Mike Patrick obit

Mike Patrick, longtime football and basketball broadcaster, dies at 80

 He was not on the list.

Mike Patrick, ESPN's first play-by-play announcer for its NFL coverage, has died. He was 80.

Patrick's physician and longtime friend sent a text to friends of the longtime announcer that Patrick passed away in Fairfax, Virginia, on Sunday due to natural causes.

Patrick joined ESPN in 1982 and was with the network for 35 years.

Mike Patrick called countless significant events over decades at ESPN and is one the most influential on-air voices in our history. In addition to calling ESPN's first-ever regular season NFL game and voicing the 'Sunday Night Football' franchise, Mike's work on college sports was exceptional," said Burke Magnus, president of content for ESPN. "For 36 years, he called football and men's and women's basketball, including the Women's Final Four and so many historic matchups between ACC rivals Duke and UNC. Our deepest condolences to Mike's family and his many friends throughout the industry."

Even though he called countless college football and basketball games, he is best known for his work on ESPN's "Sunday Night Football" from 1987 through 2005.

Patrick was teamed with Roy Firestone for the first season in 1987, before Joe Theismann became the lead analyst the following season. Paul Maguire came aboard in 1998 to make it a three-man booth. Patrick missed most of the 2004 season due to open heart surgery.

NBC took over the Sunday night package in 2006 when ESPN became the home of "Monday Night Football."

Dick Vitale called Patrick "Mr. ACC" because of his love for doing big games from the conference.

"Mike had great energy and a keen knowledge of ACC basketball, and I truly enjoyed sitting next to him calling so many special games over the years," Vitale said in a statement.

Patrick also did play-by-play for the women's Final Four from 1996 through 2009 and the College World Series from 2003-14.

Before joining ESPN, Patrick worked in radio in Somerset, Pennsylvania, and was the sports director at television stadiums in Jacksonville, Florida, and Washington, D.C.

Patrick grew up in Clarksburg, West Virginia. He graduated from George Washington University with a bachelor of arts degree in speech.

Patrick began his broadcasting career in the fall of 1966 at WVSC-Radio (now WGGI) in Somerset, Pennsylvania. In 1970, he was named Sports Director at WJXT-TV in Jacksonville, Florida, where he provided play-by-play for Jacksonville Sharks' World Football League (WFL) telecasts (1973–74). He also called Jacksonville University basketball games on both radio and television.

From 1975 until 1982, he worked for WJLA-TV as a sports reporter and weekend anchor. During this period, Patrick also did play-by-play for Maryland Terrapins football and basketball broadcasts (1975-78) as well as pre-season games for the Washington Redskins (1975-82) when WJLA had the TV rights to broadcast those games.

In 1984 and 1985 Patrick called ACC games for Jefferson-Pilot Sports, with color commentators Kevin Kiley in 1984 and Haven Moses and Ken Willard in 1985.

He also called the October 19, 1985 Auburn vs Georgia Tech for CBS with color commentator Steve Davis. On December 21, 1985 Patrick called the Division 1-AA National Championship game on ESPN between Georgia Southern and Furman with color commentator Sam Adkins.

Patrick joined ESPN in 1982. He was best known for his role as play-by-play announcer on the network's Sunday Night Football telecasts, with Paul Maguire and Joe Theismann from 1987–2005. Patrick was briefly replaced in 2004 by Pat Summerall, while he recovered from heart bypass surgery.

For three seasons, from 1986 to 1988, he called college football on ESPN with color commentators Pat McInally (1986), Lee Corso (1987) and Kiley (1988). In 1989 he called three college games, two with commentators Gene Washington and one with Ben Bennett, while in 1990 he would call three more college games, two with Davis and on September 29 he would call his first game with commentator Mike Gottfried, calling the South Carolina vs Georgia Tech game. From 1991 through 1997, Patrick and Gottfried would call Thursday Night college football games on ESPN. In 2006, Patrick became the lead play-by-play announcer for ESPN on College Football Primetime, along with Todd Blackledge and field reporter Holly Rowe.

During the 2007 season, Patrick famously asked broadcast partner Todd Blackledge "what is Britney [Spears] doing with her life?" during overtime of an Alabama-Georgia game.

In July 2009, ESPN announced that Patrick would begin calling Saturday afternoon ESPN/ABC college football for the 2009 college football season, which he did through 2017.

In addition, Patrick called men's and women's college basketball, including the NCAA Women's Division I Basketball Championship from 1996 through 2009 and the College World Series in Omaha, Nebraska from 2003 until 2014, as well as several NFL playoff games for ABC Sports while the network held the Monday Night Football television package.

On February 21, 2018, Patrick retired from ESPN after 35 years with the network. His last event was the AutoZone Liberty Bowl on December 30, 2017.

Patrick was the play-by-play man for MVP 06: NCAA Baseball as well as MVP 07: NCAA Baseball.

For 2015, 2016 and 2017, Patrick did play-by-play for the Cleveland Browns preseason football games.

Patrick was inducted into the Jacksonville University Hall of Fame in 2009.

Patrick resided in northern Virginia with his wife, Janet.

On April 20, 2025, Patrick died in Fairfax, Virginia of natural causes at the age of 80.