Billy Packer, 82, Longtime Final Four Analyst, Dies

Longtime college basketball commentator Billy Packer, the voice of the NCAA tournament for more than 30 years, died Thursday night. He was 82.

Packer's two sons, Mark and Brandt, announced the news via Twitter on Thursday night.

Mark Packer told The Associated Press that his father had been hospitalized in Charlotte for the past three weeks and had several medical issues, and ultimately succumbed to kidney failure.

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Packer was the lead college basketball analyst for 34 straight Final Fours, first at NBC and then at CBS, while also doing work as an analyst for ACC games on Raycom. He received a Sports Emmy for Outstanding Sports Personality, Studio and Sports Analyst in 1993.

He briefly entered the coaching profession before getting his start as an announcer in 1972. Packer told The Athletic in 2019 he "never had any goal to be a broadcaster."

But within two years, Packer was on the call for NCAA tournament and Final Four games and didn't give up his seat until leaving in 2008.