Carter Blackburn (born March 30, 1979) is an American sportscaster. He currently works for

CBS Sports CBS Sports is the sports division of the American television network CBS. Its headquarters are in the CBS Building on W 52nd Street in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, with programs produced out of Studio 43 at the CBS Broadcast Center on W ...

after leaving

ESPN ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). The ...

in 2014.

Early life and education

Blackburn was born in

Dallas, Texas Dallas () is the third largest city in Texas and the largest city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States at 7.5 million people. It is the largest city in and seat of Dallas County ...

, and grew up in

Kerrville Kerrville is a city in, and the county seat of, Kerr County, Texas, United States. The population of Kerrville was 24,278 at the 2020 census. Kerrville is named after James Kerr, a major in the Texas Revolution, and friend of settler- ...

, in the

Texas Hill Country The Texas Hill Country is a geographic region of Central and South Texas, forming the southeast part of the Edwards Plateau. Given its location, climate, terrain, and vegetation, the Hill Country can be considered the border between the Americ ...

near

San Antonio ("Cradle of Freedom") , image_map = , mapsize = 220px , map_caption = Interactive map of San Antonio , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = United States , subdivision_type1= State , subdivision_name1 = Texas , subdivision_ ...

. Blackburn began his broadcasting career at

KERV KERV (1230 AM broadcasting, AM) is a radio station licensed to Kerrville, Texas, United States, and serving the Kerrville-Fredericksburg area. The station is currently owned by Jam Broadcasting, LLC. References Translators KERV broadcasts on ...

KRVL KRVL (94.3 FM broadcasting, FM) is a radio station licensed to Kerrville, Texas, United States. It broadcasts a mainstream rock format as "Rev FM". The station is currently owned by Justin McClure, Angela Krause, and Michael Krause, through lice ...

radio during his sophomore year at Tivy High School. By his junior year in high school, he was sports director for the radio station, doing morning drive-time reports on area high school sports and Texas college and pro teams as well as providing

play-by-play In sports broadcasting, a sports commentator (also known as sports announcer or sportscaster) provides a real-time commentary of a game or event, usually during a live broadcast, traditionally delivered in the historical present tense. Radio was ...

for radio and TV for

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly ...

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

softball Softball is a game similar to baseball played with a larger ball on a smaller field. Softball is played competitively at club levels, the college level, and the professional level. The game was first created in 1887 in Chicago by George Hanc ...

, and

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding t ...

. He then graduated from the

S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications The S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications, commonly known as Newhouse School, is the communications and journalism school of Syracuse University in Syracuse, NY. It has programs in print and broadcast journalism; music business; graphic ...

Syracuse University Syracuse University (informally 'Cuse or SU) is a Private university, private research university in Syracuse, New York. Established in 1870 with roots in the Methodist Episcopal Church, the university has been nonsectarian since 1920. Locate ...

in 2001 with a degree in

broadcast journalism Broadcast journalism is the field of news and journals which are broadcast by electronic methods instead of the older methods, such as printed newspapers and posters. It works on radio (via air, cable, and Internet), television (via air, cable, ...

and

political science Political science is the scientific study of politics. It is a social science dealing with systems of governance and power, and the analysis of political activities, political thought, political behavior, and associated constitutions and ...

. At Syracuse, he served as play-by-play announcer for football, basketball and lacrosse broadcasts on

WAER-FM WAER (88.3 FM) is a radio station in Syracuse, New York. It is located on the campus of Syracuse University, and is a part of the S. I. Newhouse School of Public Communications. The station features a jazz music and National Public Radio forma ...

Professional career

He worked for International Sports Properties (ISP) in

Winston-Salem, North Carolina Winston-Salem is a city and the county seat of Forsyth County, North Carolina, United States. In the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 249,545, making it the second-largest municipality in the Piedmont Triad region, the Li ...

, and Fox Sports Net South from 2001 to 2003; among his assignments were games in what became the

NBA Development League The NBA G League, or simply the G League, is the National Basketball Association's (NBA) official minor league basketball organization. The league was known as the National Basketball Development League (NBDL) from 2001 to 2005, and the NBA Dev ...

. He joined

(then known as CSTV) in 2003 when the channel launched. Blackburn made his national broadcast television debut on CBS Sports with a Big Ten women's basketball game between Penn State and Michigan State in January, 2008. He later called two

2008 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament The 2008 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament involved 65 schools playing in a single-elimination tournament to determine the national champion of men's NCAA Division I college basketball as a culmination of the 2007–08 basketbal ...

games, working afternoon session games at the

Honda Center The Honda Center (formerly known as the Arrowhead Pond of Anaheim) is an indoor arena located in Anaheim, California. The arena is home to the Anaheim Ducks of the National Hockey League. Originally named the Anaheim Arena during construction ...

Anaheim, California Anaheim ( ) is a city in northern Orange County, California, part of the Los Angeles metropolitan area. As of the 2020 United States Census, the city had a population of 346,824, making it the most populous city in Orange County, the 10th-most ...

