National Football Foundation

Known throughout the sports broadcasting industry as the "Golden Throat," Verne Lundquist has become an integral part of the sports broadcasting landscape during the past forty years with his memorable calls and a colorful approach that has made him a fan favorite. Currently, he serves as the lead play-by-play announcer for CBS Sports' coverage of college football, a post he has held since 1998 alongside analyst Gary Danielson. Together, they have become the voices on CBS for SEC football.

The versatile Lundquist also handles announcing roles for CBS's coverage of college basketball, including the NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Championship, the Masters, the PGA Championship, and other PGA TOUR events. During his first stint at CBS from 1983 to 1995, Lundquist called the NFL and NBA, and was the network's lead figure skating announcer for the 1992, 1994 and 1998 Winter Olympics.

Prior to CBS, Lundquist spent eight years at ABC Sports and three years as a play-by-play announcer for TNT's coverage of the NFL, NBA, golf and figure skating coverage from 1995 to 1997. In all, he has called 20 different sports, including track and field, swimming and diving, boxing, gymnastics and horse racing during his illustrious career.

Lundquist began his career at KTBC-TV in Austin before becoming the sports director at WFAA-TV in Dallas, where he also worked as the radio voice of the Dallas Cowboys for 16 seasons. He has been inducted into the National Sportscasters and Sportswriters Hall of Fame, the Texas Radio Hall of Fame and the Texas Sports Hall of Fame. Lundquist claimed seven consecutive Texas Sportscaster of the Year awards from 1977 to 1983 and was named a Legend of the Sun Bowl in 2005 by the Sun Bowl Association.

Born in Duluth, Minn., Lundquist grew up in Everett, Wash. and Austin, Texas. He graduated from Texas Lutheran University in 1962 and received that school's Distinguished Alumnus Award. In 2009 Lundquist became a member of Texas Lutheran's Board of Regents.