IRVING, Texas (Nov. 19, 2018) – The National Football Foundation (NFF) & College Hall of Fame announced today that Joe Tessitore, the play-by-play commentator of ESPN's "Monday Night Football," will emcee the 61st NFF Annual Awards Dinner at the New York Hilton Midtown on Dec. 4. The event will be live streamed on ESPN3 starting at 8:30 p.m. ET and can be watched via this link.
 
"Joe Tessitore has always been one of the industry's most versatile sports broadcasters, expertly calling some of the biggest games in college football and now the NFL as the voice of 'Monday Night Football,'" said NFF President & CEO Steve Hatchell. "Joe has a tremendous love and understanding of college football. He has been a longtime friend and supporter of the NFF, and his entertaining insights will add significantly to the pomp and pageantry of the night. We are so glad he has agreed to return as emcee one of college football's marquee events."
 
Tessitore will emcee the NFF Annual Awards Dinner for the second consecutive year, securing his place among a prestigious list of individuals who have donated their skills to host the fabled event, including TV Host Ed Sullivan, TV Host of "What's My Line" John Charles Daly, U.S. Senator George Murphy, Rutgers University President Mason W. Gross, CBS News Anchor Harry Smith (now with NBC News) and ABC Sports broadcaster Chris Schenkel, who emceed the event for 28 consecutive years from 1968 to 1995. Other notable sports broadcasters who have emceed the event include CBS Sports' Tim Brando (now with FOX Sports), ESPN/ABC's Rece Davis and Chris Fowler, CBS Sports' Verne Lundquist and NBC Sports' Mike Tirico.
 
"Joe's talents will create a memorable night for all of the evening's honorees," said NFF Chairman Archie Manning. "He has become a star himself, and all of the honorees from the Hall of Famers to the scholar-athletes will get a thrill from being on stage with him. We are happy to have him return to our biggest event – the Annual Awards Dinner."
 
As the culmination of the 2018 regular season, the 61st NFF Annual Awards Dinner provides the stage for the induction of the 2018 College Football Hall of Fame Class, the awarding of the 2018 NFF National Scholar-Athlete Awards, the announcement of the winner of the 29th William V. Campbell Trophy^® and the presentation of several major awards.
 
The 2018 NFF Major Award recipients include Atlanta Hall Management Chairman and College Football Hall of Fame inductee from Dartmouth Murry Bowden (NFF Outstanding Contribution to Amateur Football Award), retired Yale athletics director Thomas Beckett and Harvard athletics director Bob Scalise (NFF John L. Toner Award co-recipients for excellence in athletics administration) and longtime Voice of the Texas A&M Aggies Dave South (NFF Chris Schenkel Award for excellence in broadcasting).
 
The 2018 College Football Hall of Fame Class includes: Trevor Cobb (Rice), Kerry Collins (Penn State), Dave Dickenson (Montana), Dana Howard (Illinois), Calvin Johnson (Georgia Tech), Paul Palmer (Temple), Ed Reed (Miami [Fla.]), Matt Stinchcomb (Georgia), Aaron Taylor (Nebraska), Charles Woodson (Michigan) and coaches Frank Beamer (Murray State, Virginia Tech), Mack Brown (Appalachian State, Tulane, North Carolina, Texas) and Mel Tjeerdsma (Austin College [Texas], Northwest Missouri State).
 
The members of the 2018 NFF National Scholar-Athlete Class, who will vie as finalists for The William V. Campbell Trophy®, include Kenneth Brinson (Army West Point), Taryn Christion (South Dakota State), De'Arius Christmas (Grambling State), D'Cota Dixon (Wisconsin), Ryan Finley (North Carolina State), Piercen Harnish (Saint Francis [Ind.]), Trace McSorley (Penn State), Dalton Risner (Kansas State), Max Scharping (Northern Illinois), Eric Stevenson (Wheaton [Ill.]), Easton Stick (North Dakota State), Drue Tranquill (Notre Dame) and Christian Wilkins (Clemson). They will be honored at the NFF Annual Awards Dinner on Dec. 4, where one will be named the recipient of the Campbell Trophy® as the nation's top football scholar-athlete.
 
For more information regarding the 61st NFF Annual Awards Dinner, please contact NFF Director of External Relations Will Rudd at 972.556.1000 or wrudd@footballfoundation.com.
 
 
Joe Tessitore's Bio
 
Joe Tessitore is in his first season as the play-by-play commentator for ESPN's "Monday Night Football," becoming just the sixth person to occupy this highly coveted position in broadcasting. Tessitore has worked this season alongside analysts Jason Witten and Booger McFarland and reporter Lisa Salters. 
 