. He reprised that role in 2009 & 2016. In September 2009 he began broadcasting for ESPN and ESPNU. He provided play-by-play for TV broadcasts of NCAA football, men's and women's basketball, baseball, softball, and lacrosse. In 2011, Blackburn broadcast the 2008 Reebok Grand Prix where Usain Bolt set a new world record in the 100 meters with a time of 9.71. In 2011 Blackburn provided play-by-play for the World Series of Softball tournament in Oklahoma City, OK. In 2012, he replaced

Joe Tessitore Joseph William Tessitore (born January 1, 1971) is an American sportscaster for ABC and ESPN. He leads ESPN's world championship fight broadcasts as the blow-by-blow broadcaster for Top Rank Boxing on ESPN, serves as a play-by-play announcer f ...

for the Friday Night Football package for ESPN and ESPN2. He also called

Little League Baseball Little League Baseball and Softball (officially, Little League Baseball Inc) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization sports network Sports channels are television speciality channels (usually available exclusively through cable and satellite) broadcast sporting events, usually live, and when not broadcasting events, sports news and other related programming. The first spor ...

. He also called college basketball, football, and baseball games. On December 27, 2014 Blackburn filled in for

Verne Lundquist Merton Laverne Lundquist Jr. (born July 17, 1940) is an American sportscaster. Biography Early life and career Lundquist was born in Duluth, Minnesota. He graduated from Austin High School in Austin, Texas, before attending Texas Lutheran U ...

during the

2014 Sun Bowl The 2014 Sun Bowl was an American college football bowl game that was played on December 27, 2014, at Sun Bowl Stadium in El Paso, Texas. In this 81st edition of the Sun Bowl, Arizona State from the Pac-12 Conference met Duke from the Atlantic C ...

. Blackburn was a part of the CBS Sports team doing feature group coverage for the 2015 Masters golf tournament. He also calls NFL games for CBS on occasion, partnering with

Chris Simms Christopher David Simms (born August 29, 1980) is an American sports analyst and former football player. He was a quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL). He was drafted by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the third round of t ...

for 2015 and 2016. By age thirty-one, Blackburn had called the NFL on Fox, the NCAA basketball tournament on CBS, and college football on ABC. In 2008, at 26, Blackburn was the second-youngest announcer of an NCAA Tournament game, at least in CBS's run as the telecaster.

Jim Nantz James William Nantz III (born May 17, 1959) is an American sportscaster who has worked on telecasts of the National Football League (NFL), NCAA Division I men's basketball, the NBA and the PGA Tour for CBS Sports since the 1980s. He has ancho ...

was the only one younger (26 years old in 1985).

Notable calls

Blackburn called then-Penn State coach Joe Paterno’s record setting 409th win for ABC, Paterno’s last game as coach of the Nittany Lions. *March 18, 2016: Blackburn was the play-by-play announcer for Turner Sports's coverage of the

NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament The NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament, branded as NCAA March Madness and commonly called March Madness, is a single-elimination tournament played each spring in the United States, currently featuring 68 college basketball teams fro ...

's first round match–up between the

Northern Iowa Panthers The Northern Iowa Panthers are the athletic teams of the University of Northern Iowa. The university is a member of the Missouri Valley Conference and competes in NCAA Division I (Division I FCS in football). History The school's mascot is t ...

and the

Texas Longhorns The Texas Longhorns are the athletic teams representing the University of Texas at Austin. The teams are sometimes referred to as the Horns and take their name from Longhorn cattle that were an important part of the development of Texas, and a ...

, where Panthers guard Paul Jesperson hit a half court shot at the buzzer to upset the Longhorns 75–72 just seconds after

Isaiah Taylor Isaiah Shaquille Taylor (born July 11, 1994) is an American professional basketball player for Žalgiris Kaunas of the Lithuanian Basketball League (LKL) and the EuroLeague. He has previously played in the National Basketball Association (NBA) ...

hit a running floater to tie the game at 72. *August 24, 2019: Blackburn was the play-by-play announcer for

college football coverage of the Week 0 match–up between the

Arizona Wildcats The Arizona Wildcats are the athletic teams that represent the University of Arizona, located in Tucson. The Wildcats compete at the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I ( Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) for college foot ...

and

Hawaii Rainbow Warriors The Hawaii Rainbow Warriors and Rainbow Wāhine are the athletic teams that represent the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa (UH), in Honolulu, Hawaii. The UH athletics program is a member of the Big West Conference in most sports and competes a ...

, where Khalil Tate was tackled by Hawaii defensive lineman Manly Williams and defensive back Kalen Hicks at the one yard line as time expired in an attempt to bring the game within one point pending the extra point.

Personal life

Blackburn lives in

Austin, Texas Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of Texas, as well as the seat and largest city of Travis County, with portions extending into Hays and Williamson counties. Incorporated on December 27, 1839, it is the 11th-most-populous city ...

References

External links

Official biography by CBS Sports
{{DEFAULTSORT:Blackburn, Carter 1979 births Living people American radio sports announcers American television sports announcers Baseball announcers Softball announcers College baseball announcers in the United States College basketball announcers in the United States College football announcers Golf writers and broadcasters Lacrosse announcers National Football League announcers People from Dallas S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications alumni Women's college basketball announcers in the United States