Ronald Dwayne Pitts (born October 14, 1962) is a former professional

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...

player and current sportscaster. He played

cornerback A cornerback (CB) is a member of the defensive backfield or secondary in gridiron football. Cornerbacks cover receivers most of the time, but also blitz and defend against such offensive running plays as sweeps and reverses. They create tur ...

in the National Football League for the

Buffalo Bills The Buffalo Bills are a professional American football team based in the Buffalo metropolitan area. The Bills compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) East division. ...

and

Green Bay Packers The Green Bay Packers are a professional American football team based in Green Bay, Wisconsin. The Packers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC North, North division. It ...

, and played

college 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 ...

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California St ...

. Pitts has worked as a sportscaster and entertainment reporter, and currently works for

CBS Sports Network CBS Sports Network (a.k.a. CBSSN) is an American pay television network owned by the CBS Entertainment Group unit of Paramount Global. When it launched in 2002 as the National College Sports Network (later College Sports Television also known as ...

on its college football coverage as a fill-in play-by-play announcer, and as a co-host for the syndicated news magazine ''

OK!TV ''Celebrity Page'' (formerly ''OK!TV'', that is based on the magazine of the same name) is an American syndicated entertainment news program. The series is co-produced with Dotdash Meredith (formerly ''OK!'' US parent company American Media) ...

''.

Early life and education

Born in Sterling Heights and raised in

Detroit Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at th ...

, Pitts is the son of Elijah Pitts, a running back with Vince Lombardi's

and later a longtime assistant coach in the NFL. The family lived in

southern Southern may refer to: Businesses * China Southern Airlines, airline based in Guangzhou, China * Southern Airways, defunct US airline * Southern Air, air cargo transportation company based in Norwalk, Connecticut, US * Southern Airways Express, M ...

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

in the mid-1970s and moved to the Buffalo area in

1978 Events January * January 1 – Air India Flight 855, a Boeing 747 passenger jet, crashes off the coast of Bombay, killing 213. * January 5 – Bülent Ecevit, of Republican People's Party, CHP, forms the new government of Turkey (42nd go ...

, where he played

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 c ...

at Orchard Park High School and graduated in 1981. Pitts played college football back in southern California at

under head coach

Terry Donahue Terrence Michael Donahue (June 24, 1944 – July 4, 2021) was an American football coach and executive. He served as the head coach at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) from 1976 to 1995, compiling a record of 151–74–8. His 15 ...

. Following his senior season in

1984 Events January * January 1 – The Bornean Sultanate of Brunei gains full independence from the United Kingdom, having become a British protectorate in 1888. * January 7 – Brunei becomes the sixth member of the Association of Southeast A ...

, he played in the

Japan Bowl The Japan Bowl (in Japanese, ジャパンボウル) was a post-season college football all-star game played in Japan each January from 1976 to 1993, which showcased East and West all-star teams made up of college football players from the United S ...

in January, where he intercepted a

Mike Tomczak Michael John Tomczak (born October 23, 1962) is a former American football player. Tomczak played quarterback for several NFL teams from 1985 through 1999, including the Chicago Bears, the Green Bay Packers, the Cleveland Browns, and the Pittsbu ...

pass late in the game and returned it 99 yards for a touchdown to seal the win for the West team.

Playing career

Pitts was selected in the

seventh round Seventh is the ordinal form of the number seven. Seventh may refer to: * Seventh Amendment to the United States Constitution * A fraction (mathematics), , equal to one of seven equal parts Film and television *"The Seventh", a second-season epi ...

of the

1985 NFL draft The 1985 NFL draft was the procedure by which National Football League teams selected amateur college football players. The draft was held April 30 and May 1, 1985, at the Omni Park Central Hotel in New York City, New York. The league also hel ...

and had a brief playing career in which he played for the

and the

. Injured in his first mini-camp, he missed the

1985 The year 1985 was designated as the International Youth Year by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 ** The Internet's Domain Name System is created. ** Greenland withdraws from the European Economic Community as a result of a ...

season. From

1986 The year 1986 was designated as the International Year of Peace by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 ** Aruba gains increased autonomy from the Netherlands by separating from the Netherlands Antilles. **Spain and Portugal ente ...

