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N.F.L.|Mike Patrick, Voice of Sunday Night N.F.L. Games on ESPN, Dies at 80
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/04/23/sports/football/mike-patrick-dead.html
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He did the cable network’s play-by-play for college basketball, football and baseball games, but his most important assignment was “Sunday Night Football.”
Richard Sandomir covered sports broadcasting for The Times for 25 years.
April 23, 2025, 6:09 p.m. ET
Mike Patrick, a versatile sportscaster for ESPN who called National Football League games on Sunday nights for 18 years, died on Sunday in Fairfax, Va. He was 80.
His death, in a hospital, was confirmed by his physician, Dr. Mark Vasiliadis. Kevin Kiley, a friend and former colleague at ESPN, said Mr. Patrick had been treated for heart and kidney illnesses.
Mr. Patrick was one of ESPN’s best-known announcers, calling college basketball, football and baseball, in addition to N.F.L. games. He brought a commanding voice and an unobtrusive style that made it easy for analysts to work with him.
“He was probably as egoless an announcer as I’ve ever worked with,” Fred Gaudelli, the producer of ESPN’s “Sunday Night Football” games for 11 years, said in an interview. “He had a very natural way of announcing, not as a carnival barker or a screamer.”
Paul Maguire, who worked with Mr. Patrick and Joe Theismann on the Sunday night games, said: “One thing about Mike is that he made the three-man booth work. He was the leader. Joe and I were followers when he took the reins.”
ESPN, which launched in 1979, did not get the rights to televise N.F.L. games until eight years later. It was a coup for the cable network, even if the package was for games played only in the second half of the season. Mr. Patrick almost did not get the job.
