Gil Santos On Felger & Mazz: 'Pumped Up And Ready To Go'
On the day of his Patriots Hall of Fame induction, Gil Santos took time to talk with Michael Felger and Jermaine Wiggins.
Santos was the Patriots' radio broadcaster for 36 years, signing off for the final time last year. At the end of the regular season, Patriots owner Robert Kraft announced that Santos would be inducted into the team's hall of fame.
"I was thunderstruck. I had absolutely never even considered anything like that," Santos said of his reaction to the news. "It's just a very exciting time and it has me pepped up."
Santos said Monday he was experiencing a feeling that is usually foreign to him.
"The day is here and it's extra exciting and actually, to be honest with you, I'm a little nervous. I very seldom say that," Santos told Felger. "I'm never usually that way. When it comes to standing in front of people I have no trouble talking to them. … It's just that, well, this is the culmination of over 50 years in broadcasting. To get selected a professional football team hall of fame, and all I did was broadcast games ... It's very heady stuff and it's got me pumped up and ready to go."
Santos' golden pipes have become part of the Patriots experience for New Englanders, and it was in that job that Santos said he was his best.
"I was never more at ease and relaxed in my life than when I was behind the mic calling the game," Santos said. "It just came easy."
Santos has seen it all, but he said Super Bowl XXXVI was the best game he ever called.
"That's number one on the list and nothing could ever top that," he said of the Patriots' victory over the Rams for the first championship in franchise history. "Number two would be the snow game against Oakland. The other two Super Bowls would be three and four, and all the other games would be tied for fifth place."
