Legendary announcer Mike Patrick dies at age 80

Field Level Media|published: Tue 22nd April, 17:32 2025

The ESPN logo is seen on an electronic display in Times Square in New York City, U.S., August 23, 2017.

Longtime NFL "Sunday Night Football" play-by-play announcer Mike Patrick has died. He was 80.

Patrick reportedly died of natural causes on Sunday in Fairfax, Va. The City of Clarksburg, W.Va., Patrick's hometown, confirmed his death on Tuesday.

Patrick spent 36 years at ESPN from 1982-2018, including 19 seasons (1987-2005) on the NFL Sunday broadcast crew. He called ESPN's first NFL regular-season broadcast in 1987.

Among Patrick's color analysts were Joe Theismann and Paul Maguire. Suzy Kolber was the sideline reports for several of those years.

Longtime ESPN broadcaster Mike Patrick, dead at 80 #RIP #MikePatrick #ttm #ESPN #media #broadcaster #Sports pic.twitter.com/wWIEbQhEmv
— Mark's Signing Bonus (@signing_s) April 22, 2025

Patrick also handled play-by-play on college football and college basketball broadcasts as well as the College World Series. He was the voice for the Women's Final Four basketball coverage for 14 seasons (1996-2009).

He often was paired with Dick Vitale on the college basketball duties.

Patrick's final game for ESPN was the 2017 Liberty Bowl between Iowa State and Memphis.

--Field Level Media