It is a sad time for the Eagles community and the NFL as former Eagles cornerback and CBS Broadcaster Irv Cross died at the age of 81 yesterday according to ESPN. This article will detail what he did in the NFL as player and as a Broadcast analyst for CBS.
He started his football career in college where he played for Northwestern. Cross started his NFL career in 1961 as a Philadelphia Eagle. Cross played in 125 games in the NFL. He aslo compiled 15 interceptions in his time as an Eagle. Cross also recovered eight fumbles during his five years with the Eagles. During the 1966 season, Cross spent three years with the Rams, where he had six interceptions as a Ram.
He finished his career as a cornerback with the Eagles in his last year in the league where he had one interception during his final year in Philadelphia and in the NFL in 1969. The former cornerback also started most of the games he played in the NFL. He finished his career with 22 interceptions and two touchdowns. He also ran 258 yards of interceptions back in his career. Cross had a successful NFL career earning a 2 bids to the Pro Bowl.
Irv Cross broke color barriers as a broadcast analyst for CBS, as he was the first African American to be a full time analyst on national TV. Cross joined CBS in 1971. During his tenure with CBS, he was the co-host for the “NFL Today,” which covered NFL news from around the league. “NFL Today” was the first live pregame show of its kind. He co-hosted NFL today from 1975 to 1989. Cross did the show with two other famous broadcast personalities in Brent Musburger and Phyllis George. Not only did Cross do content for the NFL, but he also called games for other professional sports organizations. He covered sports such as basketball and gymnastics, to name a few. Cross was with CBS for 23 years as he paved the for African Americans in the sport media industry.
This legendary broadcaster and NFL player also had a successful career outside of the realm of professional sports. He was the athletic director for Idaho State for a two year period in 1996 to 1998. He was best known for being the athletic director at Macalester College located in St. Paul, Minnesota. He served six years as the athletic director at the college. He spent more time in Minnesota after he finished his tenure as athletic director in 2005, where he did more sports broadcasting for a local Minnesota Fox Station.
Cross earned many awards within his time in sports and in media. He was granted the Pete Rozelle Radio Television Award in 2009. He also became a deserving member of the NFL hall of fame for contribution as a player and a broadcaster. Cross will forever be known as the man who had a successful NFL career and who pioneered TV broadcasting for African Americans. He will forever be missed and will always be remembered.
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