Longtime ESPN play-by-play commentator Mike Patrick passed away Sunday at the age of 80.
Per ESPN, Patrick’s doctor confirmed that the West Virginia native — who was the voice of ESPN’s “Sunday Night Football” for 18 seasons — died of natural causes in Fairfax, Va.
Patrick rose to national prominence at ESPN starting in 1982, and was a consistent presence on the network’s football and basketball broadcasts for over 30 years. His final ESPN call came in the 2017 AutoZone Liberty Bowl.
That career included being the play-by-play announcer for the first NFL regular-season game ever broadcast on ESPN, back in 1987, with Joe Thiesmann and Paul Maguire frequently joining him as color commentators over the years. Patrick would go on to be the voice of “Sunday Night Football” from 1987 through 2005, as well as over three decades of ACC men’s basketball championship games and the network’s Women’s Final Four games from 1996-2009.
Patrick’s voice was a familiar one to ESPN viewers, as he was the lead announcer for many years of college football and the College World Series, including “Thursday Night Football” and “Saturday Night Football” broadcasts.
