Jim Nantz

Bio

Jim Nantz, the four-time Emmy Award winner and five-time National Sportscaster of the Year, joined the CBS Television Network in 1985. He currently serves as the lead play-by-play announcer for THE NFL ON CBS, including the Super Bowl and the lead anchor of CBS’s golf coverage, including the PGA Tour, Masters and the PGA Championship. In February 2024, Jim called his 7th Super Bowl in Las Vegas, which was the most watched telecast in history with over 120 million viewers.

The 2023 Final Four in Houston marked Jim’s final season covering NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball after a 32-year Final Four run. In 2007, Nantz became the first commentator in history to complete the rare broadcasting trifecta – calling the Super Bowl, NCAA Men’s Final Four and the Masters all in a span of 63 days. Nantz once again repeated this trifecta in 2010, 2013 and 2016. In 2019 and 2021, Nantz completed an even rarer quintet, calling the AFC Championship, Super Bowl, Final Four, Masters and PGA Championship in a span of 120 days.

Nantz received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Broadcasting + Cable Hall of Fame in May 2023, the PGA of America Hall of Fame in November 2023, and he was inducted into the National Sports Media Association Hall of Fame in December 2021. He was honored in 2019 with the Arnie Award, presented to Golfers Who Give Back and reflect the values and generosity of Arnold Palmer by the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, the Monterey Peninsula Foundation and Golf Digest. In December 2018, Nantz was inducted into the Sports Broadcasting Hall of Fame and in August 2018, Nantz received the 2018 Ambassador of Golf Award presented by the PGA Tour. This award honors a person who has fostered the ideals of the game on an international level and whose concern for others extends beyond the golf course. In August 2011, Nantz received the Pro Football Hall of Fame Pete Rozelle Radio-Television Award. He is the youngest recipient ever of this award. Nantz also was honored by the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame as its youngest recipient of the Curt Gowdy Media Award in 2002.

On January 19, 2011, Nantz returned to his adopted hometown of Houston to team with Houston Methodist Hospital at The Texas Medical Center to create the Nantz National Alzheimer Center (NNAC). The NNAC is dedicated to funding innovative diagnostic discoveries for early and accurate detection of Alzheimer’s disease and other dementing illnesses in hopes of one day finding a cure (www.nantzfriends.org). Among many research studies, physician-scientists at the NNAC are leading ongoing key clinical research trials studying Lecanemab and Donanemab drugs’ effectiveness in decreasing the amount of amyloid plaque in the brain. Nantz’s father, Jim Nantz Jr., himself a former college football player and lifelong inspiration to his broadcaster son, suffered from the ravages of Alzheimer’s disease for 13 years and Nantz chronicled his father’s story in the instant New York Times bestseller, Always By My Side. Co-authored with Eli Spielman, the book climbed to No.3 on the New York Times list, making it the highest ranking achieved by a sports book in 2008 and the inspiration for Nantz to open the NNAC. The foreword to the book was written by a dear friend who was a father figure as well, former President George H.W. Bush.
Nantz, along with wine industry veteran Peter Deutsch, CEO of Deutsch Family Wine & Spirits, formed the Deutsch Nantz Alliance (DNA) to produce an artisanal Sonoma fine wine brand named The Calling (thecallingwine.com). Released in June 2012, The Calling wines are handcrafted from Sonoma’s finest varietals with Char¬donnay and Pinot Noir cultivated in the Russian River Valley and Cabernet Sauvi¬gnon in Alexander Valley. The Calling wines are highly regarded by the press and have been awarded numerous scores of 90 and above. Wine Spectator named The Calling one of the “Top 100 Wines in the World” in 2017 and Wine Enthusiast ranked The Calling Dutton Ranch Chardonnay #15 in the world in December 2018 and the Searby Chardonnay one of Wine Enthusiast’s Top 100 Wines of 2022.

Nantz graduated in 1981 with a degree in radio/television from the University of Houston, where he was recruited as a member of the golf team. In May 2001, he received an honorary doctorate of humane letters from his alma mater, becoming its first former student-athlete to ever deliver the commencement address and be bestowed an honorary degree at the university.