The Iconic Voice behind “The Catch”: Vin Scully passes away at 94
The legendary voice of sports broadcaster Vin Scully will live on in sports infamy for numerous years to come, as Vin Scully had sadly passed away at the age of 94 years old on Tuesday night.
Most have known the great Vin Scully for his work with the Dodgers organization for 67 seasons calling games since humble beginnings in 1950 (for the formerly named Brooklyn Dodgers) and retiring in 2016, remembered for calling amazing moments like Hank Aaron breaking Babe Ruth’s home run record in 1974 to Kirk Gibson’s legendary World Series home run for the Dodgers in 1988.
The Dodgers released a statement in response of the death of the sports broadcaster, stating that “Vin Scully was the heartbeat of the Dodgers – and in so many ways, the heartbeat of all of Los Angeles.”
But many forget the cultural impact that Vin Scully’s voice had on the game of football as Vin Scully announced over 50 NFL games from 1975 to 1982 for CBS Sports, teaming with several different color analysts during his seven year stint in football with the likes of Paul Hornung, Jim Brown, John Madden, and Hank Stram.
During the 1984 NFL season, CBS Sports had to decide whether Vin Scully or Pat Summerall on who would be CBS lead play-by-play announcer next to star commentator John Madden.
After week 8 of the 1981-1982 NFL season, CBS Sports decided that Pat Summerall did better with fellow color commentator John Madden than Vin Scully did, with Summerall named to be the play-by-play announcer calling Super Bowl XVI for CBS on January 24, 1982, at the Pontiac Silverdome in Detroit, Michigan.
Remembering Vin
Vin Scully had then decided his last game announcing for CBS Sports was the 1982 NFC Championship game between the Dallas Cowboys versus The San Francisco 49ers, that he considered to be a consolation prize for not being allowed to do the Super Bowl, a game that would go down in NFL history as one of the most important football games of the 20th century.
Scully called Dwight Clark’s iconic touchdown catch in the NFC Championship Game on January 10, 1982, that put the San Francisco 49ers into Super Bowl XVI, saying in reaction to the marvelous catch that “It’s a madhouse at Candlestick”, in reference to the legendary Candlestick Park where the San Francisco 49ers played at from 1971 to 2013.
The Catch came after news of the death of San Francisco mayor Harvey Milk, who died from assassination for being the first openly gay man to be elected to public office in California.
The iconic football play that sent the San Francisco 49ers franchise to its first ever Super Bowl brought a city together during a time of ultimate tragedy and divide over politics, and continues to be remembered to this day, as ranked by NFL Network as NFL’s #2 greatest moment in NFL history for the league’s 100th anniversary special.
It was also the final NFL game Vin Scully had ever announced again for the rest of his life. “This was a hell of a game to quit doing football,” Scully said. Football was blessed to have an legend like Vin Scully in it’s good graces of infamy.
