Jim Nantz Biography

Jim Nantz, born on May 17, 1959, has served as a sportscaster for CBS Sports since the 1980s, covering the NFL, NCAA basketball, the NBA, and the PGA Tour. Jim Nantz has served as CBS's lead play-by-play voice for the NFL since 2004 and has hosted the Masters Tournament broadcast since 1989. Nantz played on the University of Houston Cougars men's golf team and roomed with future professional golfers Fred Couples and Blaine McCallister. During his time at the university, he gained his first experience in sports broadcasting by transmitting taped interviews to Win Elliot for Sports Central USA weekend reports on the CBS Radio Network. Nantz joined CBS Sports in 1985, initially serving as a studio host for college football and basketball, and as an on-course reporter for PGA Tour golf, while also calling NFL games on Westwood One from 1988 to 1990. On October 4, 1987, he made his first on-air appearance during an NFL game, serving as a reporter during the Dallas Cowboys at New York Jets game, which featured replacement players during the NFL strike. He first called a full schedule of NFL games on play-by-play in 1991, working with analyst Hank Stram, and again in 1992, also pairing with Dan Fouts for two games in September when Pat Summerall was covering US Open tennis.