Pat Summerall honored at luncheon

Photo by Joni B. Hannigan

Legendary sportcaster Pat Summerall (l), a member of First Baptist Church, Euless, Texas, shares a minute with Joe Ford, vice chairman of the Augusta National Golf Club.

JACKSONVILLE (BP)--Lake City native Pat Summerall was honored at a Legends for Charity Luncheon on the grounds of the Super Bowl XXIX stadium, but after the two-hour tribute Feb. 4, Summerall used his response to talk about the true legendary figure in his life.

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“I was just sitting here thinking during this about relationships and how important relationships are. Without relationships you would be alone,” he said to the crowd of 800. “And I feel better about my relationship with God and more confident about it than I ever have.”

The longtime voice of the NFL, starting with CBS and continuing with Fox for nearly 50 years, has witnessed many memorable on-field events. But not as well known is the transformation in Summerall's own life over the last decade. He has overcome both alcoholism and a liver transplant in 2004.

Now living outside of Dallas in Southlake, he has spoken at some Texas Baptist churches about spiritual transformation, but this was his first national stage to talk about his spiritual rebirth.

The 73-year-old Summerall was baptized at age 69 by Claude Thomas, then-senior pastor of First Baptist Church in Euless – a moment Summerall said revolutionized his life.

“I went down in the water and when I came up it was like 40-pound weights had been lifted from me,” he said in a pre-banquet comment to Baptist Press.

One of the many presenters at Friday’s banquet, Augusta National Golf Club vice chairman Joe Ford, took note of Summerall's new life in Christ. “You may know Pat for his voice on NFL telecasts or his role as playing in the NFL, but I know of Pat’s strong Christian faith and how he gives his testimony in several Christian churches,” Ford said. “I know him in many different ways.”

Summerall was born in 1932 in Lake City. He became a star athlete first in Florida high schools, then at the University of Arkansas and in the NFL.

But the years of playing in the NFL and then broadcasting its games took a hard toll on Summerall. “Not long ago, I didn’t think I be here to see all their tributes,” Summerall said. “I was talking to my daughter recently and told her I feel better about my relationship with God than I have in a long, long time, and when you can make your relationship with God like that, it is a very happy day,” he said.