AN EVENING WITH JIM NANTZ

JIM NANTZ

Jim Nantz, the three-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 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 and he was inducted into the National Sports Media Association Hall of Fame in December 2021. In December 2018, Nantz was inducted into the Sports Broadcasting Hall of Fame and in August 2011, Nantz received the Pro Football Hall of Fame Pete Rozelle Radio-Television Award. He was also honored by the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame as the 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). 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 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.

MODERATOR: DOTTIE PEPPER

Dottie Pepper is a 17-time winner on the LPGA Tour, including two major championships. She also represented the U.S. six times in the Solheim Cup! Dottie played on the LPGA Tour from 1988 until her retirement in 2004 when she began a career in television. Dottie is currently the lead walking reporter for CBS Sports coverage of the PGA Tour. She has covered every major championship in men’s golf and nearly every major championship in women’s golf.
Dottie has won numerous awards throughout her distinguished career including the 2016 William Richardson Award given by the Golf Writers Association of America for continuing contributions to golf, the 2021 Gold Tee Award by the Metropolitan Golf Writers Association for career achievements that exemplify the best spirit and traditions of the sport and the 2024 Old Tom Morris Award from the Golf Course Superintendents Association recognizing lifetime commitment to the game of golf.
Fun Fact: Dottie and her family lived in Toledo for a short time when she was a toddler while her father (Don Pepper) played first base for the Toledo Mud Hens.

COMEDIAN: JOEY MULINARO

JOEY MULINARO just wrapped a tour with Dos Equis and Fox for college football season, and hails from Indianapolis. Joey went viral for his impressions of Patrick Mahomes and Cris Collinsworth and continues to connect with his fans by reflecting the quirks and intricacies of various sports figures and the tapestry of everyday family life as a new millennial dad.  Joey can currently be heard as an impressionist on THE HOWARD STERN SHOW,  as well as These Guys! With Benedict Polizzi.