Emerson Eugene Deckerhoff, Jr. (born May 2, 1945) is the radio play-by-play announcer of the

NFL The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the major ...

Tampa Bay Buccaneers The Tampa Bay Buccaneers are a professional American football team based in Tampa, Florida. The Buccaneers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) NFC South, South divisio ...

, a post he has held since 1989. He also served as the longtime voice of the

Florida State Seminoles The Florida State Seminoles are the athletic teams representing Florida State University located in Tallahassee, Florida. They compete as a member of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I level (Football Bowl Subdivis ...

, calling games for the football, men's basketball, and baseball teams. Deckerhoff announced his retirement from FSU broadcasts following the football team's 2022 spring game. He also has broadcast games for the

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and

Tampa Bay Storm The Tampa Bay Storm were a professional arena football team based in Tampa, Florida, US. It played in the Arena Football League (AFL). Originally the team was located in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and operated as the Pittsburgh Gladiators. The f ...

as a television play-by-play announcer. He also voices the P.A. announcer for

EA Sports EA Sports is a division of Electronic Arts that develops and publishes sports video games. Formerly a marketing gimmick of Electronic Arts, in which they tried to imitate real-life sports networks by calling themselves the "EA Sports Network" ...

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NCAA Football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States. Unlike most o ...

and

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video games.

Broadcasting career

Deckerhoff formerly hosted a 30-minute weekly TV show with former FSU head coach

Bobby Bowden Robert Cleckler Bowden (; November 8, 1929 – August 8, 2021) was an American college football coach. Bowden coached the Florida State Seminoles of Florida State University (FSU) from 1976 to 2009 and is considered one of the greatest college ...

called "The Bobby Bowden Show" in which they reviewed the previous day's game. The show regularly featured a segment with

Burt Reynolds Burton Leon Reynolds Jr. (February 11, 1936 – September 6, 2018) was an American actor, considered a sex symbol and icon of 1970s American popular culture. Reynolds first rose to prominence when he starred in television series such as ' ...

, an FSU alum who played for the Seminole football team in the 1950s. Gene covered both the Bucs and 'Noles concurrently from 1989 to 2022. He and his wife traveled from Tallahassee to Tampa during football season when Gene's teams were both playing home games. Deckerhoff is known for bellowing "Touchdown, Tampa Bay!" after every Buccaneer touchdown. During home games, he also adds, "Fire the cannons!"–a nod to the cannons that fire after every touchdown at

Raymond James Stadium Raymond James Stadium is a multi-purpose stadium in Tampa, Florida that opened in 1998 and is home to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers of the National Football League (NFL) and the University of South Florida (USF) Bulls college football program. The se ...

. In 2000, he was inducted into the Florida Sports Hall of Fame, and in 2002 was inducted into the Florida State University Athletics Hall of Fame. He graduated from the

University of Florida The University of Florida (Florida or UF) is a public land-grant research university in Gainesville, Florida. It is a senior member of the State University System of Florida, traces its origins to 1853, and has operated continuously on its ...

, but was quoted as saying "I'm not a Gator - Period."http://www.jacksonville.com/tu-online/stories/081807/col_192450111.shtml

References

External links

GeneDeckerhoff.com

{{DEFAULTSORT:Deckerhoff, Gene Arena football announcers College basketball announcers in the United States Baseball announcers College football announcers American television sports announcers American radio sports announcers Florida State Seminoles football announcers National Football League announcers People from Jacksonville, Florida Tampa Bay Buccaneers announcers University of Florida alumni 1945 births Living people United States Football League announcers