CBS announcer Gary Danielson reflects on nearly a decade and a half of Sun Bowls

Gary Danielson’s story about falling in love with the Tony the Tiger Sun Bowl speaks to the journey most out-of-towners make when they first come to El Paso.

CBS' star color commentator is otherwise best known as the voice for SEC football games, often the game of the week in college football, but that wasn't why he was a bit leery about coming to the Sun Bowl for the first time in 2008.

"That's tough travel for us Eastern guys," said Floridian Danielson, who will broadcast his 13th Sun Bowl on Friday along with partner Brad Nessler. It will mark the 54th CBS broadcast of the game.

"I'm not pretending I'm a superstar about anything. I'm a grinder with everything I've done in sports and in broadcasting. I've never looked at it like, 'This is beneath my level.' But it was the fact it lands on New Year's Eve, something you usually spend at home, and the travel is tough ‒ three flights for me to get back to Florida."

Danielson, though, didn't need long to develop an appreciation for what happened after he arrived.

"What superseded all that was how involved El Paso is in the game and the great people I got to meet," Danielson said. "How much it meant to them; we gravitated toward having a great time. Everything. The luncheon. The crew. We were treated great. We've always had a great time coming here."

But his highlight was making the rounds with Sun Bowl Association Executive Director Bernie Olivas to visit wounded soldiers the day before the game and talking with them, something neither he nor the bowl promoted.

Over the past decade and a half, Danielson has become as synonymous with the Sun Bowl as anyone outside of El Paso, a familiar voice that makes the game seem even more important.

He’s seen a lot over the years, starting with the memorably unmemorable 2008 game in which Oregon State beat Pitt 3-0.

“It was so bad it was unique in a way,” Danielson recalls. “That was also the Village People (at halftime, when the Sun Bowl set a Guinness Book of Worlds Record mark for the most people doing the 'YMCA' dance). That ended up being the most memorable part of the game.

“It's memorable because, as a broadcaster, you're trying to put a storyline to it. (Play-by-play announcer) Verne (Lundquist) was going on, 'I've never done anything like this.' Verne has done a lot.

“I said to Verne, 'Didn't you call the Dallas Cowboys-Detroit Lions playoff game that was 5-0 (in 1970)?' He said, 'Oh my God, you're right!" He had forgotten about it. Then he did about five minutes on that game. He ended up talking about the playoff game between my Lions and the Cowboys.”

The Detroit native Danielson spent nine years as the starting quarterback for the Detroit Lions in the late 1970s through the mid-80s and even then was doing announcing work on the side for a Detroit TV station. That made his post-playing career transition to broadcasting (he started with a job at ESPN after retiring from playing in 1988) an easy one.

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“When I was young I used to yell at the TV and the announcers. Now I'm getting yelled at,” said Danielson, who estimates that in his three decades of broadcasting he’s called more national college football games on TV than anyone alive.

“It's come full circle. Being a quarterback, it's different now where everybody gets interviewed, everybody has a podcast, everybody has access to the media. Back when I played, the head coach and the quarterback took the microphone after the game; they are the ones who had to speak for the team.

“I got used to doing it. I had opportunities to do it in Detroit. It led to interviews with ESPN and here I am more than 30 years later still doing it. I'm pretty lucky.”

After calling that 2008 Sun Bowl, he and Lundquist worked the Gator Bowl in 2009, which marked Florida State coach Bobby Bowden’s final game.

In 2010, Danielson was back to the Sun Bowl and has been since.

Of course, some games stand out more than others.

“We've had some strange ones, both with Miami,” he said. “In 2010, they played Notre Dame. It was brutal cold. You could tell in warmups; Miami barely took their hands out of their pockets. That was not going to turn out well.

“Then again in 2015, there was the big snowstorm. We were stuck for two days trying to get out of El Paso. Weather: It's been 80 degrees and it's been 30 degrees.”

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Danielson remembers the 2016 game for a different reason. That was right as star players were beginning to opt out of bowl games, a trend that accelerated right around when Stanford’s Christian McCaffrey opted out of the Sun Bowl game against North Carolina.

“I remember the game being unique because you got both sides of it,” Danielson said. “Christian made a good decision for himself, but (Stanford’s end) Solomon Thomas had such a fantastic game, I think he played his way into being the third pick.

“I thought (North Carolina quarterback) Mitch Trubisky (eventually the No. 2 pick in the draft) really helped himself. It said everything about the opt-outs for me. This is the one that stood out.

“Ryan Switzer, the (North Carolina) slotback, had a great game and got drafted. That's how these bowl games go. There are opportunities and there are risks. You can't blame the modern player for understanding the risks. We wish they would all play, but more importantly we don't want them to get hurt.”

Friday’s Sun Bowl is unique in Danielson’s mind because of the large number of opt-outs. Pitt has had seven so far.

“I always try to judge how the teams will approach the game,” Danielson said. “It's an in-between type of game. As a network, we always want the most recognizable team and name, but what goes with that, what is their focus?

“You've got UCLA dangling around there, a top 10 team at one point took USC right to the edge. To be honest, they surely had thoughts of being in a New Year's Day bowl. Now you have to see how they approach it. It appears UCLA is approaching it as a steppingstone and a chance to win 10 games.

“Pitt is the team we've had the most, and their coach, the way he runs the program, coach (Pat) Narduzzi, they always show. They always come to play. So, I think it's a really fun matchup.”

As for the future, Danielson said the confluence of the NIL (allowing student-athletes to receive compensation for their name, image and likeness) and the transfer portal has all of college football in flux, and the looming expansion of the playoffs to 12 teams could negatively impact games like the Sun Bowl.

That hasn’t changed the excitement Danielson feels as he gets ready for his 13th Sun Bowl.

“I'm not saying this because I work there, but CBS is very proud of this product, and for them to hand the microphone to me and Vern, now to Brad and me, we take great pride in representing CBS and all the broadcasters who have done this game,” Danielson said.

“I would never beg off on this, ever. As long as I'm working at CBS, I want to finish up in the Sun Bowl.”

He’ll add another brick to his Sun Bowl wall Friday.

Bret Bloomquist may be reached at 915-546-6359, bbloomquist@elpasotimes.com and @Bretbloomquist on Twitter.

This article originally appeared on El Paso Times: Announcer Gary Danielson recalls nearly decade and half of Sun Bowls