BRISTOL, Conn. — Mike Patrick, ESPN's first play-by-play announcer for its NFL coverage, has died. He was 80. Patrick's physician and longtime friend sent a text to friends of the longtime announcer ...

The call came to my desk at The Sporting News in St. Louis several weeks before the 1980 NFL draft. I had been with the publication for two years and had started writing a weekly NFL notebook (even in ...

The NFL Draft has been a mainstay on ESPN since nearly the very beginnings of the network. The NFL Draft was first televised in 1980 when it was merely the NFL’s annual selection meeting and it was a ...