He’s been a player 13 years and honored in the Pro Football Hall of Fame both as a player and a broadcaster. In 1984, he went into radio as a color analyst on St. Louis Cardinals football games and yes, St. Louis Blues hockey games on KMOX, then joined the NFL on CBS the following year as a play-by-play man. In 1986, he switched to analysis working with Dick Stockton, then moving to ABC’s Monday Night Football in 1987 forming one of the best broadcast trios with Al Michaels and Frank Gifford. He stayed with ABC until 1998 when he was let go by the network.
In 1999, he rejoined CBS on the “B” announcing team, first working with Verne Lundquist, then Dick Enberg in 2000 and finally Greg Gumbel, his current partner starting in 2006. And he’s been assigned to one AFC Divisional playoff game throughout his second stint with CBS.
With ABC, he called Super Bowls XXII, XXV and XXIX with Michaels and Gifford. During his ABC tenure, he also called boxing play-by-play with Alex Wallau.
Dierdorf has come under criticism for A) talking too much and B) staying too long, but I’ve enjoyed his time in the booth. I felt he and Enberg were better than Greg Gumbel and Phil Simms and gave fans a better understanding of the game. Over the years, there has been a falloff and felt that Ian Eagle and Dan Fouts deserved to be the “B” team for CBS. Now that Dierdorf is leaving the booth, perhaps Eagle and Fouts will get that long-deserved promotion. We shall see when CBS unveils its announcing assignments for the 2014 regular season next August.
In any event, here’s the announcement about Dierdorf.
DAN DIERDORF TO RETIRE AFTER 43 CONSECUTIVE YEARS IN NFL
Following 13-Year Hall of Fame Playing Career and 30 Years as Broadcaster, Dierdorf to Step Down After 2013-14 Season
After 43 consecutive years in the National Football League as a Hall of Fame player and Hall of Fame broadcaster, Dan Dierdorf has announced his retirement following this season.
Dierdorf, who is the longest tenured NFL analyst on television and teams with Greg Gumbel for NFL ON CBS coverage, has spent the past 30 years as an NFL broadcaster, following a 13-year playing career with the St. Louis Cardinals.
“I have been blessed to spend my entire life in the game I love,” said Dierdorf. “I had an opportunity to go from the field directly to the broadcast booth where I have had the privilege of working with the giants of our business including Ray Scott, Lindsey Nelson, Jack Buck, Dick Stockton, Al Michaels, Frank Gifford, Verne Lundquist, Dick Enberg and lastly, my partner, Greg Gumbel. It has become a challenge for me to travel to a different NFL city every week, so it’s time to step aside. This has been a wonderful ride as I really have lived the dream.”
“For 43 NFL seasons Dan Dierdorf has been a consummate professional both on the field and in the broadcast booth,” said Sean McManus, Chairman, CBS Sports. “Very few people in any profession can boast a Hall of Fame playing career and Hall of Fame broadcasting career. Dan, without question, is one of them. His CBS Sports family will miss him on Sundays, but we wish him all the best in his retirement.”
Dierdorf was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1996 and was the 2008 recipient of the Pro Football Hall of Fame’s Pete Rozelle Radio-Television Award. The Rozelle Award is annually given by the Pro Football Hall of Fame in recognition of “long-time exceptional contributions to radio and television in professional football.” He joins Frank Gifford, John Madden and Len Dawson as the only members of the Pro Football Hall of Fame to also have won the Rozelle Award.
Dierdorf began his NFL broadcasting career in 1984 as a color analyst for KMOX’s Radio coverage of the St. Louis Cardinals and NFL games for CBS Radio Network. He was a play-by-play announcer for THE NFL ON CBS broadcasts in 1985 before switching to color analysis in 1986. In 1987 Dierdorf joined ABC Sports’ “Monday Night Football” for 12 years, before returning to CBS Sports in 1999.
“A Hall of Fame player and a Hall of Fame broadcaster, a unique combination of knowledge and experience that few others can match,” said Gumbel. “There has never been a day I’ve worked with Dan when I didn’t learn something about the game of football. For that, and for so much more, I’m forever grateful. His departure is the fans’ loss. Our loss. My loss. We will all miss Dan Dierdorf.”
During a 13-year career with the St. Louis Cardinals (1971-83), Dierdorf was named All-Pro six times, was selected as the NFL’s top offensive lineman three times and was voted to the NFL Team of the Decade for the 1970s. He was a two-time All-Big Ten tackle at the University of Michigan, where he was inducted into the school’s Hall of Fame and named to seven All-American teams as a senior. Dierdorf was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 2000.
There you have it.
