Don Criqui (born October 1, 1940) is an American sportscaster.
He holds the record for longest-tenured NFL broadcaster in U.S. TV history, calling NFL football for 47 seasons (1967–2013) on NBC and CBS.[1] Criqui's final NFL broadcast came on December 8, 2013, when he filled in for Bill Macatee as he was having traveling issues in an ice storm in Dallas, calling the 27-26 New England Patriots victory over the Cleveland Browns.[2]
Criqui also had a long career calling college football. Criqui called 11 Orange Bowl games while with NBC, including games that decided the college football national championship for 1981, 1983, 1984, 1985 and 1987. From 2006 until 2017, Criqui served as the football radio play-by-play voice for Notre Dame, his alma mater.
Though he was the NFL on NBC's top announcer only once (Week 6 of the 1990 season), Criqui has always been a featured announcer in the American sports scene and is notable for his longevity.
Criqui began with CBS in 1967 before moving to NBC Sports in 1979; he was 'traded' by CBS to NBC for Curt Gowdy.[6] When CBS reacquired the NFL in 1998, Criqui rejoined the network, and continued to serve as a play-by-play announcer as part of the NFL on CBS until his retirement from that position after the 2012 season.[7] In 2013 he returned for the Cleveland Browns New England Patriots matchup on CBS with his former partner Steve Tasker, as Bill Macatee could not make it due to his flight being cancelled from a snowstorm.
During his tenure at NBC, Criqui called 14 Orange Bowl games. Criqui's most memorable call was the 1984 Orange Bowl between undefeated Nebraska and Miami. Nebraska was on a 22-game winning streak coming into the game, but lost to Miami 31–30 when the Cornhuskers failed on a two-point conversion attempt which would have won the game. His most famous college basketball call was most likely the last-second upset by St. Joseph's over top-seeded DePaul in the Mideast regional second round of the 1981 NCAA Tournament.
His other projects include hosting radio talk shows about sports, serving as a part-time TV announcer for the New York Mets in 1991, and working as the play-by-play announcer for New England Patriots pre-season telecasts on WCVB-TV, Boston from 1995 to 2008 and for WBZ-TV, Boston from 2009 to 2012. Criqui was also for many years the key spokesperson for Trans World Airlines, appearing as himself in many television, radio and print advertisements as part of the Ogilvy & Mather-produced advertising campaign: "You're Gonna Like Us (sm). TWA.", which ran between 1978 and 1984 in support of the airline's domestic U.S. marketing efforts.
Criqui lives in Essex Fells, New Jersey; He has four sons, one daughter, and fifteen grandchildren.[11] Don's wife of over 60 years Molly died June 2, 2024.[12]
