Related: SportsCenter’s Jay Harris Announces Cancer Diagnosis, Undergoing Surgery
Advertisement
Entertainment
Jim Nantz’s ‘Hello Friends’ Is Actually a Message to His Dad
You’ve heard Jim Nantz say “Hello, friends” before the Masters, the Super Bowl, the Final Four — basically every massive sporting event on CBS for more than two decades.
And if you assumed it was just a slick TV catchphrase, get the tissues ready. Because the real story behind those two words is going to hit you right in the feelings.
The legendary play-by-play announcer recently opened up on the “Vanity Index Podcast,” released February 25 and hosted by Chad Mumm, creator of Netflix’s Full Swing, and Wells Adams, former contestant on The Bachelorette.
And what Nantz shared about the origin of his signature greeting is the kind of story that sticks with you long after you hear it.
It Started as a Promise to His Dad
The phrase dates back to 2002, when Nantz was getting ready to broadcast the PGA Championship in Hazeltine, Minnesota. His father — also named Jim Nantz — had been battling Alzheimer’s disease since his diagnosis in 1995.
Seven years into that fight, Nantz made his dad a promise before the golf tournament started.
Longtime SportsCenter anchor Jay Harris announced he has prostate cancer. “I’m having surgery on Tuesday,” Harris, 60, said during the Thursday, June 5, episode of Good Morning America. “I’ll be away from SportsCenter for about a month to recover. And then I’m coming back better than ever.” Harris, who has worked at ESPN since 2003, […]
“When I come on the air, I’m gonna look into that camera, and I’m gonna say, ‘Hello, friends,’ and that’s for you, Dad, ‘cause you have nothing but friends,” Nantz said on the podcast.
“That’s going to be my little trigger line that lets you know at that very moment I’m thinking of you,” he added.
Let that sink in. One of the most recognizable voices in American sports was using national television to send a private message to one person watching at home — his father, who was battling a devastating illness.
Jim Nantz Only Meant to Say It Once
Here’s the thing: Nantz never planned to keep saying it. He described it as a “one-and-done” opening line, meant only for that single broadcast at Hazeltine. But one of his CBS colleagues encouraged him to use it again.
So he did. The next day, he said it again. And it stuck.
A one-time tribute to his dad turned into the signature opening of one of the biggest careers in sports broadcasting. Nantz knows people have gotten the wrong idea about it over the years, and he addressed that head-on.
“Some people, I think, think it’s some sort of attempt, lame attempt to try to have a signature phrase or line – had nothing to do with that,” Nantz said on the podcast. “It all had to do with trying to communicate with my father.”
No marketing meeting. No producer suggestion. No branding strategy. Just a son trying to reach his dad.
Now, close to 25 years after that first broadcast in Hazeltine, Nantz opens every single broadcast the same way. The meaning has grown over time, but the connection to his father is still at the center.
“I say, ‘Hello, friends,’ and I think of my dad watching down on me, and it relaxes me, and I fall into the flow of the show,” he added. “So that’s the story.”
Nantz Lost His Father in 2008 After a 13-Year Battle
Jim Nantz Jr., sometimes referred to as Jim Nantz II, was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s in 1995. He died in 2008 after a 13-year battle with the disease, according to his obituary. He was 79.
Nantz channeled his grief into something tangible. In 2011, he founded the Nantz National Alzheimer Center (NNAC) in partnership with Houston Methodist.
The center was established to honor his father and as a tribute to his mother, Doris, and sister, Nancy, for their tireless dedication to caregiving.
Nantz’s mother, Doris, passed away peacefully in 2022, according to her obituary. She was 91.