Background and career
James William Nantz III (born May 17, 1959) is an American sportscaster who has worked on telecasts of the National Football League (NFL), NCAA Division I men's basketball, the NBA, and the PGA Tour for CBS Sports since 1985. He has anchored CBS's coverage of the Masters Tournament since 1989 and been the lead play-by-play announcer on CBS's NFL coverage since 2004. He was also the lead broadcaster for the NCAA men's basketball tournament from 1990 to 2023.
Born in Charlotte, North Carolina, Nantz grew up in New Orleans, Louisiana, Colts Neck Township, New Jersey, and Marlboro Township, New Jersey, where he attended Marlboro High School. In high school, he was co-captain of the basketball team and co-captain and number one player on the golf team. He was a member of Bamm Hollow Country Club. Nantz then matriculated at the University of Houston where he played on the Cougars men's golf team, rooming with future professional golfers Fred Couples and Blaine McCallister. He graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Radio and Television Broadcasting in 1981. It was during this time that Nantz got his first experience in sports broadcasting with the CBS Radio Network, transmitting taped interviews to Win Elliot for the latter's Sports Central USA weekend reports.
Nantz started as an anchor and sportscaster for KHOU in Houston, Texas, in the early 1980s and then became a weekend sports anchor on KSL-TV in Salt Lake City (1982–1985) where he called BYU football games and Utah Jazz games along with Hot Rod Hundley.
Nantz joined CBS Sports in 1985, initially working as a studio host for CBS's college football and basketball coverage, and as an on-course reporter for PGA Tour golf, as well as calling NFL games on Westwood One (from 1988 to 1990, when he was moved to television, Nantz called Sunday Night Football games for what was then called CBS Radio Sports). In 1989, he moved from the college football studio show to play-by-play for two seasons, calling a full season of games including the Army-Navy game and the Cotton Bowl, with analysts Pat Haden (in 1989) and Tim Brant (in 1990). Nantz has anchored CBS' coverage of the Masters Tournament since 1989. Following Brent Musburger's ouster from CBS in 1990, Nantz moved into the lead play-by-play role on the NCAA Final Four men's basketball finals, working with Billy Packer (1991–2008), Clark Kellogg (2009–2013), Steve Kerr (2011–2014), and Greg Anthony (2013–2014). Nantz's most recent partners on March Madness coverage were Bill Raftery and Grant Hill. In October 2022, Nantz announced his intention to step away from basketball coverage to spend time with family and will be replaced by Ian Eagle. Nantz opens each of his broadcasts by saying, "Hello, friends". The greeting came about as a way for Nantz to identify himself to his father, who had been suffering from Alzheimer's disease. Nantz's broadcast style includes a penchant for informing listeners of historical facts or statistics regarding athletes or situations as a competition progresses.
On October 4, 1987, Nantz made his first on-air appearance during an NFL game when he served as a reporter during the Dallas Cowboys at New York Jets game during the NFL strike in a game which featured replacement players, he appeared outside the stadium and in the crowd interviewing fans, in a time before sideline reporters were commonplace at regular season games. It would be his only appearance on CBS's NFL coverage during the 1987 season. In 1988, Nantz would work his first NFL play-by-play assignments, covering the October 16 Tampa Bay Buccaneers at Indianapolis Colts game (with his college football partner Haden) and the December 4 Dallas Cowboys at Cleveland Browns game (with analyst Ken Stabler). In 1989, Nantz would call three more NFL games (with Haden), and in 1990 he would call two games with analyst Tim Brant. Nantz would work a full schedule of NFL games on play-by-play for the first time in 1991, calling games with analyst Hank Stram and would then work again with Stram during the 1992 season, also paring with Dan Fouts for two games in September 1992 (when Pat Summerall was calling US Open tennis). On October 4, 1992, he paired with analyst Randy Cross when Cross' regular broadcast partner, Dick Stockton, was covering MLB baseball. For the 1993 season, Nantz would join Cross full-time, and they would be assigned to the January 16, 1994 NFC Divisional Playoff game between the Green Bay Packers and the Dallas Cowboys.
CBS would lose the NFL contract after the 1993 season, and Nantz would return to college football and call three games during the next two seasons, the 1994 Sun Bowl (with analyst Doug Flutie), and during the 1995 season, both the Sun Bowl and the Fiesta Bowl, with analyst Terry Donahue. He would work with Donahue again for a full season of play-by-play in 1996, while in 1997 he would return to hosting the College Football studio show.