Prior to "MNF," Tessitore was a constant presence on the company's college football coverage. Best known for calling ESPN Saturday Night primetime and select ABC regular-season games, he was most recently paired with Todd Blackledge and Holly Rowe. During the postseason, Tessitore called the College Football Playoff semifinals in 2016 (Peach Bowl: Washington vs. Alabama) and 2017 (Sugar Bowl: Alabama vs. Clemson).  Prior to the CFP, he called BCS and the New Year's Six bowl games while hosting numerous live shows surrounding the BCS National Championships and College Football Playoff.
 
In recent years, he also has worked the field level play-by-play as part of the company's Sports Emmy award-winning MegaCast presentation for the 2015-17 College Football Playoff Championship games.
 
Tessitore has also long been ESPN's Heisman Trophy expert, serving as the face of "Heismanology" segments throughout the fall on multiple platforms and contributing to ESPN's presentation of the prestigious award in Times Square. He was also the primary studio host for ESPN's daily "College Football Live" for two years.
 
Tessitore's other college football credits include executive producer for "RollTide/War Eagle" and as a consulting producer for "You Don't Know Bo: The Legend of Bo Jackson" with both films running as part of ESPN's award winning 30-for-30 documentary film series. He was also the first host of SEC Network's Saturday football traveling pregame show, "SEC Nation."
 
In addition to his role leading "MNF," Tessitore is the veteran blow-by-blow ringside commentator for Top Rank Boxing on ESPN.  He is also a longtime courtside fixture on ESPN college basketball.
 
A boxing enthusiast and expert, Tessitore leads the broadcast team for Top Rank Boxing on ESPN.  As a lifelong and passionate fan of the "sweet science," Tessitore has relished the opportunity to call the biggest World Championship bouts. Now, he is calling more fights than ever with Top Rank bouts on ESPN and the new ESPN+ streaming service.
 
Rooted in boxing for many years, Tessitore's very first assignment for ESPN was a battle of middleweight contenders in February 2002. Since then, he has called thousands of fights, including "Friday Night Fights," ESPN Boxing specials and "The Contender" series.  He also voiced the majority of the ESPN Classic fight library, called numerous HBO distributed pay-per-views and has been the voice of the popular EA Sports Fight Night video game series.
 
On the hardwood, Tessitore has called weekly college basketball conference games for ESPN since 2012. Over the past two seasons, he led the "Super Tuesday" SEC primetime package while also calling the SEC Tournament.
 
During the summer of 2017, Tessitore and Mike Greenberg co-hosted the reboot of ABC's popular "Battle of the Network Stars" primetime series from the 1970s and 80s. That role had Tessitore following in the footsteps of one of his broadcasting idols Howard Cosell, who also called "Monday Night Football" and boxing during his Hall of Fame career.
 
Beyond football, basketball and boxing, Tessitore has covered a variety of other sports for ESPN. Prior to 2011, he spent many years anchoring ABC/ESPN horse racing presentations including the Belmont Stakes and The Breeders' Cup World Championships.  He hosted ESPN's live New Year's Eve specials for five years, including "Red Bull New Year, No Limits" and the debut of ESPN's 'Year of the Quarterback' content series.  He has also been a featured contributor for ESPN.com.
 
Tessitore has achieved numerous honors and awards. In 2010, he received an Eclipse Award from the National Thoroughbred Racing Association (NTRA) for the 2009 Belmont Stakes telecast on ABC and the 2010 Breeders' Cup. That same year, the Boxing Writers of America presented Tessitore with the prestigious Sam Taub Award for Broadcast Excellence.  He was also a 2010 inductee in the Connecticut Boxing Hall of Fame.
 
Prior to joining ESPN in 2002, Tessitore was the sports anchor at CBS affiliate WFSB-TV in Hartford for eight years (1995-2002). A native of Schenectady, New York, he first gained valuable experience at KXAS-NBC in Dallas-Fort Worth and also worked at WRGB-CBS in Albany, New York.
 
Tessitore is a 1993 graduate of the Carroll School of Management at Boston College. This fall, his son John, one of the nation's top prep placekickers, is in his freshman year playing for the Eagles.
 
Tessitore serves on the Board of Regents at Boston College, as well as the Advisory Committee on Entrepreneurship and Innovation. He has long been a supporter of the National Italian-American Foundation, as well as having tirelessly given his time to the Board of Directors for the Connecticut Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. 
 
