Is it having a special collection of all the right tools? Again, check.<\/p>\n
\u201cHis voice was butterscotch,\u201d recalls Sports Broadcasting Hall of Famer\u00a0David Hill<\/strong>, former president of Fox Sports. \u201cMagnificent timbre, mellow but magisterial, good breath control, and his use of the pause was masterly.\u201d<\/p>\n Is some part of it luck? Being in the right place at the right time for some of the most memorable moments in modern sports: Mark McGwire\u2019s 62nd home run. The David Tyree Catch in Super Bowl XLII. The final out of the Boston Red Sox World Series Championship in 2004 and the Chicago Cubs\u2019 in 2016. The Minneapolis Miracle.<\/p>\n \u201cIn my opinion, he\u2019s the\u00a0Curt Gowdy<\/strong>\u00a0of this generation \u2014 doing it all from the Super Bowl, World Series, and U.S. Open to bass fishing, horse racing and everything in between,\u201d says longtime Fox Sports producer\u00a0Pete Macheska<\/strong>. \u201cHis voice is synonymous with some of the biggest moments and brightest spotlights, entertaining without ever getting in the way of the story unfolding on our screens. An industry-defining broadcaster and exceptional person. There aren\u2019t many like Joe Buck.\u201d<\/p>\n Or is it something more? Maybe what makes a play-by-play man generational is being just the right voice to meet the moment, however wild or unpredictable those moments may be.<\/p>\n \u201cJoe is an amazing talent and one of the greatest play-by-play guys in sports television,\u201d says\u00a0Rich Russo<\/strong>, a veteran director at Fox Sports who was at the front bench for many of Buck\u2019s NFL broadcasts. \u201cWhen you turned on a game on Fox and heard his voice, you just knew it was a huge game and a big event. Joe has had some of the most iconic calls in the history of sports television. He has an incredible ability to know and understand the moment and when to make a call and when to just lay out and let the pictures speak for themselves.\u201d<\/p>\n Hill and Sports Broadcasting Hall of Famer and former Fox Sports Vice Chairman\u00a0Ed Goren<\/strong>\u00a0had already secured their squad, bringing in a team of Hall of Famers, the legendary\u00a0Pat Summerall<\/strong>\u00a0and\u00a0John Madden<\/strong>, to lead its first foray into football. They had even signed another iconic veteran of the business,\u00a0Dick Stockton<\/strong>. Now they wanted that younger voice, someone who would take the brand into the next generation.<\/p>\n \u201c[When we were starting Fox Sports,] I wanted young, fresh voices,\u201d says Hill. \u201cI knew of Jack Buck by repute, and I\u2019m a great believer in bloodlines. Even though Secretariat sired winners like Rising Star and Lady\u2019s Secret, none of his progeny came close to emulating his remarkable career. So it was with some trepidation that I [watched Joe\u2019s] tape. Boom. This kid knew his stuff.\u201d<\/p>\n At just 25 years old, Buck became the youngest man to ever call a regular slate of NFL games, and both Fox Sports\u2019 legacy and Buck\u2019s career were headed to the moon.<\/p>\n In 1996, Fox Sports landed the rights to Major League Baseball, and Buck became the lead voice on the package, following in his father\u2019s footsteps and calling baseball, the sport most closely associated with his father. Joe Buck and baseball became similarly linked. Over the next quarter century, his voice accompanied every marquee moment for the sports, including 22 MLB All-Star Games and 24 World Series. He was the youngest person ever to call a World Series game for a broadcast network.<\/p>\n And there was Mark McGwire\u2019s 62nd homerun in 1998. The Yankees dynasty of the late \u201990s. The breaking of the Curse of the Bambino in 2004. The first championships for two long-suffering fanbases in Chicago. Even an unforgettable throwback to his father in the 2011 World Series: when David Freese\u2019s walk-off home run sailed out of Busch Stadium to win Game 6, Joe summoned the words bellowed by his father when Kirby Puckett won Game 6 of the 1991 World Series with a home run: \u201cWe\u2019ll see you tomorrow night!\u201d<\/p>\n In 2002, he doubled up his duties and became the lead voice of the NFL on Fox, partnered from the get-go with Super Bowl-winning former Dallas Cowboys quarterback\u00a0Troy Aikman<\/strong>. For more than two decades, the pair has called 280+ regular-season games, 40 playoff games, 18 NFC Championship Games, and six Super Bowls.<\/p>\n \u201cJoe does every aspect of the job while never missing a moment,\u201d says Aikman, \u201calways having a keen sense of timing and elevating every meaningful situation. Simply, he is the best I\u2019ve ever seen.<\/p>\n From annual Thanksgiving Games to the greatest comeback in Super Bowl history \u2014 the New England Patriots\u2019 win over the Atlanta Falcons in Super Bowl LI \u2014 Buck has become a regular guest in the homes of Americans, taking them through the biggest nights of their falls and winters \u2014 at times under-appreciated, at others just the voice you wanted calling a play destined for the history books. Through it all, he has won the Sports Emmy for Best Play-by-Play a record-tying eight times. Buck is currently in his 29th season calling NFL games, which has been marked by a monumental shift to ESPN and the iconic\u00a0Monday Night Football\u00a0<\/em>brand.<\/em>\u00a0He made the move with Aikman.<\/p>\n \u201cJoe is one of my closest friends, a relationship that extends well beyond the broadcast booth,\u201d says Aikman. \u201cTo have a trusted friend alongside me, calling some of the most meaningful and significant games in sports history, is an element I cherish. But just has important to me are all the great times we have with one another and our families away from the camera.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":1631,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"tags":[58],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sportsbroadcastinghalloffame.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/inductees\/1630"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sportsbroadcastinghalloffame.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/inductees"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sportsbroadcastinghalloffame.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/inductees"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sportsbroadcastinghalloffame.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1631"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sportsbroadcastinghalloffame.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1630"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sportsbroadcastinghalloffame.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1630"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.sportsvideo.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/Screen-Shot-2022-12-08-at-2.38.23-PM.png\")
<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a>Buck got the call-up to the big leagues in 1991, joining his father, Sports Broadcasting Hall of Famer\u00a0Jack Buck<\/strong>, in the radio and television booths for the Cardinals. But it was when Fox Sports launched in 1994 that he got his big break.<\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n