Who Is the Narrator of NFL Films?

The Autumn wind is a Raider
Pillaging just for fun
He’ll knock you ‘round and upside down
And laugh when he’s conquered and won.

Anyone familiar with that excerpt from Steve Sabol’s famous football poem "The Autumn Wind" knows the unforgettable voice of the late John Facenda.

Nicknamed “the voice of God,” Facenda’s baritone voice provided the soundtrack for NFL Films highlights for nearly 20 years. He joined the league’s fledgling production house in 1965 after a chance meeting at a bar with founder Ed Sabol. He would quickly become as synonymous with NFL Films as slow-motion footage.

Facenda’s authoritative delivery made routine game highlights seem Shakespearean in nature. Whether describing the importance of the quarterback or Dick Butkus’s vicious style of play, he lent the game an air of importance that heightened the stakes and raised the drama.

The cinematic approach of NFL Films, combined with Facenda’s tenor, is widely credited with aiding the league’s explosion in popularity during the '60s and '70s.

While he was becoming a football icon, Facenda’s other career was coming to an end.

Facenda had been the main news anchor for WCAU-TV in Philadelphia for more than 20 years. In 1973, after steadily declining ratings, Facenda stepped down. He continued to record voiceovers for NFL Films, providing his inimitable narration to countless reels, many of which remain ingrained in the memories of football fans.

Those fans all have their own Facenda favorite, from his many Super Bowl highlight reels to the 1974 classic “The Championship Chase” (which features the celebrated poem "The Autumn Wind"). But his most famous phrase may be one he never actually said.

The now-legendary phrase, "the frozen tundra of Lambeau Field," which referred to the almost mythical stadium of the Green Bay Packers, was uttered at the beginning of the highlight film for the Ice Bowl game between the Packers and the Dallas Cowboys. But voiceover actor Bill Woodson – who would later gain fame as the narrator of the “Superfriends” cartoon – uttered the line. He voiced the highlight film because Facenda was unavailable. ESPN anchor Chris Berman popularized the misconception with his frequent homage-paying parody of Facenda.

John Facenda died of cancer in 1984 at the age of 71. His final voiceover work for NFL Films was the Super Bowl XVIII highlight reel. Appropriately, it was a game won by the Raiders, the team with which his unmistakable voice is indelibly linked.

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