Gil Santos was the voice of the Patriots for 36 seasons – touching five decades. The venerable Santos called 743 career Patriot games and earned the moniker “Voice of the New England Patriots.” Patriots owner and CEO Robert Kraft surprised Santos with the announcement that the legendary radio broadcaster would become the 20th person to be inducted into the Patriots Hall of Fame and just the second non-player to earn the honor as a contributor for his off-field contributions to the team. It is the highest honor the team can bestow an individual. Santos began calling games for the Boston Patriots at Fenway Park in 1966. For the first five seasons, he provided color analysis alongside veteran play-by-play man Bob Starr. When the team moved to Foxborough in 1971, Santos moved into his current role as play-by-play voice of the Patriots (1971-79). WBZ lost the Patriots radio rights in the 1980s, but got them back in 1991 at which time it returned Santos to his natural position as Voice of the New England Patriots, a position he held for the 22 more seasons until his retirement following the 2012 season. The veteran play-by-play broadcaster was also the sports director of WBZ News Radio in Boston, where he earned dozens of awards and honors for his reporting, sportscasting and play-by-play excellence. He retired from WBZ after 38 years in 2009 and was inducted into the Massachusetts Broadcasters Hall of Fame that year. In addition to his work at WBZ, the skilled play-by-play broadcaster also called basketball games for the Boston Celtics and Providence Friars, as well as football games for the Penn State Nittany Lions, Boston College Eagles, Brown Bears and Boston Breakers of the USFL. Inducted 2013.
Voice of the Patriots for 36 seasons
Called 743 career Patriot games
Earned the moniker “Voice of the New England Patriots.”
Retired from WBZ after 38 years in 2009
Inducted into the Massachusetts Broadcasters Hall of Fame in 2009
Also called basketball games for the Boston Celtics and Providence Friars, as well as football games for the Penn State Nittany Lions, Boston College Eagles, Brown Bears and Boston Breakers of the USFL.