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Fox Broadcaster Joe Buck Surprised During Thursday Night Football With Hall Of Fame Induction Announcement

The Cleveland Browns-Cincinnati Bengals Thursday night game had an added surprise. Fox broadcaster Joe Buck was informed at halftime while he was on the air that he has won the Pete Rozelle Award, which means he is inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio.

The Hall’s President and CEO C. David Baker appeared in a pre-recorded video announcing the longtime broadcaster as an inductee. There he will join his father, the late Jack Buck, as the first father and son to win the Rozelle Award. Actor Paul Rudd, a longtime friend of Buck’s, narrated a tribute to him as part of the presentation.

The award was created in 1989 and named for the longtime NFL commissioner. It is bestowed annually “for longtime exceptional contributions to radio and television in professional football.”

Buck was momentarily flummoxed by the news. “I don’t even know what to say. I feel like – what? This is unbelievable.”

Buck is an Emmy-winner and broadcasts the NFL and Major League Baseball for Fox. At age 25, he became the youngest man to broadcast the Sunday slate of NFL games.

He has since announced six Super Bowls and has called every World Series except two since 1996 – Bob Costas called the Fall Classic in 1997 and 1999.