It can truly be said that Hall of Fame broadcaster Tony Roberts did it all.

A model of preparation and professionalism, Roberts applied his considerable skills to a vast array of sporting events. Major League baseball. NBA basketball. The British Open. Several Olympics, Winter and Summer. And of course, college football. Plenty of college football.

For anyone who followed University of Notre Dame football in the period of 1980 to 2006, his voice is unmistakable and iconic. The memorable moments. Unforgettable plays. The classic battles with Miami, Florida State, Michigan. A national championship. Standouts like The Rocket, Tim Brown, Tony Rice, Quinn to Samardzija.

“Broadcasting Notre Dame football was the highlight of my 50 years in the business,” said Roberts, who retired outside of Washington, D.C. “It made my career.”

Roberts broadcast more Notre Dame football games than any announcer in the nearly 100 years that the Fighting Irish have been on the air. In addition, he called more Army-Navy games, including 33 in a row, than anyone, and more college football bowl games than anyone.

Tony played a little football as well, while in military service at Camp Drake in Japan from 1951-53. His team was the Service Champion two straight years, including one unbeaten season.

A Chicago native, Roberts earned a degree in Journalism from the city’s Columbia College and began his career like so many in radio and television—in a series of jobs with progressively larger stations and markets.

It was those years in the smaller markets that really honed his craft. “I wanted to do it all, and I was doing what I wanted to do. When you’re doing a high school football game, you tell yourself that it’s a Notre Dame-Army game or a Notre Dame-Michigan game; you treat every game like a big game.”

In 1970, he made his breakthrough into the big leagues in Washington, where he called Senators baseball, Bullets basketball and Navy football. He was voted Washington, D.C., Sportscaster of the Year seven times before moving on to the Mutual Network, which later became Westwood One/CBS radio.

In 1980, the move into the Notre Dame broadcast booth was a natural for someone already so accomplished.

Tony’s list of career honors is extensive. He’s been inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame’s broadcasting wing, the Indiana Broadcasters Hall of Fame, and the Holiday Bowl Hall of Fame (the first announcer so honored). In 2016, he received the highest honor yet: induction into the National Radio Hall of Fame. And he’s won broadcasting awards named for greats such as Lindsey Nelson (from the National Football Foundation), Chris Schenkel (from the College Football Hall of Fame) and Jack Quinlan (from the Notre Dame Club of Chicago).

It was another Hall of Fame announcer, Bill Stern, who had the biggest effect on Roberts when he was growing up in Chicago. “I always did my broadcast the way that I would like to hear it if I was sitting in my rocker, listening to Bill Stern doing Oklahoma-Texas,” said Roberts. “I wanted to do it the way he did it—exciting.”

And exciting it was. “Touchdown Irish!”

Tony died on August 26, 2023, just hours before Notre Dame began the 2023 season vs. Navy in Dublin.