Brent Musburger Is Retiring From Sportscasting At Age 77

NEW YORK (AP/CBS) — Brent Musburger is calling an end to his broadcast career. Millions of Americans experienced sporting events through his folksy narration, most often when he was the lead voice of CBS Sports during the 1980s.

Musburger worked for WBBM-TV and WBBM Radio in the late 1960s.

According to an article in the Chicago Tribune on Dec. 4, 1969, Musburger had "his own Associated Press sports wire tucked away in his home." This allowed him to update morning sports reports for radio via "direct line" from home to the radio station before arriving in the office later in the day to do afternoon radio and then the 10 p.m. newscast on WBBM-TV.

"Those television cameras are really something," Musburger told the Tribune. "I am still learning what do to in front of them."

Musburger will call his last game for ESPN on Jan. 31, a college basketball contest pitting Kentucky against Georgia. Musburger, who is 77 years old, plans to move to Las Vegas and help his family start a sports handicapping business. His visit to Kentucky's Rupp Arena brings him back to where he called Villanova's upset NCAA basketball championship victory over Georgetown in 1985.

Both Musburger and ESPN say his recent Sugar Bowl comments criticized as being insensitive to a female assault victim had nothing to do with his exit.