Gil Santos

Who is Gil Santos?

Gil Santos is the longtime radio play-by-play announcer for the New England Patriots of the National Football League, and morning sports reporter for WBZ radio in Boston. He retired from WBZ on January 30, 2009. Santos was inducted into the WBZ Radio Hall of Fame on July 9, 2009. He called games for the Patriots Radio Network, whose flagship is WBZ-FM to the end of the club's 2012 season.

He called Patriots games from 1966 until 1980 when Patriots broadcast rights shifted first to WEEI 590, then to WHDH 850; Santos returned in 1991 when broadcast rights returned to the AM version of WBZ. His 36 years of service made him the longest-serving announcer in the NFL, tied with Merrill Reese of the Philadelphia Eagles; he was also the final team play-by-play announcer from the American Football League era. From 1971-78 and 1990-2011, his partner in the booth was former Patriots kicker Gino Cappelletti, except for the opening eight games of the Patriots' 2001 season when Cappelletti was hospitalized with an illness and former Patriots player Peter Brock substituted for Cappelletti. Cappelletti retired from his position prior to the 2012 season and was replaced by Scott Zolak.