1990 File:1990 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1990 FIFA World Cup is played in Italy; The Human Genome Project is launched; Voyager I takes the famous Pale Blue Dot image- speaking on the fragility of Humankind, humanity on Earth, Astroph ...

, Pitts played 66 games at

defensive back In gridiron football, defensive backs (DBs), also called the secondary, are the players on the defensive side of the ball who play farthest back from the line of scrimmage. They are distinguished from the other two sets of defensive players, the ...

, starting six times. He had seven career

interceptions In ball-playing competitive team sports, an interception or pick is a move by a player involving a pass of the ball—whether by foot or hand, depending on the rules of the sport—in which the ball is intended for a player of the same team b ...

. One of Pitts's interceptions came off of

San Francisco 49ers The San Francisco 49ers (also written as the San Francisco Forty-Niners) are a professional American football team based in the San Francisco Bay Area. The 49ers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the league's National ...

hall of famer A hall, wall, or walk of fame is a list of individuals, achievements, or other entities, usually chosen by a group of electors, to mark their excellence or fame in their field. In some cases, these halls of fame consist of actual halls or muse ...

Jerry Rice Jerry Lee Rice (born October 13, 1962) is an American former professional football wide receiver who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 20 seasons. Known primarily as a member of the San Francisco 49ers, winning three championshi ...

. In December

1988 File:1988 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The oil platform Piper Alpha explodes and collapses in the North Sea, killing 165 workers; The USS Vincennes (CG-49) mistakenly shoots down Iran Air Flight 655; Australia celebrates its Australian ...

, he returned a punt for a touchdown against the Phoenix Cardinals.

Broadcasting career

After retiring as a player, Pitts pursued a career in broadcasting. Pitts first joined the newly-formed Fox Sports in 1994. Pitts served as an analyst alongside Kenny Albert (1994), Thom Brennaman (1995-1997) and Ray Bentley (1998-2000). Then, in 2001, Pitts was promoted to lead sideline reporter for the final season of the

Pat Summerall George Allen "Pat" Summerall (May 10, 1930 – April 16, 2013) was an American football player and television sportscaster who worked for CBS, Fox, and ESPN. In addition to football, he announced major golf and tennis events. Summerall announ ...

and

John Madden John Earl Madden (April 10, 1936 – December 28, 2021) was an American football coach and sports commentator in the National Football League (NFL). He served as the head coach of the Oakland Raiders from 1969 to 1978, who he led to eight pla ...

pairing. Pitts was then placed back into the booth calling play-by-play of games working alongside

Dwight Clark Dwight Edward Clark (January 8, 1957 – June 4, 2018) was an American professional football player who was a wide receiver for nine seasons with the San Francisco 49ers of the National Football League (NFL) from 1979 He was a member of San F ...

(2002),

Marv Levy Marvin Daniel Levy (; born August 3, 1925) is an American former football coach and executive who was a head coach in the National Football League (NFL) for seventeen seasons. He spent most of his head coaching career with the Buffalo Bills, lea ...

(2002),

John Jurkovic Ivan "John" Jurkovic (born August 18, 1967) is a former American football player currently employed as a broadcaster. He grew up in Calumet City, Illinois. Jurkovic played professionally as a defensive tackle for the Green Bay Packers, Jack ...

(2002),

Dave Krieg David Michael Krieg ( ; born October 20, 1958) is a former American football quarterback in the National Football League (NFL). He attended Milton College in his home state of Wisconsin and made the Seattle Seahawks as an undrafted free agent. ...

(2002), Tim Ryan (2003-2005),

(2006), J.C. Pearson (2006),

Jesse Palmer Jesse James Palmer (born October 5, 1978) is a Canadian television personality, sports commentator, actor, and former professional football player who was a quarterback in the National Football League (NFL) for five seasons in the early 2000s. ...

(2006), Tony Boselli (2007-2008), John Lynch (2009-2010), Jim Mora (2011) & Mike Martz (2012). Following 19 years calling games as analyst, sideline reporter & play-by-play announcer, Pitts left Fox Sports following the 2012 NFL season and was later replaced by

Kevin Burkhardt Kevin Burkhardt (born ) is an American sportscaster. He is currently the lead play-by-play voice for the ''NFL on Fox'' and lead studio host for ''Fox Major League Baseball''. Burkhardt was formerly a reporter with SportsNet New York (SNY) du ...

