Dan Dierdorf is retiring from CBS Sports after the 2013 NFL season. (USATSI)CBS Sports' Dan Dierdorf, the longest-tenured NFL analyst in television, will retire after the 2013 season. Dierdorf, a Hall-of-Fame player and broadcaster, has been around the NFL for the last 43 years.
After a 13-year career as an offensive lineman with the St. Louis Cardinals, Dierdorf stepped into the booth and has been there for the last 30 years.
'I have been blessed to spend my entire life in the game I love,' Dierdorf said. 'I had an opportunity to go from the field directly to the broadcast booth where I have had the privilege of working with the giants of our business including Ray Scott, Lindsey Nelson, Jack Buck, Dick Stockton, Al Michaels, Frank Gifford, Verne Lundquist, Dick Enberg and lastly, my partner, Greg Gumbel. It has become a challenge for me to travel to a different NFL city every week, so it's time to step aside. This has been a wonderful ride as I really have lived the dream.'
Dierdorf, an All-Pro six times with the Cardinals as a player, was voted as the top offensive lineman in football three times and was named to the 1970's All-Decade Team.
'For 43 NFL seasons Dan Dierdorf has been a consummate professional both on the field and in the broadcast booth,' said Sean McManus, Chairman, CBS Sports. 'Very few people in any profession can boast a Hall of Fame playing career and Hall of Fame broadcasting career. Dan, without question, is one of them. His CBS Sports family will miss him on Sundays, but we wish him all the best in his retirement.'
Dierdorf was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1996 and is the recipient of the 2008 HOF Pete Rozelle Radio-Television Award for excellence in broadcasting. Dierdorf, John Madden, Frank Gifford and Len Dawson are the only Hall of Fame members to also receive the Rozelle award.
Dierdorf began his broadcasting career in radio in 1984 with the CBS Radio Network and began working on The NFL on CBS in 1985. He worked on ABC's Monday Night Football for 12 years before returning to CBS in 1999
'A Hall of Fame player and a Hall of Fame broadcaster, a unique combination of knowledge and experience that few others can match,' said Gumbel. 'There has never been a day I've worked with Dan when I didn't learn something about the game of football. For that, and for so much more, I'm forever grateful. His departure is the fans' loss.
'Our loss. My loss. We will all miss Dan Dierdorf.'
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