There’s no public record of Summerall ever turning down the role, but Lundquist was happy to joke about the near miss. When asked if he had ever thanked Summerall for passing it on, Verne laughed.

Pat Summerall was that damn good. Listen to Sean Pendergast on 1560 Yahoo! Sports Radio from 3 p.m. to 7 p.m. weekdays and nationally on the Yahoo!

The excitement in the voices of Madden and Pat Summerall on Oct. 3, 1993 at old Giants Stadium was unmistakeable. The player who pulled it out of them was Eric Allen.