The Frank Deford Lecture in Sports Journalism
Sponsored by The McGarr Symposium on Sports and Society
Joe Buck Speaks on Campus
In March 2022, ESPN signed play-by-play commentator Joe Buck to a multi-year deal, making him the new play-by-play announcer of Monday Night Football. Buck and broadcast partner Troy Aikman are the NFL’s longest broadcasting tandem in history, beginning their partnership in 2002 as a three-man booth with analyst Cris Collinsworth, before becoming a duo in 2005. Over their 22 seasons together, they have called more than 300 regular- season games, more than 40 playoff matchups, 18 NFC Championships and Super Bowls XXXIX, XLII, XLV, XLVIII, LI and LIV. Both have been nominated for Sports Emmy Awards multiple times, with Buck winning a record-tying eight times for play-by-play. In December 2022, Buck was inducted into the Sports Broadcasting Hall of Fame.
During the season, Aikman and Buck work alongside Lisa Salters, Monday Night Football’s longest-tenured sideline reporter. In May 2023, at the 44th Annual Sports Emmy Awards, Monday Night Football won a Sports Emmy for ‘Outstanding Live Sports Series’ for the MNF’s 2023 season – the trio’s first year together.
At a mere 25 years old, Buck became a household voice for NFL fans. He made his NFL debut during the 1994-95 season, calling a full slate of games for FOX Sports, a role he has continued each subsequent year. As he enters his 29th consecutive season calling NFL games, Buck will become the eighth play-by-play voice of Monday Night Football. He has also continued a family legacy, as he and his dad, Jack, are the only father-son duo to both call network Super Bowls and be recognized with the Pete Rozelle Radio-Television Award. Jack Buck also had significant history with Monday Night Football, calling play-by-play on the national radio broadcast from 1978-1984 and 1987-1995.
Outside of the NFL, Joe Buck’s career accomplishments are vast and impressive, calling 24 World Series, 22 MLB All-Star games, five of golf’s U.S. Opens, and having hosted his own studio shows. Buck has been named the National Sports Media Association’s National Sportscaster of the Year four times, including three years in a row (2002-04, 2006). Buck was a local radio and television announcer for the St. Louis Cardinals from 1991 to 2007. His broadcasting career began in 1989, while he was an undergraduate at Indiana University. That year he called play-by-play for the Louisville Redbirds of the American Association, a minor-league affiliate of the Cardinals, and was a reporter for ESPN’s coverage of the Triple-A All-Star Game. Buck also hosted a talk show for HBO Sports, “Joe Buck Live,” in 2009, and hosted “Undeniable with Joe Buck” on DirecTV’s Audience Network.
Joe is the son of late broadcasting legend Jack Buck, whose career spanned parts of six decades. Jack and Joe are the only father and son to each call the Super Bowl on network television. Active in many national and local charities, he hosts The Joe Buck Classic golf tournament, which benefits St. Louis Children’s Hospital and helps fund its imaging center. Since it began in 2000, the annual event has raised more than $5 million. Buck also works closely with the Parkinson’s Foundation, Mathews-Dickey Boys’ & Girls’ Club and City of Hope.
Buck is married to fellow ESPN reporter, Michelle Beisner-Buck. He has four kids; Natalie, Trudy, Wyatt and Blake.
Bio courtesy of ESPN Press Room
The Deford Lecture
The McGarr Symposium on Sports and Society has hosted the Frank Deford Lecture in Sports Journalism annually since 2010. Created to honor the iconic sportswriter and carry his unique vantage point on sports, the Deford Lecture has hosted journalists, scholars and leading thinkers to discuss pressing cultural issues with the UT-Austin community.
Frank Deford (1938-2017) was amongst the most versatile of American writers. On radio, he was heard as a commentator every Wednesday on Morning Edition on National Public Radio. On television, he worked as a Senior Correspondent for the HBO show, Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel. In print, he was Senior Contributing Writer at Sports Illustrated–– an association that dates back to 1962. As a journalist, Deford was elected to the Hall of Fame of the National Association of Sportscasters and Sportswriters and named U.S. Sportswriter of the Year six times, as voted by his peers. Sportswriter of The Year. The American Journalism Review has likewise cited him as the nation’s finest sportswriter, and twice he was voted Magazine Writer of The Year by the Washington Journalism Review. Posthumously, Deford received the inaugural Dan Jenkins Medal for Excellence in Sportswriting for his lifetime achievement.
Since the Center for Sports Communication & Media has been managing the Deford Lecture, speakers have included Bob Costas (2018), Andrea Joyce (2019), Mina Kimes (2020), Howard Bryant (2022) and Christine Brennan (2023). The Lecture was postponed in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Frank Deford, Sportswriting Icon
The author of eighteen books, Frank Deford (1938-2017) was a towering sportswriter, working in virtually every medium during his illustrious. He was senior contributing writer at Sports Illustrated, where his byline first appeared in 1962. A weekly commentator for NPR’s “Morning Edition,” he was also a regular correspondent on the HBO show “Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel.” He was editor-in-chief for the groundbreaking - and short lived - sports daily newspaper, The National.
As a journalist, Deford won the National Magazine Award for profiles, and was elected to the Hall of Fame of the National Association of Sportscasters and Sportswriters. Voted by his peers as U.S. Sportswriter of the Year six times, he was also cited by The American Journalism Review as the nation’s finest sportswriter and was twice voted Magazine Writer of the Year by the Washington Journalism Review.
The Frank Deford Lecture in Sports Journalism began at the University of Texas in 2010, with his campus address that year. Over the years, it has featured some of the most compelling voices, interested in the intersection of sports and American culture. Deford was presented with a Christopher Award and awards for distinguished service to journalism from the University of Missouri and Northeastern University. Deford and Red Smith are the only authors with more than one piece in The Best American Sportswriting of the Century, edited by David Halberstam. For his radio and TV work, Deford has won both an Emmy and a George Foster Peabody Award.
Frank Deford Content Archives
Frank Deford maintained a sizable and influential presence in print, radio and video over his storied career. Here are some of the archival resources for his work.