(RxWiki News) Pat Summerall, who started his career as a professional football player and later became "the voice of the NFL", has died.
Summerall died in Dallas, Texas where he was hospitalized recovering from hip surgery.
According to University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center spokesman, Jeff Carlton, speaking on behalf of Summerall's wife, Cheri, the sportscaster died after suffering a heart attack.
He was 82.
Many will remember his teaming up with John Madden to announce the top NFL games of the week. The duo changed the NFL experience for millions during their 21 years together.
CBS' Sunday was his first broadcast home, and he later worked on Fox where he and Madden changed the way professional football was presented on television.
In a statement, Madden said, "Pat was my broadcasting partner for a long time, but more than that, he was my friend for all of these years. We never had one argument, and that was because of Pat."
"He was a great broadcaster and a great man. He always had a joke. Pat never complained and we never had an unhappy moment. He was something very special."
In addition to football, Summerall was an announcer for PGA golf, tennis and other major sporting events.
In 1999, Summerall was inducted into the American Sportscasters Association Hall of Fame.
Prior to entering the broadcast booth, Summerall was a kicker for the Chicago Cardinals and the New York Giants from 1952 to 1961. He called his last televised football game in 2002.
In his later years, Summerall had a number of health issues, including a liver transplant in 2004.
The transplant was necessary after years of hard drinking. After a family intervention, Summerall went to the Betty Ford Clinic where he got sober in 1992.
"Pat Summerall is the voice of football and always will be," Madden said.
