One of ESPN’s longest-tenured on-air personalities will remain with the network. Dr. Jerry Punch who has been synonymous with the network’s NASCAR coverage as well as working on college football, has signed a new contract with the Worldwide Leader.
Punch, whose career with ESPN dates back to 1984, has been most recently focusing on NASCAR either as a lap-by-lap announcer or a pit reporter. Now with NASCAR leaving ESPN for at least a decade, Punch will go back to college sports either as a play-by-play man or a sideline reporter. He will also continue working in motorsports on the Indianapolis 500 as well as other races in the IndyCar series.
Punch’s first college basketball game will be on January 15 when he calls the Murray State-Belmont game for ESPNU.
He’s quoted as follows:
“ESPN has been my home for a long time and I’m grateful for the opportunities presented to me to remain part of the team,” said Punch. “I love the passion of college sports and look forward to helping bring those stories to our viewers and to reconnecting with the college coaches and staffs I’ve enjoyed relationships with over the years.”
Dr. Punch’s medical knowledge has come into play during his NASCAR and college football work when he had explain injuries. He has worked as an emergency room physician and according to the ESPN press release, Dr. Punch was a director of emergency room services for a Florida hospital.
His medical background was utilized while he was on the air in 1988 when he revived now-ESPN analyst Rusty Wallace following a crash in practice and again in the same year during an ARCA race when he was part of the rescue effort for Don Marmor who crashed. Marmor survived.
His broadcast career dates back to 1980 when he worked the Daytona 500 on radio and then made the move to TV in 1982.
As mentioned, Punch is one of ESPN’s longest-tenured announcers. He ranks behind Bob Ley, Cliff Drysdale, Chris Berman, Dick Vitale and Mike Patrick for longest on-air career at ESPN. Thirty years at one network is quite impressive in this day and age.
[ESPN]
