Syracuse alum Mike Tirico's historic year in the booth delivers a play-by-play Sports Emmy

It's been a whirlwind year for famed sports announcer and Syracuse University alum Mike Tirico, and he earned some big-time hardware on Tuesday night.

Winners of the 47th-annual Sports Emmy Awards were disclosed on Tuesday evening, and Tirico claimed his first Sports Emmy for outstanding sports personality in the play-by-play category, for his work as the voice of NBC's Sunday Night Football.

Just tremendous. A huge congrats to Mike!

Tirico, a 1988 graduate of SU who is vice chair of Syracuse University's board of trustees, bleeds Orange like it's nobody's business, and it's wonderful to watch his broadcasting career continue to flourish.

Tirico joined NBC Sports in 2016, and these days, he's the lead play-by-play announcer for Sunday Night Football, along with NBC's coverage of the NBA, the Olympics and other major events.

Twice in the past (2022 and 2023), Tirico has won Sports Emmys in the host category, but this is his first win in the play-by-play category. As I'll mention below, other SU alums also picked up Sports Emmys on Tuesday.

Syracuse Orange alum Mike Tirico is the best in the sports play-by-play business.

Tirico beat out some iconic announcers for this latest Sports Emmy, with the other nominees including fellow SU alum Ian Eagle, Joe Buck, Joe Davis and Jim Nantz.

This past February, Tirico called Super Bowl LX, his first Super Bowl as a play-by-play announcer, while also hosting the Winter Olympics in Italy. He became the first U.S. broadcaster to call the Super Bowl and host the Winter Olympic Games in the same year.

Last summer, Tirico was inducted into the National Sports Media Association’s Hall of Fame.

Other Syracuse University alums who picked up Sports Emmys included Pete Thamel, Adam Lefkoe and Adam Zucker. Thamel, a reporter, is part of the ESPN team that won in the outstanding sports studio show weekly category, for College GameDay.

Lefkoe and Zucker, both hosts, are part of the CBS/TNT group that won in the outstanding sports studio show, limited-run category, for the Road to the Final Four program.

I also want to note that a documentary called Tim Green - A Voice Reclaimed, from NFL Films, won the Sports Emmy for outstanding sports feature in the long-form category. Green, who announced in 2018 that he was diagnosed with ALS, grew up in Liverpool, N.Y., played football at Syracuse and then went on to an eight-year NFL career with the Atlanta Falcons.

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