Biography
College football and its millions of fans caught a lucky break in 1966 when ABC Sports, after a careful search, decided Keith Jackson was the right man to be the play-by-play announcer for the Network's coverage of the collegiate game.
It was a marriage made at the 50-yard line. Rarely, if ever in the broadcast industry, has an announcer been so closely identified with the sport he covers.
For more than three decades Jackson has been college football's most eloquent spokesman, a role to which he has brought dignity, integrity and clarity.
Tonight Keith Jackson is the 42nd recipient of the National Football Foundation's highest honor, the Gold Medal. He joins an exalted group of Gold Medal recipients that includes seven U.S. Presidents. three generals, three admirals, a member of the U.S. Supreme Court and a galaxy of some of the great captains of industry.
For the past 33 years, Mr. Jackson has been a welcome visitor in the living room of millions and millions of American homes. His distinctive, low-key style of broadcasting wore well with the viewers who grew to be as comfortable with Keith as with their favorite morning slippers.
He started his career of broadcasting football, both radio and television, 47 years ago when his first job was working the football games of his alma mater, Washington State University. From that first football game broadcast in 1952 Keith, unknowingly, started his audition for the top spot with ABC Sports. For certain, he paid his dues.
Once Jackson was tabbed by ABC Sports to assume the top role, he quickly endeared himself to both the college scene, including coaches and players, and, more important, the viewers who tuned in for more than 500 broadcasts he handled.
What was it that made this man so special? What were the attributes of style that made him so durable, so easy to listen to? Can we ever forget Keith's personal signature: "Whoa, Nellie?"
Keith's partners in the ABC Sports broadcast booth over the years included such great football coaches as Bud Wilkinson, Ara Parseghian and Frank Broyles, all of them enshrined in the College Football Hall of Fame. But it was Bob Griese, the Purdue All-America quarterback and now a member of the Hall of Fame, who worked with Keith the longest, 12 years.
Because of his close working and personal relationship with Jackson for more than a decade, Griese is qualified to shed insight as to why Keith was so clearly embraced by all. Said Griese, "One of the first things I learned about Keith is that he has never had an ego problem. Just as important, the man truly loves the game of college football. He is a happy man doing what he loves to do."
Griese added, "Something I admire about Keith is that he has a feeling for the young men who play the college game. He has never criticized a player. He especially loves the time before the game, the collegiate atmosphere, the bands, the mascots, the cheerleaders, the whole excitement."
During their years of travel together on the road, Griese learned much more about his partner. Griese says of Jackson, "He is a very intelligent man. He is an excellent writer. He has been in the public eye, but he is a quiet man, a private man. He is a gentleman who cherishes the privacy of his home and he has an uncommon love and appreciation for his wife, Turi, and their children, Melanie, Lindsey and Christopher. Believe me, I have really enjoyed his company, whether we were having dinner on the road or getting ready to do that day's broadcast."
Griese, of course, is not alone in his appreciation of Keith's superior work over the years. If other broadcast partners such as Wilkinson, Parseghian and Broyles were to issue a joint statement about Keith Jackson's role in college football they most likely would whole-heartedly concur by saying, "Keith is one of the best things that ever happened to college football."
Keith is the only man to receive five straight Sportscaster of the Year Awards. He was the first to receive the Amos Alonzo Stagg Award presented by the American Football Coaches Association. He has been inducted into the American Sportscasters Hall of Fame and the National Sportscasters and Sportswriters Hall of Fame. In 1994 he was honored with television's Emmy Award.
A few weeks ago, Jackson set aside some time to answer questions and express his thoughts covering the last 33 years. The interview proceeded as follows:
Question: You did well over 500 broadcasts of college football games. Are there a special few that standout in your mind?
Jackson: "Well, I remember the first game ever in 1952. Stanford beat Washington State, 14-13, and Stanford had Bob Mathias, who went on to win two Olympic Gold Medals in the Decathlon.
I recall a game in 1961. It was the big rivalry, Washington vs. Washington State. Bob Schloredt threw a late, two-point conversion pass to give Washington an 8-7 victory and a trip to the Rose Bowl."
