Verne Lundquist discusses his final year calling CFB, A&M/UCLA

Key quotes from Verne Lundquist interview

“(This season) is going to be bittersweet I think.  Here is what I am hoping: Let me through the first one.  If I can do that, and I will obviously, then the coming weeks will be easier then toward the end it will get quite emotional because this has been a part of my life for a long time.  Ironically, I did a function here in Austin last night and I realized that when I was going over to the Long Center for the evening that it was 53 years ago yesterday that I first stepped in front of a television camera at Channel 7 in Austin.  I saw my first A&M game that year on Thanksgiving Friday, so I began my career in Austin in 1963 and I will begin my final season in College Station, two hours away.”

“I think I am finally getting comfortable in my old shoes.  I was not an overnight sensation and I will never forget that, I am not a sensation now.  I didn’t get my first full time network job until I was 42 years of age.  I was anything but a youthful phenom and that was in 1982 when I got the job at CBS.  Trust me on this, and you know this, this is a craft of very high peaks but very low valleys and I have had both.  We were laughing last night at this banquet and presentation I was at, that I didn’t make the cut for ABC in 1976 and I thought, 'That’s okay, I don’t need Innsbruck or Montreal.'

But when I didn’t make the cut for Lake Placid, I thought, 'This is not a good sign.' When Al Michaels was asking America, 'Do you believe in miracles?' I was in Peoria, Illinois backing up Chris Schenkel on the pro-bowlers tour.  I was never on the fast track at ABC, and I think that having worked so hard to be able to do what I wanted to do made the journey worthwhile and made the end result all the more wonderful for Nancy and me.  I said bittersweet at the start of this.  I am in my mid to late 70s, I just turned 76 this summer, and my dear friend Keith Jackson whom I idolized among all others, he said, '76, that is enough.'  I think that at this stage in my life, I love doing it and it has been such a big part of my professional life, but I think I need to step back and give way to the younger guys.”

“It will help that I will still do some other things like the Masters and the NCAA Tournament.  I must say this, Sean McManus who is my boss, this was a collaborative thing.  He and I talked about this for the last three or four years. He never said to me, 'You tell me when you want to go.' We were in cahoots this whole time.  I got the lifetime Emmy award back in May, my wife was there and my brother and sister in-law was there.  Shortly after that, Sean and I had a talk and he asked me what I thought. I said to him, 'Well, it is all downhill after this.'  It certainly isn’t all downhill after that, but I was never going to feel the way I felt that night in New York City, and it is time.  Sean mentioned in a conference call last week, and I understand that I am one of the few guys in a very precarious craft, this is not something for the weary if you want to get involved in this business.  I am one of the few guys that Sean said would be able to go out on top, and I am very appreciative of that.”

“I would say the Johnny Manziel play against Alabama was one of my favorites.  I still don’t believe that he fumbled that ball and caught it in midair. Gary didn’t believe either until we saw it on replay.  I think the Aggie win at Alabama was special, and what made it special for me was the common thread of Bear Bryant.  The Alabama people who are terrific, as are the Aggies, invited all of the survivors of the Junction Boys to come to Tuscaloosa for that game.  On Friday night before the game, I can’t remember the exact number but there were 29 or 30 of them, some of them have passed on since.  Alabama gave the Junction Boys a room and we videotaped their reminiscence.

I sat in the middle of John David Crow and Gene Stallings on high chairs, we let the cameras roll and I made an introductory comment, and John David and Gene took over after that.  That is about two hours of footage that has never been seen publicly.  That videotape exists in a storage space in Atlanta.  That whole weekend was amazing to me because of the generosity of the Alabama people and the eagerness of the Aggies to come and fill the stands. Of course that game is going to be a part of legend at A&M because of how Manziel and the Aggies knocked them off.  That is one of my favorites.

My other two favorites I would say, I can’t let go of the 109-yard missed field goal return by Chris Davis for Auburn.  I told the story again last night, someone called me that night after the game, a wire service guy, and he said, 'You have been lucky and have seen a lot of things in your life, but a 109-yard missed field goal return has to be up there?'  He asked me where it ranked and I told him it was tied for number two.  He told me I had high standards.  It is age preferential, but getting to call Nicklaus’ winning putt is always going to be very special for me.  The next morning I woke up and I read online that Mike Vaccaro of the New York Post wrote a column about eight reasons he felt Chris Davis’ missed field goal return is the greatest finish in all of sports.  I swallowed really hard and thought I should rethink.  The miracle at Jordan Hare on the tipped ball by Ricardo Louis is up there as well.

“I will always have a place in my heart for the first game I ever did, which was September 2000.  My partner was Todd Blackledge and we did Florida at Tennessee in front of 107,000 fans.  I had never been to a game at Neyland and Jesse Palmer hit Jabar Gafne,y in which he either did or didn’t make the catch, with 14 seconds to go. I thought he didn’t make the catch, but I wasn’t that close to it.  Anyways, it was a 27-23 final in my first SEC game ever and we go off the air and I said, 'Todd, are they all this good?'  He laughed and said, 'enough of them.' Those are the handful of my favorite moments and I also think Tebow losing at LSU 28-24 in primetime when Les Miles gambled and went for it on fourth down plays five times and converted all five of them."

“Kyle Field has a very special place in my heart and always has.  I saw my first game there in November 1963 and it was against an undefeated Texas who ended up winning the game 15-13, but by the hair on their chinny chin chin.  I did my first national telecast there in 1975 so I have a lot of very special moments at Kyle Field.  I think this, and Gary made this point during a conference call that we had, I think it is a big game for Kevin Sumlin and that goes without saying.  It is tough when you go 8-5 back-to-back after you have two brilliant seasons in the SEC. That there is such thing as a hot seat, I kind of hate that term.  I think it is important for Kevin Sumlin and the Aggies to get off to a fast start and they have done that, they have played very well at the beginning of recent seasons.

Gary made this point also, he thinks it is bigger for UCLA and the Pac-12 in that they need to make a statement and come in and knock off an SEC team. I was a little surprised that the Aggies are favored, it is the length of a field goal and home field advantage.  The placekicker for UCLA is a freshman from Canada and the largest crowd before which he has performed is 1,000.  He is going to look at 500 people in the end zone and multiply that by two hundred and ask what he has gotten himself into.  It is interesting to me that Kyle Field has not been the most difficult environment in which to play recently, but I expect the home field advantage will kind of tip the balance. But I like the fact that first off all, we have one of the great defenses in the country (in A&M) if they can find somebody in the middle especially with how good that secondary is.  I think John Chavis’ team will dictate, and even without Speedy Noil A&M has three brilliant receivers.  I like the Aggies chances in this game.”