Charlie Jones (November 9, 1930 – June 12, 2008) was an American sportscaster for NBC and ABC.

Early life

Charlie Jones was born in

Fort Smith, Arkansas Fort Smith is the third-largest city in Arkansas and one of the two county seats of Sebastian County. As of the 2020 Census, the population was 89,142. It is the principal city of the Fort Smith, Arkansas–Oklahoma Metropolitan Statistical Are ...

. He earned an undergraduate degree at the

University of Southern California , mottoeng = "Let whoever earns the palm bear it" , religious_affiliation = Nonsectarian—historically Methodist , established = , accreditation = WSCUC , type = Private research university , academic_affiliations = , endowment = $8.1 ...

, where he was a tennis player, and a law degree at the

University of Arkansas The University of Arkansas (U of A, UArk, or UA) is a public land-grant research university in Fayetteville, Arkansas. It is the flagship campus of the University of Arkansas System and the largest university in the state. Founded as Arkans ...

. He also served two years in the U.S. Air Force.

Broadcasting career

American Football League/National Football League

Jones began his sportscasting career at local television and radio stations in Fort Smith, before signing on as a broadcaster for the fledgling Dallas Texans of the

American Football League The American Football League (AFL) was a major professional American football league that operated for ten seasons from 1960 until 1970, when it merged with the older National Football League (NFL), and became the American Football Conference. ...

1960 It is also known as the "Year of Africa" because of major events—particularly the independence of seventeen African nations—that focused global attention on the continent and intensified feelings of Pan-Africanism. Events January * Ja ...

. Jones also began calling AFL games for ABC that year. In 1965, he moved to NBC, continuing to broadcast the AFL and later the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the majo ...

. He would work NFL games until

1997 File:1997 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The movie set of ''Titanic'', the highest-grossing movie in history at the time; '' Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'', is published; Comet Hale-Bopp passes by Earth and becomes one of ...

, when NBC lost their NFL (

AFC AFC may stand for: Organizations * Action for Children, a UK children's charity * AFC Enterprises, the franchisor of Popeye's Chicken and Biscuits * Africa Finance Corporation, a pan-African multilateral development finance institution * A ...

) broadcasting rights to CBS. Among Jones' notable broadcasts was in January 1993, when he covered the Buffalo Bills vs. Houston Oilers Wild Card game, in which the Bills rallied from a 35–3 second half deficit to defeat the Oilers in overtime 41–38. Jones was the sideline reporter for NBC for the first

Super Bowl The Super Bowl is the annual final playoff game of the National Football League (NFL) to determine the league champion. It has served as the final game of every NFL season since 1966, replacing the NFL Championship Game. Since 2022, the gam ...

(named the World Championship Game until Super Bowl III), where he interviewed

Bob Hope Leslie Townes "Bob" Hope (May 29, 1903 – July 27, 2003) was a British-American comedian, vaudevillian, actor, singer and dancer. With a career that spanned nearly 80 years, Hope appeared in more than 70 short and feature films, with ...

at halftime and Super Bowl IX. He was the radio play-by-play announcer for Super Bowl III. In 1997, Jones was awarded the

Pro Football Hall of Fame The Pro Football Hall of Fame is the hall of fame for professional American football, located in Canton, Ohio. Opened on September 7, , the Hall of Fame enshrines exceptional figures in the sport of professional football, including players, coa ...

's Pete Rozelle Radio-Television Award. He also received an

Emmy Award The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the calendar year, each with the ...

in 1973 for his part as writer, producer and host of the documentary ''Is Winning the Name of the Game?''

Other TV work

During his time at NBC, Jones also broadcast the

1988 Summer Olympics The 1988 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XXIV Olympiad () and commonly known as Seoul 1988 ( ko, 서울 1988, Seoul Cheon gubaek palsip-pal), was an international multi-sport event held from 17 September to 2 October ...

calling the infamous Ben Johnson- Carl Lewis 100 meter dash, 1986 FIFA World Cup, 1991 Ryder Cup, 1992 Summer Olympics and

1996 Summer Olympics The 1996 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXVI Olympiad, also known as Atlanta 1996 and commonly referred to as the Centennial Olympic Games) were an international multi-sport event held from July 19 to August 4, 1996, in Atlanta, ...

, as well as

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (A ...

