ILS1
04-27-2006, 04:06 AM
NBCSports.com news services
Updated: 4:29 a.m. ET April 27, 2006
Whoa, Nellie! Keith Jackson is retiring for good, the New York Times reported Thursday.
Jackson said he would retire from broadcasting college football for ABC Sports, the newspaper reported.
"I'm finished with play-by-play forever," Jackson said in a telephone interview, the Times reported. "I'm going out to learn to be a senior citizen and find a president I can vote for and believe in."
Jackson said he's "not angry. I'm just going off like an old man and sitting by the creek," the Times reported.
Jackson, who had been in broadcasting at ABC Sports since the 1960s, was best known as the voice of college football. He spent some 40 years calling the action in a folksy, down-to-earth manner that made him one of the most popular play-by-play personalities in the business.
Jackson said ESPN and ABC tried to get him to return for another year, but “I couldn't have done under any circumstances” the schedule they offered him, the New York Times reported.
The 77-year-old broadcaster had originally announced a retirement after the 1998 season, but he returned to broadcast mostly West Coast, Pac-10 Conference games.
Jackson said the early schedule offered to him had him going to East Lansing, Mich., and State College, Pa., the Times reported.
"Been there, done that," Jackson said, the newspaper reported. He added that he was feeling his age and "this is the perfect time," the Times reported.
Norby Williams, the ESPN and ABC Sports official who spoke with Jackson, said he offered a similar schedule to last year's for Jackson, the newspaper reported.
"When he expressed to us that he was considering retirement, we repeatedly tried to convince him otherwise, but completely respect his decision," Williamson said, the Times reported.
Jackson didn't sound too broken up about his decision, the Times reported.
"I don't want to die in a stadium parking lot," the broadcaster said, the newspaper reported.
Story Link (www.msnbc.msn.com/id/12507602/)
Updated: 4:29 a.m. ET April 27, 2006
Whoa, Nellie! Keith Jackson is retiring for good, the New York Times reported Thursday.
Jackson said he would retire from broadcasting college football for ABC Sports, the newspaper reported.
"I'm finished with play-by-play forever," Jackson said in a telephone interview, the Times reported. "I'm going out to learn to be a senior citizen and find a president I can vote for and believe in."
Jackson said he's "not angry. I'm just going off like an old man and sitting by the creek," the Times reported.
Jackson, who had been in broadcasting at ABC Sports since the 1960s, was best known as the voice of college football. He spent some 40 years calling the action in a folksy, down-to-earth manner that made him one of the most popular play-by-play personalities in the business.
Jackson said ESPN and ABC tried to get him to return for another year, but “I couldn't have done under any circumstances” the schedule they offered him, the New York Times reported.
The 77-year-old broadcaster had originally announced a retirement after the 1998 season, but he returned to broadcast mostly West Coast, Pac-10 Conference games.
Jackson said the early schedule offered to him had him going to East Lansing, Mich., and State College, Pa., the Times reported.
"Been there, done that," Jackson said, the newspaper reported. He added that he was feeling his age and "this is the perfect time," the Times reported.
Norby Williams, the ESPN and ABC Sports official who spoke with Jackson, said he offered a similar schedule to last year's for Jackson, the newspaper reported.
"When he expressed to us that he was considering retirement, we repeatedly tried to convince him otherwise, but completely respect his decision," Williamson said, the Times reported.
Jackson didn't sound too broken up about his decision, the Times reported.
"I don't want to die in a stadium parking lot," the broadcaster said, the newspaper reported.
Story Link (www.msnbc.msn.com/id/12507602/)