Legendary Voice Of The Bulldogs Jack Cristil To Conclude Career Saturday
“All good things, as they say in the trade, must come to an end sooner or later,” Cristil said. “Please accept my genuine, my honest and heartfelt thank you for the kindness that you have displayed to me during my 58 years. It has been one genuine pleasure to be associated with such a magnificent university.
“The reason that I’m stepping down at this particular point – in conference with my physicians, Dr. Martin Lee in particular, it has been determined because of a deteriorating health situation which I’m experiencing it is necessary for me to immediately start some kidney dialysis.
“The Mississippi State University family is second to none. And as family I know you understand. Thank you very much, and may God’s blessings be upon you.”
During his legendary career as the voice of the Bulldogs, Cristil called 636 football games since 1953, or roughly 60 percent of every football game played in the history of the institution. He is in his 54th season as the men’s basketball play-by-play voice, having described the action of almost 55 percent of all the men’s basketball games played at the school. In all, Cristil delivered game description to Mississippi State fans across the Magnolia State and around the world for more than 1,500 collegiate contests.
Veteran color analyst Jim Ellis will assume play-by-play duties for the remainder of this men’s basketball season. An announcement on a permanent replacement will be made at a later date.
“Jack Cristil has connected with generations of Bulldog fans and is an icon for all who love the Maroon and White,” Mississippi State Director of Athletics Scott Stricklin said. “No school’s broadcaster is as synonymous with their institution as Jack Cristil is with Mississippi State. Jack’s decision leaves a large void. All Mississippians appreciate his dedication and sacrifice, and he will always be the Voice of the Bulldogs.”
It was in August 1953 that Cristil sent audition tapes to Mississippi State Director of Athletics C.R. “Dudy” Noble, and just one month later the association between Cristil and the university began. His announcing career began with a 34-6 win over then-Memphis State in his Tennessee birthplace Sept. 19, 1953. Appropriately, his last football game was State’s 52-14 win against Michigan at the Gator Bowl in Jacksonville, Fla., this past Jan.
Cristil’s first basketball season was 1957-58, the third of legendary head coach Babe McCarthy’s tenure. Like football, his first men’s basketball game was an 80-56 win at Union, in Jackson, Tenn., the city in which he launched his broadcasting career 10 years earlier.
A winner of numerous broadcasting laurels during his career, Cristil was most recently presented the Lindsey Nelson Award, given annually to the nation’s premier sports broadcaster. He was honored with the prestigious College Football Foundation Chris Schenkel Award in 1997 for excellence in college sports broadcasting. Nelson and Schenkel were longtime national award-winning broadcasters. In 1992, Cristil received the Ronald Reagan Lifetime Achievement Award from the National Association of Sportscasters and Sportswriters. That same year, he was also the first non-coach/non-athlete to ever be inducted into the Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame. Cristill was inducted into the Mississippi State Sports Hall of Fame in 2003.
A winner of the Mississippi Sportscaster of the Year Award a record 21 times, Cristil was named the Southeastern Conference’s Broadcaster of the Year in 1988.
During his early years working at Mississippi State, Cristil served in advertising sales at WELO Radio and later WTVA-TV in Tupelo, Miss., where he has resided since 1955.
Prior to coming to Mississippi State, Cristil broke into the profession as a minor league baseball broadcaster, working in Jackson, Tenn., Anniston, Ala., Clarksdale, Miss., and Memphis. He has also broadcast countless high school and junior college games through the years.
From 1947-48, Cristil studied broadcast journalism at the University of Minnesota before returning home to Memphis and eventually launching his professional career.
Cristil, who survives his late wife Mavis, is the father of two daughters, Kay Clouatre Cristil and Rebecca Nelson. He also has one grandson, Jake Clouatre, and one granddaughter Lindsey Newhall. Cristil was born Dec. 10, 1925, in Memphis.