PGA Tour The PGA Tour (stylized in all capital letters as PGA TOUR by its officials) is the organizer of professional golf tours in the United States and North America. It organizes most of the events on the flagship annual series of tournaments also ...

golf, and Wimbledon tennis. He was the announcer for auto races including the 1988 Meadowlands Grand Prix and throughout the

1998 Formula One World Championship The 1998 FIA Formula One World Championship was the 52nd season of FIA Formula One motor racing. It featured the 1998 Formula One World Championship for Drivers and the 1998 Formula One World Championship for Constructors, which were conteste ...

. He was the play-by-play announcer for the 1986

college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football in the United States, American football rules first gained populari ...

national championship, where Penn State defeated

Miami Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a coastal metropolis and the county seat of Miami-Dade County in South Florida, United States. With a population of 442,241 at ...

14–10 in the

1987 Fiesta Bowl The 1987 Fiesta Bowl was a college football bowl game that served as the final game of the 1986 NCAA Division I-A football season. Part of the 1986–87 bowl game season, the 1987 Fiesta Bowl also served as the National Championship Game, between ...

, and for the 1993 'Game of the Century', where #2 Notre Dame upset #1

Florida State Florida State University (FSU) is a public research university in Tallahassee, Florida. It is a senior member of the State University System of Florida. Founded in 1851, it is located on the oldest continuous site of higher education in the sta ...

, 31-24. In 1999, he returned to ABC Sports to call

until the 2001 season. He was also a play-by-play announcer for the

Cincinnati Reds The Cincinnati Reds are an American professional baseball team based in Cincinnati. They compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) National League Central, Central division and were a charter member of ...

in 1973 and

1974 Major events in 1974 include the aftermath of the 1973 oil crisis and the resignation of United States President Richard Nixon following the Watergate scandal. In the Middle East, the aftermath of the 1973 Yom Kippur War determined politics; ...

(when Hank Aaron hit home run #714 to tie

Babe Ruth George Herman "Babe" Ruth Jr. (February 6, 1895 – August 16, 1948) was an American professional baseball player whose career in Major League Baseball (MLB) spanned 22 seasons, from 1914 through 1935. Nicknamed "the Bambino" and "the Su ...

on opening day), California Angels in

1990 File:1990 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1990 FIFA World Cup is played in Italy; The Human Genome Project is launched; Voyager I takes the famous Pale Blue Dot image- speaking on the fragility of humanity on Earth, astrophysicis ...

, and Colorado Rockies from 1993 to 1995. In the mid-1970s, he hosted ''

Almost Anything Goes ''It's a Knockout!'' is a British game show first broadcast in 1966. It was adapted from the French show ''Intervilles'', and was part of the international ''Jeux sans frontières'' franchise. History The series was broadcast on BBC1 from 7 Au ...

with Regis Philbin, The American Frontier with Merlin Olsen'', and ''Pro-Fan''. Jones, along with Frank Shorter, provided the voices of the TV announcers for a fictionalized staging of the U.S. Olympic Track and Field trials in the 1982 film '' Personal Best''.

Personal life

In 2008, Jones died at the age of 77 at his home in La Jolla, California of a

heart attack A myocardial infarction (MI), commonly known as a heart attack, occurs when blood flow decreases or stops to the coronary artery of the heart, causing damage to the heart muscle. The most common symptom is chest pain or discomfort which ma ...

. He and his wife, Ann, had two children, Chuck and Julie. He is a member of the Arkansas Sports Hall of Fame.

References

External links

*
Charlie Jones on Sports (Charlie's own blog)NBC's Charlie Jones, 1930–2008
*
NBC sportscaster Charlie Jones dies
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Jones, Charlie 1930 births 2008 deaths American Football League announcers American game show hosts American television sports announcers Association football commentators California Angels announcers Cincinnati Reds announcers College basketball announcers in the United States College football announcers Colorado Rockies announcers Dallas Texans announcers Golf writers and broadcasters Los Angeles Rams announcers Canadian Football League announcers Major League Baseball broadcasters Motorsport announcers National Football League announcers Notre Dame Fighting Irish football announcers Olympic Games broadcasters People from Fort Smith, Arkansas Pete Rozelle Radio-Television Award recipients Swimming commentators Tennis commentators Track and field broadcasters United States Air Force airmen University of Arkansas people University of Southern California alumni