For Greenwood banker George Jarman, listening to Jack Cristil call Mississippi State football games is a fond memory of his young childhood.
“I am 51, and as far back as I can remember I have memories of my dad listening, and sometimes fussing, to Jack bring us the game on that transistor radio,” said Jarman, city president for Regions Bank. “His voice was always immediately identified with Mississippi State. He’s a legend and will be missed.”
After nearly six decades, the legendary MSU broadcaster is retiring as the voice of Bulldog football and basketball. Citing health issues, Cristil says Saturday’s basketball game at Tennessee will be his last.
Jim Quinn, 43, president of Planters Bank and Trust Co., says he grew up a MSU fan idolizing Cristil.
“Jack was more important than the players and coaches back then because at that time he was more interesting than them. Players and coaches came and went, but every September Jack was there for the start of another football season,” Quinn said.
The 85-year-old Cristil announced the decision during the postgame show following LSU’s 84-82 win over MSU Wednesday night, saying he needed kidney dialysis that required immediate attention.
“All good things, as they say in the trade, must come to an end sooner or later,” Cristil said on air following Wednesday’s game. “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.”
He was hired before the 1953 football season and has been a fixture on Mississippi State radio broadcasts over the past 58 years. He added basketball play-by-play duties in 1957.
During his legendary career as the voice of the Bulldogs, Cristil called more than 2,000 State athletic events, including 636 football games or roughly 60 percent of the football games in the school’s history.
“I will always remember when I was at State in 1980, listening to Jack broadcast our game against Ole Miss. John Bond was at quarterback running the option, and Jack said it’s not fancy, but every two plays we move the chains,” Jarman said.
Veteran color analyst Jim Ellis, 63, who has worked with Cristil during broadcasts since 1979, will assume play-by-play duties for the remainder of the basketball season. MSU said a permanent replacement will be selected after the season.
Cristil, a Memphis, Tenn., native, has been named the Mississippi Sportscaster of the Year 21 times and was named the SEC Broadcaster of the Year in 1988. In 1992, he was given the Ronald Reagan Lifetime Achievement Award and also inducted into the Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame.
• Contact Bill Burrus at bburrus@gwcommonwealth.com.
