, announce an NCAA Men's Basketball Championship game, and host coverage of The Masters from Butler Cabin with Brent Musburger being the other. Musburger also accomplished all three feats with CBS. During Super Bowl XLVII, Joe Flacco unknowingly hit Nantz with the Vince Lombardi Trophy during the presentation, but Nantz simply brushed it off.
In 2014, Nantz and broadcast partner Phil Simms called Thursday Night Football games in a deal with CBS and the NFL Network. Tracy Wolfson was the sideline reporter for the Thursday games along with the Sunday games on CBS.
In 2017, former Dallas Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo replaced Phil Simms as Nantz's color commentator for CBS' NFL telecasts.
Nantz and Romo called Super Bowl LIII in 2019, Super Bowl LV in 2021, and Super Bowl LVIII in 2024.
On January 3, 2021, Nantz worked with Boomer Esiason, who filled in for Romo, for a Week 17 game featuring the Arizona Cardinals and Los Angeles Rams. On January 9, 2022, Tom McCarthy filled in for Nantz for a Week 18 game featuring the Carolina Panthers and Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
Media appearances
Nantz has appeared on episodes of
The Price Is Right to present a Showcase prize that involves CBS Sports properties, one to attend the 2009 Final Four in Detroit and another in 2010 for Super Bowl XLIV (with
Phil Simms),
as part of changes to the long-time game show to use product placement models and CBS crossovers, including sports packages. Nantz appeared as himself in the 1996 film
Tin Cup and has appeared in episodes of several television series including
Arliss,
Yes, Dear,
Criminal Minds, and
How I Met Your Mother (season 5, episode 14 + 15 and season 9, episode 24). He portrayed the announcer for the fictional baseball team in the short-lived series
Clubhouse, and his voice can be heard in the 1998 film
Scrapple. He also appeared in
Fantasy Football, a film produced by CBS' sister network
Nickelodeon.
Since 2009, Nantz has guest commentated on the final round of The Open Championship for the BBC,
Nantz teamed with Gary McCord to provide extensive commentary in the 1999 PC golf game , and his commentary is featured in the Golden Tee Golf arcade game series. From 2012 until 2016 (when they were replaced with Brandon Gaudin and Charles Davis), Nantz, along with Phil Simms, provided commentary for the Madden NFL series. In 2013, Nantz appeared in a Papa John's Pizza ad with Peyton Manning, quarterback of the Denver Broncos, and founder John Schnatter. He has also been part of Capital One's March Madness ad campaign featuring Charles Barkley, Samuel L. Jackson, and Spike Lee.
Career timeline
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1985β1988; 1997: NCAA Football on CBS β studio host
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1986βpresent: PGA Tour on CBS (since 1994 as host)
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1986β1990: College Basketball on CBS β studio host
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1986β1989: NBA on CBS β play-by-play
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1987β1990: NFL on CBS Radio β play-by-play
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1987β1995: US Open (tennis) β play-by-play
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1989βpresent: The Masters host
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1989β1991; 1996β1997: NCAA Football on CBS β lead play-by-play
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1990β2023: College Basketball on CBS/Turner β lead play-by-play
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1988β1993; 2004βpresent: NFL on CBS β play-by-play (1993 as #2; 2004βpresent as lead)
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1992 and 1994: Winter Olympics β weekend daytime co-host
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1994β1995; 2000β2001: Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade host (under the title "The Thanksgiving Day Parade on CBS")
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1998β2003: The NFL Today host
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1998: Olympic Winter Games β primetime host
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2014β2017: Thursday Night Football β lead play-by-play
Awards and honors
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Two-time Sports Emmy Award winner for Outstanding Sports Personality, Play-by-Play (2009 and 2010).
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Five-time NSMA National Sportscaster of the Year (1998, 2005, 2007, 2008, 2009).
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2002 Curt Gowdy Award from the Basketball Hall of Fame.
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2011 Pete Rozelle Radio-Television Award from the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
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2021 GCSAA Old Tom Morris Award from the Golf Course Superintendents Association of America
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NSMA Hall of Fame inductee (class of 2021)
Quotes
1980s
1990s
2000s
2010s
2020s
Personal life
Nantz's first book,
Always By My Side β A Father's Grace and a Sports Journey Unlike Any Other, was released in May 2008. Nantz tells personal stories from football, basketball, and golf, and how he has met people along the way who remind him of the virtues his father instilled in him. The foreword in the book was written by his friend and frequent golf partner, former President George H. W. Bush. Nantz's father, Jim Nantz Jr., died in 2008 after being diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease; he was treated at Houston Methodist Hospital in Houston, Texas. In January 2011, Nantz and Houston Methodist Hospital launched the Nantz National Alzheimer Center. The mission of the center is to improve care and treatment for patients with Alzheimer's disease through the advancement of research and the investigation of its causes, including the role of concussions and other past neurological trauma.
Nantz was married to Ann-Lorraine "Lorrie" Carlsen Nantz for 26 years before divorcing in 2009. The couple lived in Westport, Connecticut, and had one child, daughter Caroline.[Connecticut Post, CBS sportscaster, wife testify in Bridgeport] In November 2009, Nantz was ordered to pay his ex-wife $916,000 a year in child support and alimony. Nantz acknowledged dating a 29-year-old woman before the divorce was final, although the judge concluded the marriage deteriorated years earlier and "this remote event in no way contributed to the breakdown of the marriage." Nantz was said to earn $7 million in 2009.
On June 9, 2012, Nantz married Courtney Richards in a ceremony at the Pebble Beach Golf Links in Pebble Beach, California,
Winemaking
In 2009, Nantz partnered with wine producer Peter Deutsch to launch a private wine label
The Calling with its first vintage released in 2012. The wine's name is in reference to Nantz's calling of the Masters Tournament.
[Jennifer Mayerle " Sports Commentator Jim Nantz has a second calling, wine " CBS Atlanta, April 11, 2013]
See also
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List of celebrities who own wineries and vineyards
External links
