Born on 18th October, 1928 in a small farm in Georgia, Keith Jackson is a prominent and renowned American
sports commentator. Keith was born in a very poor family and was the only child of his parents. Keith was very much interested in
sports and broadcasting ever since he was a kid. He used to snoop in
sports on radio when he was small. He attended the Washington State University in the U.S. Marine Corps. He got through the list, because of the G.I. Bill. He initially was studying political science, as his subject for graduating degree, but he then switched to speech communication. He finally graduated in 1954 in the same subject.
Keith initiated his career in broadcasting, in 1952. His first assignment was offered by the Washington State. He started working their as a broadcaster and announced the match between Washington state and Stanford, on radio. He then joined KOMO radio and later was hired for KOMO-TV. In KOMO-TV, he was employed at the post of co-anchor and he announced many games including Seafair hydroplane races, football games of University of Washington Huskies, and baseball matches of minor league Seattle Rainiers. He was the foremost announcer of American decent, who got the opportunity to announce a game from the Soviet Union.
In 1960, he was covering American Football League and then in 1970 was announcing NFL matches play by play. He joined
ABC in the year 1966 and worked for them for over 40 years. He was a part of every minor and major task of
ABC. He broadcasted United States Football League for 2 years in
ABC, then covered NFL games, announced 10 winter and summer Olympics for
ABC, and also worked as a the pilot announcer for NBL. He was also a major part of Wide World of Sports, a series at
ABC, and also broadcasted National League Championship Series in 1986.
Even today he is highly acclaimed for his contribution to college football. He gave away 54 years of his career for broadcasting college football and taking it to another level. He started announcing college football in the year 1952, when he actually started off his career and continued doing till the end of his career in 2006. He was passionate about college football and he proved it by broadcasting it for over 54 years. His subtle and realistic commentary earned him much fame during the span of his career. He is not just a renowned sportscaster, but is also a very famous radio and television personality.
He gained huge respect and applaud in the form of countless awards he won. He was given a gold medal by the National Football Foundation and was also included in the Rose Bowl Hall of Fame. He won National Sportscaster of the Year award, 5 times in a row and was therefore given a highly respected position in the National Sportscasters and Sportswriters Association Hall of Fame.
He retired from college football in 1998 and announced his final retirement from broadcasting in the year 1006. He is married to Turi Ann and the couple has 3 children. Keith along with his wife, children and grand children is living in California.