Jackson continued, "I worked the 1967 game between Southern California and UCLA. At stake in that game was the Pac 10 Conference championship. the National Championship, a trip to the Rose Bowl and the Heisman Trophy. USC won all the big prizes, except the Heisman Trophy. O.J. Simpson had two great runs and USC won, 21-20, but Gary Beban of UCLA won the Heisman. The 1979 Sugar Bowl was another standout. It was No. 1 Penn State against No. 2 Alabama and Alabama won, 14-7, with a great goal line stand. For sheer excitement one of the great matches was Miami against Michigan at Michigan in 1988. Michigan had a 30-14 lead in the third quarter, but Miami came back to win, 31-30."
The 1998 Rose Bowl was another one for the memory book. Said Jackson, "My partner that day was Bob Griese and his son Brian was Michigan's quarterback, playing against my alma mater, Washington State. It was a great day for the Griese family. Michigan won, 21-16, and Brian was named MVP of the game, but I think that if the Cougars had not lost star running back Michael Black in the first half, who knows who would have had the party? The 31-31 tie between Florida and Florida State in 1994 was a classic. Heck, there have been so many and I have enjoyed every one, even the blowouts."
Question: Keith, what is it about the college game that has made it so special to you?
Jackson: "One of the reasons I enjoy and respect the game and so many of the people who have coached and played is the work ethic. Enormous sacrifice and discipline are required to get ready for the season and every game. Each Saturday offers its own special excitement. College football is special because it can boast of four generations of fans, something you do not see in the pro game."
Question: Are there things you worry about? What problems do you see that affect the game?
Jackson: "I do worry some that societal attitudes will be so influenced by an intrusive and often times abusive media that it will preclude us from having many more coaches who live and work long enough to be called legends, especially at the Division I level. Coaches such as Joe Paterno, LaVell Edwards and Bobby Bowden keep on going. Bless 'em."
Jackson also pointed out, 'A nagging problem for football is the television camera and the slow-motion replays of officials' calls. And I have no answer except to say again that the game is played by people and has to be officiated by people. So much of the official's decision-making is bang-bang and made almost impossible sometimes by the speed of players and the pitch-and-catch game that is played today."
Question: Over the last three decades which rules changes do you think have had an impact on the game?
Jackson: "I believe the rule change that influenced the game more than any other was freeing the arms of offensive linemen. That helped to accelerate the pitch-and-catch game. Now the public, influenced by the NFL game, demands the entertainment factor. I also think the best new rule change is shutting down the taunting and showboating. That has no place in any sport."
Question: Was your career in broadcasting designed or was there a particular incident that triggered your interest?
Jackson: After four years in the Marine Corps, I enrolled at Washington State with the intention of studying police andpolitical science. One afternoon in school I was listening to the KWSC radio broadcast of a Cougar game. It was then I decided I might like a crack at doing that. As a lad I had written sports stories in longhand. Story has it that my grandmother said to my mother 'your kid is crazy. He's out there in the cornfield talking to himself.' In truth, I was out there calling games in my fantasy. Eventually, I asked for the opportunity to work in broadcast and was given the chance by Burt Harrison, who taught in Washington State's broadcast school and pretty much ran the 5,000-watt station. I began to learn the tech¬niques in my freshman year and then went after it full bore in my sophomore year."
Question: It is known that you and your wife, Turi, have enjoyed a very special relationship for 47 years. How did all that start?
Jackson: "I met and married the love of my life at the Golf Clubhouse on campus. I married Turi Ann Johnsen in 1952 and that clearly remains my ultimate good fortune. Turi's folks, mom Gudrun and dad Joseph, were born and raised in Norway. My parents were born and raised in Georgia. When all the folks met for the first time, we had accent on one side and a southern drawl on the other. It was a hilarious scene. We have all survived happily. They are all great people and have been enormously important for me in keeping a rational perspective about life that sometimes can seem almost unreal."
Keith added, "Grambling coach Eddie Robinson, when asked about his 50-plus year career at Grambling, answered that his most important accomplishment was 'one wife, one job.' I'm close. In 47 years, two jobs, one wife. I never did learn much about show business."
His final thought during the interview: "You know, I have admired the National Football Foundation's commitment to young people who participate in amateur football and I think The Foundation's Scholar-Athlete program has enormous worth and, hopefully, will grow across the generations. The emphasis and recognition of academic achievement is important."
