SCOTT DETROW, HOST:
He was the premier voice of college football pregame shows.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
LEE CORSO: I'll tell you one thing - Buckeyes, Ohio State No. 1.
DETROW: The ESPN announcer Lee Corso has been the centerpiece of the college game day experience for almost 40 years.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
CORSO: I'm going with Penn State.
(CHEERING)
DETROW: Corso would predict a winner ahead of each big game, and he correctly guessed 286 game outcomes heading into this season. But it is not that 67% winning mark that made him a broadcast fixture, because Corso would then don the head of the mascot from the team he thought would win. And Corso always stood by his picks despite the home crowd's pressures.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
CORSO: Cornhuskers, forget about it.
(BOOING)
CORSO: I'm going with the Trojans. I'm sorry.
DETROW: On Saturday, the college football legend announced he was retiring from the broadcast and the network that he joined back in 1987. He made his final pick.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
CORSO: The easiest pick I've ever made. Give me my first love.
DETROW: His last prediction - taking No. 3 Ohio State over the nationally top-ranked University of Texas. And, of course, Ohio State won the game 14 to 7. Happy retirement to Lee Corso.
(SOUNDBITE OF MARCHING BAND MUSIC) Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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