. He also co-hosted ''Under the Helmet'' (a weekly E/I program full of NFL-related segments for younger viewers) and former Fox Sports Net programs ''Total Access'' (whose name was later adopted by NFL Network for its own newscast) and ''Hardcore Football''. Earlier in his broadcasting career, Pitts worked as a

analyst for ABC Sports and a correspondent for

Black Entertainment Television Black Entertainment Television (acronym BET) is an American basic cable channel targeting African-American audiences. It is owned by the CBS Entertainment Group unit of Paramount Global via BET Networks and has offices in New York City, Los ...

. In 2014, Pitts joined CBS Sports Network as a play-by-play announcer doing a limited number of games

Acting career

Pitts also had a cameo as a sports commentator in the film ''

Hot Shots! Part Deux ''Hot Shots! Part Deux'' is a 1993 American parody film directed by Jim Abrahams. It stars Charlie Sheen, Lloyd Bridges, Valeria Golino, Richard Crenna (parodying his Colonel role in the ''Rambo'' franchise), Brenda Bakke, Miguel Ferrer, Rowa ...

''. He also appears as an alternate version of himself during the " Eggheads" episode of the American TV series ''

Sliders Slider or Sliders may refer to: Arts * K.K. Slider, a fictional character within the ''Animal Crossing'' franchise * ''The Slider'', a 1972 album by T. Rex * ''Sliders'' (TV series), an American science fiction and fantasy television series * S ...

''. He is also mentioned in the 1984 Michael Nesmith movie '' Repo Man'', in a college football radio broadcast heard in the background as the robbers bungle their way out of a store and just before the main characters walk in. Pitts' voice was featured as an announcer in Microsoft's ''NFL Fever'', a football video game for the original Xbox. In 2008, Pitts was hired to host a new show on the

Discovery Channel Discovery Channel (known as The Discovery Channel from 1985 to 1995, and often referred to as simply Discovery) is an American cable channel owned by Warner Bros. Discovery, a publicly traded company run by CEO David Zaslav. , Discovery Channe ...

named '' Destroyed In Seconds''. The show features video clips of disasters, accidents, and other destructive events, both natural and man-made.

Personal life

His father, Elijah Pitts (1938–1998), was a running back for the Packers and was part of all five

NFL championship Throughout its history, the National Football League (NFL) and other rival American football leagues have used several different formats to determine their league champions, including a period of inter-league matchups to determine a true national c ...

teams under Lombardi, including the

first First or 1st is the ordinal form of the number one (#1). First or 1st may also refer to: *World record, specifically the first instance of a particular achievement Arts and media Music * 1$T, American rapper, singer-songwriter, DJ, and rec ...

two 2 (two) is a number, numeral and digit. It is the natural number following 1 and preceding 3. It is the smallest and only even prime number. Because it forms the basis of a duality, it has religious and spiritual significance in many cultur ...

Super Bowl The Super Bowl is the annual final playoff game of the National Football League (NFL) to determine the league champion. It has served as the final game of every NFL season since 1966, replacing the NFL Championship Game. Since 2022, the game ...

s. Ron Pitts is mentioned briefly as one of several players' children who visited the Packers' locker room in

Jerry Kramer Gerald Louis Kramer (born January 23, 1936) is a former professional American football player, author and sports commentator, best remembered for his 11-year National Football League (NFL) career with the Green Bay Packers as an offensive linema ...

's diary of the

1967 Events January * January 1 – Canada begins a year-long celebration of the 100th anniversary of Confederation, featuring the Expo 67 World's Fair. * January 5 ** Spain and Romania sign an agreement in Paris, establishing full consular and ...

season, '' Instant Replay''. He has two sons named Lee and Shea, who both currently play college football. His older son, Lee Pitts, is a defensive back at Azusa Pacific University, while his younger son, Shea Pitts, is a defensive back at his father's alma mater UCLA. Shea wears #47, as his Father did, at UCLA. His sister, Kimberly R. Pitts, DO, is a former power lifter and a physician in Southeast Texas.

References

*''The

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 ...

Pro Football Encyclopedia''. New York: Sterling, 2006

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Pitts, Ron 1962 births Living people American football defensive backs Buffalo Bills players College football announcers Green Bay Packers players National Football League announcers Players of American football from Detroit UCLA Bruins football players People from Orchard Park, New York College basketball announcers in the United States