Longtime college basketball broadcaster Billy Packer has died, his son Mark Packer shared on Twitter and confirmed to The Associated Press. He was 82.
“The Packer Family would like to share some sad news. Our amazing father, Billy, has passed. We take peace knowing that he’s in heaven with (wife) Barb. RIP, Billy,” Mark, a host for the ACC Network, wrote.
Mark Packer told The Associated Press that his father had been hospitalized in Charlotte, North Carolina, for the past three weeks and had several medical issues, and ultimately succumbed to kidney failure on Thursday night.
Billy Packer’s voice was synonymous with March Madness for decades. Broadcasting for NBC and then CBS, he was on the call for the men’s Final Four every year from 1975-2008.
“He really enjoyed doing the Final Fours,” Mark Packer said. “He timed it right. Everything in life is about timing. The ability to get involved in something that, frankly, he was going to watch anyway, was a joy to him. And then college basketball just sort of took off with Magic Johnson and Larry Bird and that became, I think, the catalyst for college basketball fans to just go crazy with March Madness.”
Follow every game: Latest NCAA Men’s College Basketball Scores and Schedules
Accolades poured in along the way: He won a Sports Emmy Award in 1993 for “Outstanding Sports Personality/Analyst.” He was honored with the Curt Gowdy Media Award by the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 1996 and was inducted into the National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame as a contributor in 2008, alongside Dick Vitale.
“So sad to learn of the passing of Billy Packer who had such a passion for college basketball,” Vitale wrote on Twitter.
Before he became one of the sport’s defining voices, Packer himself was a standout college basketball player. He played for Wake Forest from 1959-1962 and helped the Demon Deacons win two ACC tournament titles. The 1962 Wake Forest team reached the Final Four.
Contributing: Associated Press
Story Credit: usatoday.com