All-Time List of NFF Annual Award Dinner Emcees
 
1958 - George Murphy, U.S. Senator, Actor and NFF President
1959 - George Murphy, U.S. Senator, Actor and NFF President
1960 - Mason W. Gross, President of Rutgers University
1961 - Mason W. Gross, President of Rutgers University
1962 - Mason W. Gross, President of Rutgers University
1963 - Mason W. Gross, President of Rutgers University
1964 - Ed Sullivan, TV Host of the Ed Sullivan Show
1965 - John Charles Daly, TV Host of What's My Line
1966 - John Charles Daly, TV Host of What's My Line
1967 - Ed Sullivan, TV Host of the Ed Sullivan Show
1968 - Chris Schenkel, ABC Sports Broadcaster
1969 - Chris Schenkel, ABC Sports Broadcaster
1970 - Chris Schenkel, ABC Sports Broadcaster
1971 - Chris Schenkel, ABC Sports Broadcaster
1972 - Chris Schenkel, ABC Sports Broadcaster
1973 - Chris Schenkel, ABC Sports Broadcaster
1974 - Chris Schenkel, ABC Sports Broadcaster
1975 - Chris Schenkel, ABC Sports Broadcaster
1976 - Chris Schenkel, ABC Sports Broadcaster
1977 - Chris Schenkel, ABC Sports Broadcaster
1978 - Chris Schenkel, ABC Sports Broadcaster
1979 - Chris Schenkel, ABC Sports Broadcaster
1980 - Chris Schenkel, ABC Sports Broadcaster
1981 - Chris Schenkel, ABC Sports Broadcaster
1982 - Chris Schenkel, ABC Sports Broadcaster
1983 - Chris Schenkel, ABC Sports Broadcaster
1984 - Chris Schenkel, ABC Sports Broadcaster
1985 - Chris Schenkel, ABC Sports Broadcaster
1986 - Chris Schenkel, ABC Sports Broadcaster
1987 - Chris Schenkel, ABC Sports Broadcaster
1988 - Chris Schenkel, ABC Sports Broadcaster
1989 - Chris Schenkel, ABC Sports Broadcaster
1990 - Chris Schenkel, ABC Sports Broadcaster
1991 - Chris Schenkel, ABC Sports Broadcaster
1992 - Chris Schenkel, ABC Sports Broadcaster
1993 - Chris Schenkel, ABC Sports Broadcaster
1994 - Chris Schenkel, ABC Sports Broadcaster
1995 - Chris Schenkel, ABC Sports Broadcaster
1996 - Chris Fowler, ESPN/ABC Sports Broadcaster
1997 - Chris Fowler, ESPN/ABC Sports Broadcaster
1998 - Chris Fowler, ESPN/ABC Sports Broadcaster
1999 - Tim Brando, CBS Sports Broadcaster (now with FOX Sports)
2000 - Chris Fowler, ESPN/ABC Sports Broadcaster
2001 - Mike Tirico, ESPN/ABC Sports Broadcaster (now with NBC Sports)
2002 - Tim Brando, CBS Sports Broadcaster (now with FOX Sports)
2003 - Chris Fowler, ESPN/ABC Sports Broadcaster
2004 - Mike Tirico, ESPN/ABC Sports Broadcaster (now with NBC Sports)
2005 - Chris Fowler, ESPN/ABC Sports Broadcaster
2006 - Verne Lundquist, CBS Sports Broadcaster
2007 - Chris Fowler, ESPN/ABC Sports Broadcaster
2008 - Rece Davis, ESPN/ABC Sports Broadcaster
2009 - Chris Fowler, ESPN/ABC Sports Broadcaster
2010 - Harry Smith, CBS News Anchor (now with NBC News)
2011 - Rece Davis, ESPN/ABC Sports Broadcaster
2012 - Rece Davis, ESPN/ABC Sports Broadcaster
2013 - Rece Davis, ESPN/ABC Sports Broadcaster
2014 - Rece Davis, ESPN/ABC Sports Broadcaster
2015 - Mike Tirico, ESPN/ABC Sports Broadcaster (now with NBC Sports)
2016 - Mike Tirico, NBC Sports Broadcaster
2017 - Joe Tessitore, ESPN Sports Broadcaster
2018 - Joe Tessitore, ESPN Sports Broadcaster
 
 
About The National Football Foundation & College Hall of Fame
Founded in 1947 with early leadership from General Douglas MacArthur, legendary Army coach Earl "Red" Blaik and immortal journalist Grantland Rice, The National Football Foundation & College Hall of Fame is a non-profit educational organization that runs programs designed to use the power of amateur football in developing scholarship, citizenship and athletic achievement in young people. With 120 chapters and 12,000 members nationwide, NFF programs include Football Matters^®, the Chick-fil-A College Football Hall of Fame in Atlanta, The William V. Campbell Trophy^®, annual scholarships of more than $1.3 million and a series of initiatives to honor the legends of the past and inspire the leaders of the future. NFF corporate partners include Delta Air Lines, Fidelity Investments – a proud partner of the Campbell Trophy^®, Herff Jones, New York Athletic Club, the Pasadena Tournament of Roses, the Sports Business Journal, SportsManias, Under Armour and VICIS. Learn more at footballfoundation.org.