Mike Patrick, veteran ESPN broadcaster and voice of 'Sunday Night Football,' dies at 80

Time of India

23-04-2025

Mike Patrick
, a familiar voice to generations of sports fans and one of
ESPN
's earliest and most enduring broadcasters, has died at age 80. He passed away on Sunday in Fairfax, Virginia, due to natural causes, according to his longtime physician and friend.
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Patrick joined ESPN in 1982, during its formative years, and spent 35 years with the network. He quickly became a prominent voice across multiple sports, most famously anchoring
Sunday Night Football
from 1987 until the franchise moved to NBC in 2006. During his tenure, he worked with analysts like Roy Firestone, Joe Theismann, and
Paul Maguire
.
'Mike Patrick called countless significant events over decades at ESPN and is one of the most influential on-air voices in our history,' said Burke Magnus, president of content at ESPN.
'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.'
Beyond Football: A Versatile Sports Voice
Patrick's broadcasting reach extended far beyond professional football. He called college football and both men's and women's basketball games for ESPN, becoming a trusted and recognizable presence on marquee matchups , especially those within the Atlantic Coast Conference.
He covered over 30
ACC basketball
championships and was the voice of ESPN's Women's Final Four from 1996 to 2009. His resume also included more than a decade of work on the
College World Series
between 2003 and 2014.
'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,' said longtime colleague Dick Vitale, who affectionately dubbed Patrick 'Mr.
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ACC.'
Patrick's final broadcast was the 2017 AutoZone Liberty Bowl. He retired from ESPN the following year in 2018.
Humble Beginnings and Lasting Legacy
Born in 1944 in Clarksburg, West Virginia, Patrick grew up in the Chestnut Hills neighborhood and graduated from Washington Irving High School. He discovered his passion for broadcasting at George Washington University after stumbling on a campus poster inviting students to join the college radio station, WRGW.
'I went upstairs at 12:30 on a Monday afternoon and said, 'I'd like to be a sportscaster.' They said, 'Oh, we've got a show at 4.' … I had no idea what I was going to do, but I did the show from 4 to 5 that day, and I was hooked,' he recalled in a 2018 interview.
After college, Patrick worked in various broadcast roles, including stints as a local sports reporter in Jacksonville, Florida, and Washington, D.C., before joining ESPN.
In retirement, he remained a celebrated figure in his hometown. The city of Clarksburg honored him with a commemorative sign on the Second Street Parking Garage ramp. 'Mike Patrick's voice may have fallen silent, but his legacy as one of America's greatest sportscasters and a proud son of Clarksburg will endure,' the city said in a statement.
Remembering the Man Behind the Mic
Reflecting on his career, Patrick once said: 'It's wonderful to reflect on how I've done exactly what I wanted to do with my life.
At the same time, I've had the great pleasure of working with some of the very best people I've ever known, both on the air and behind the scenes.'
Mike Patrick leaves behind a legacy of professionalism, passion, and an unmistakable voice that became part of the soundtrack of American sports.