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20 years later, Maguire returns to scene of crime

Submitted by administrator on Fri, 09/08/2006 - 12:25

By MEL BRACHT
Some 20 years after a state legislator introduced a resolution trying to ban him from calling Oklahoma sporting events, Paul Maguire is back in the state.

Maguire will be part of ABC's announce team for the Washington-Oklahoma game Saturday in Norman. Brad Nessler, Bob Griese and Bonnie Bernstein also will be on the broadcast, which will go to 36 percent of the country.

The last time Maguire called a game in Oklahoma _ the Oklahoma's 13-0 victory over Oklahoma State in the 1985 "Ice Bowl," played in sleet in Stillwater _ state Rep. Howard Cotner, D-Altus, introduced a resolution asking ESPN to ban Maguire and play-by-play announcer Jim Simpson from future state events because their coverage of that game was "vague, imprecise and insulting."

News of the resolution never reached the quick-witted Maguire, who reached this week, said, "We were frozen to the booth. What did the guy expect?"

This fall, Maguire is making a return to covering college football. The last 20 years he has broadcast NFL games for NBC and ESPN, including working Sunday night telecasts with Mike Patrick and Joe Theismann. After ESPN took over ABC's "Monday Night Football" franchise, Maguire and Patrick were switched to college football.

After years of needling Theismann, Maguire will need some time to get comfortable working with Griese, a former Purdue and Miami Dolphins quarterback.

"Bob is quite serious about everything," Maguire said. "I've always looked at it as it's only a game. After doing the pros for so long, they have a 16-game schedule and they know that once they lose it matters, but it really doesn't matter because you're going to play everybody in your division twice."

Maguire, who played pro football for 11 years as a punter and linebacker with the San Diego Chargers (1960-63) and Buffalo Bills (1964-70), grew up in Youngstown, Ohio, as a close friend of Ron Stoops, a longtime high school coach and father of Oklahoma coach Bob Stoops and Arizona coach Mike Stoops.

Maguire, 68, who now lives in Charleston, S.C., recently signed a four-year contract with ESPN and ABC.