Jim Nantz
From Hoopedia
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Early Life
Nantz grew up in Colts Neck, New Jersey and attended Marlboro High School where he was co-captain of the basketball team and co-captain and number one player on the golf team. He was a member of Bamm Hollow Country Club.
Nantz then went to the University of Houston in Texas, where he majored in broadcasting and played on the golf team, rooming with future professional golfers Fred Couples and Blaine McCallister. While in college he was a member of Zeta Beta Tau.
Before CBS Sports
After his 1981 graduation, Nantz broadcast for several local radio and television stations in Houston and Salt Lake City, then became a play-by-play announcer for the Brigham Young University football team and the Utah Jazz of the National Basketball Association.
At CBS
In 1985 Nantz was hired by CBS, for which he served as a play-by-play announcer and/or studio anchor for a number of events including the NFL, the NBA, college football and basketball, The Masters and PGA Championship golf tournaments, the U.S. Open (tennis) championship, and the Winter Olympic Games.
Nantz has teamed with Billy Packer to call the NCAA Final Four men's basketball finals continuously since 1991.
Quotes
- "Hello, friends!" (Nantz's usual opening line on broadcasts)
- "The Bear...has come out of hibernation." (final round of 1986 Masters, referring to Jack Nicklaus)
- "A win for the ages!" (1997 Masters)
- "I don’t want to hear about bumpy greens, I don’t want to hear about six-hour rounds. This is the showpiece for the PGA Tour. Get out here and play." (prior to the final round at Pebble Beach, talking about the Tiger Woods no-show)
- "Just when everybody says you can't, you can, and U-CONN has won its first national title!" (1999 NCAA Basketball Championship Game, Connecticut vs. Duke)
- "Yes you May." (2000 PGA Championship)
- "There it is -- as grand as it gets!" (2001 Masters)
- "The mecca of college basketball is in Storrs, Connecticut!" (2004 NCAA Tournament, as Emeka Okafor and the UCONN men joined the UCONN women as NCAA Champs)
- "Is it his time?...Yes!" (2004 Masters, as Phil Mickelson made the tournament-winning shot for his first major)
- "Watch his life change right here." (2004 Masters, while watching Mickelson's reaction to his winning putt on videotape)
- "It started in March, ended in April, and belonged to May" (2005 NCAA Tournament)
- "Gators... as good as it gets" (2006 NCAA Tournament)
- "Florida takes its place in history, back-to-back and unforgettable!" (2007 NCAA Tournament)
- "A tradition unlike any other, The Masters on CBS." (Used annually during promos for and coverage of the tournament, although not always by Nantz)
