Randy Cross
Randall Laureat Cross (born April 25, 1954) is an American football analyst and former player. He was a right guard and center in the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the UCLA Bruins and was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 2011.[1]
 Cross in 2013 | |||||||||
| No. 62, 51 | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Position: | Guard, Center | ||||||||
| Personal information | |||||||||
| Born: | April 25, 1954 Brooklyn, New York | ||||||||
| Career information | |||||||||
| High school: | Crespi Carmelite (Encino, California) | ||||||||
| College: | UCLA | ||||||||
| NFL Draft: | 1976 / Round: 2 / Pick: 42 | ||||||||
| Career history | |||||||||
| Career highlights and awards | |||||||||
| Career NFL statistics | |||||||||
| |||||||||
High school years
Cross was born in Brooklyn, New York, and attended Crespi Carmelite High School in Encino, California. He was renowned as a high school shot put champion in the Southern California CIF from 1970–72, when he was named CIF California State Meet champion in the event, defeating future world record holder Terry Albritton and future WWF wrestling star Jim Neidhart, both from Newport Harbor High School, in the process.[2]
He heaved the 12-pound high school shot 67' 6.5", which remains the Crespi school and stadium record.[3][4]
College career
At University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), Cross was an All-America selection with the Bruins. As a senior, he helped lead his team to the 1976 Rose Bowl championship over top-ranked Ohio State. Cross began his career as a Center, but was moved to Right Guard for his junior year before playing both Guard and Center as senior on a rare rotating nine man offensive line.[5]
On this rotating line Cross started at RG on the 1st unit and then moved to Center when the next group hit the field. He was named First-team All-America in 1975. He was also a First-team All-Conference selection in 1975 In his career, he was a starter in 28 of 34 career games including his final 23. Randy Cross (and many other UCLA linemen) also played collegiate rugby for the school. Randy was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 2010.[6]
Professional career
In 1976, Cross was selected in the second round of the NFL Draft by the San Francisco 49ers. His 13-year career, entirely with the 49ers, included three Pro Bowl selections and three Super Bowl championships (SB XVI, XIX, and XXIII). Cross' last game as a player was Super Bowl XXIII in early 1989.
He played center from 1976–78 then guard from 1979–87 before finishing his career at center in 1988. Upon his retirement after Super Bowl XXIII, Randy joined the Miller Lite All Star's cast making a series of popular commercials for the brewing giant.
Broadcasting career
From 1989-1993, Cross was a member of the CBS Sports team that covered the NFC playoffs and Super Bowl XXVI. In addition, he served as an analyst for CBS Radio Sports' coverage of Super Bowl XXIV, filling in for Hank Stram when the latter was stricken with laryngitis and had to leave the broadcast in the third quarter of the game.[7]
Cross left CBS (following their loss of the NFC package to Fox) to join NBC Sports as a football analyst for NFL telecasts and a part-time analyst for Notre Dame football games. In 1998, he returned to CBS Sports as a game analyst before serving as a studio analyst on The NFL Today from 1999-2001. He eventually returned to his game analyst duties in 2002.
He also co-hosts shows on the Sirius NFL Radio. In 2009, he became the color analyst for US Naval Academy home games on CBS College Sports TV. He is the former lead color commentator for New England Patriots pre-season games, from 1995-2012, alongside Don Criqui. Randy was a co-host of the midday show "Rick and Randy" with Rick Kamla on WZGC 92-9 The Game a CBS radio station in Atlanta, Georgia before being released from the station.
Personal
Cross lives in Alpharetta, Georgia, with his wife, Patrice Cross, and their three children. Elder daughter Kelly graduated from University of Georgia and currently works for Levick Strategic Communications in Washington, D.C. She is married and has two daughters. Younger daughter Crystal recently graduated from Auburn University with a degree in BioMedical Science. His son, Brendan Cross, a graduate of Chattahoochee High School in Johns Creek, Georgia, played football for UCLA after transferring from Wake Forest University.[8]
Randy Cross's father, Dennis Cross (1924–1991), was an American actor, who had the lead role in the syndicated adventure series The Blue Angels (1960–61).
References
- Tillman, Howard elected to college Hall of Fame, Associated Press, May 27, 2010.
- "California State Meet Results - 1915 to present". Hank Lawson. Retrieved December 25, 2012.
- "Crespi Track & Field Records" (PDF). Crespi Carmelite High School. Archived from the original (PDF) on July 23, 2011. Retrieved February 27, 2011.
- "Bill Leeds – San Fernando Valley Track and Field Coaching legend passes on". DyeStatCAL. May 5, 2004. Archived from the original on October 11, 2007. Retrieved September 28, 2007.
- "Registered & Protected by MarkMonitor". vault.sportsillustrated.cnn.com.
- "Archived copy". Archived from the original on July 28, 2009. Retrieved April 14, 2009.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
- Nidetz, Steve (January 30, 1990). "In any language, this year's Super Bowl quickly became a colossal bore". Chicago Tribune. p. 4 (4).
- "Wake Forest QB Brendan Cross transferring to UCLA". April 23, 2013.
