 Cross in February 2007 |
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| Born | April 25, 1954 Brooklyn, New York |
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| Career information | |||
| Year(s) | 1976–1988 | ||
| NFL Draft | 1976 / Round: 2 / Pick: 42 | ||
| College | UCLA | ||
| Professional teams | |||
| Career stats | |||
| Games played | 185 | ||
| Games started | 180 | ||
| Fumble recoveries | 6 | ||
| Stats at NFL.com | |||
| Career highlights and awards | |||
Randall "Randy" Laureat Cross (born April 25, 1954, in Brooklyn, New York) is a football analyst and former NFL offensive lineman.
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High school years
Cross was renowned as a high school shot put champion in the Southern California CIF during the years 1970–1972. He attended Crespi Carmelite High School in Encino, California. In 1972, he was state champion in the event, and had heaved the 12 pound high school shot over 67 feet.
College career
At UCLA, Cross was an All-America selection. 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. 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.
Pro career
In 1976, he was selected in the second-round of the NFL Draft by the San Francisco 49ers; his 13-year career included three All-Pro selections, three Pro Bowl selections and three Super Bowl championships. Cross' last game as a player was Super Bowl XXIII in 1989. In 1980 Cross was named All-NFC by Pro Football Weekly and in 1981 he was a consensus All-Pro as the 49ers went to and won the Super Bowl. In 1982 he was Second-team All-NFC by UPI (and honor he won again in 1987, as a center). Cross was a key contributor on the final 89-yard drive that led to the play that has been immortalized as "The Catch" in the 1982 NFC Playoffs versus the Dallas Cowboys. "The Catch", as the play has since been named by sportscasters, reminded older 49er fans of the "Alley-oop" passes that Y.A. Tittle threw to lanky receiver R.C. Owens back in the 1950s. A picture of Clark's leap in the air taken by Walter Iooss, Jr. appeared on the cover of that week's Sports Illustrated and was also featured in an Autumn 2005 commercial for Gatorade.
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.
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 currently co-hosts The Opening Drive with Bob Papa on the Sirius Radio NFL Network. In 2009, he also became the color analyst for US Naval Academy home games on CBS College Sports TV.
Some time between the end of the 2008 NFL season and the start of the 2009 NFL season, Cross dyed his previously grey hair jet-black.
Personal
He lives in Alpharetta, Georgia, with his wife, Patrice, and their three children. Son Brendan is a high school QB in Georgia and will be attending Wake Forest University in the fall of 2009. His father, Dennis Cross (1924-1991), was an American actor, who had the lead role in the syndicated adventure series The Blue Angels (1960-1961).
External links
- St. Petersburg Times
- http://vault.sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1125154
- http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/football/features/superbowl/archives/16/
See also
External links
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