SEGUIN, Texas – Texas Lutheran alumnus and current CBS Sports broadcaster Verne Lundquist has been named a co-recipient of the National Football Foundation & College Hall of Fame's 2011 Outstanding Contribution to College Football Award.

The National Football Foundation & College Hall of Fame (NFF) announced today that Lundquist and Brent Musburger will be co-recipients of the organization's 2011 award.

"We are thrilled to honor both Brent and Verne, two of the best announcers our sport has ever known," said NFF president and CEO Steve Hatchell. "Millions of fans have had their fall Saturdays enriched by their exceptional storytelling abilities, and they stand atop the broadcasting profession as true masters of capturing the drama of the gridiron. We are all truly fortunate to have been in their audience for so many years, and we look forward to honoring them at the NFF Annual Awards Dinner on December 6 in New York City."

Lundquist graduated from Texas Lutheran University in 1962 and received TLU's Distinguished Alumnus Award. He is also a member of the TLU Athletics Wall of Honor. In 2009 Lundquist became a member of Texas Lutheran's Board of Regents.

Lundquist remains an ardent supporter of TLU and TLU Athletics. Through the annual fundraiser “Front Row with Verne Lundquist,” Lundquist and TLU have raised $530,000 for TLU Athletics. Past honorees with Lundquist at “Front Row” have included Troy Aikman, Roger Staubach, Roger Clemens, Craig Biggio, Lance Berkman, Phil Garner, Gary Kubiak, and 2011 honoree Matt Schaub.

Known throughout the sports broadcasting industry as the "Golden Throat," Lundquist has become an integral part of the sports broadcasting landscape during the past 40 years with his memorable calls and a colorful approach that has made him a fan favorite. Currently, he serves as the lead play-by-play announcer for CBS Sports' coverage of college football, a post he has held since 1998 alongside analyst Gary Danielson. Together, they have become the voices on CBS for SEC football.

The versatile Lundquist also handles announcing roles for CBS's coverage of college basketball, including the NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Championship, the Masters, the PGA Championship, and other PGA TOUR events. During his first stint at CBS from 1983 to 1995, Lundquist called the NFL and NBA, and was the network's lead figure skating announcer for the 1992, 1994 and 1998 Winter Olympics.

Prior to CBS, Lundquist spent eight years at ABC Sports and three years as a play-by-play announcer for TNT's coverage of the NFL, NBA, golf and figure skating coverage from 1995 to 1997. In all, he has called 20 different sports, including track and field, swimming and diving, boxing, gymnastics and horse racing during his illustrious career.

Lundquist began his career at KTBC-TV in Austin before becoming the sports director at WFAA-TV in Dallas, where he also worked as the radio voice of the Dallas Cowboys for 16 seasons. He has been inducted into the National Sportscasters and Sportswriters Hall of Fame, the Texas Radio Hall of Fame and the Texas Sports Hall of Fame. Lundquist claimed seven consecutive Texas Sportscaster of the Year awards from 1977 to 1983 and was named a Legend of the Sun Bowl in 2005 by the Sun Bowl Association.

Lundquist and his wife Nancy live in Steamboat Springs, Colo.

First presented in 1974, the Outstanding Contribution to College Football Award provides national recognition to those whose efforts to support the NFF and its goals have been local in nature or who have made significant contributions to the game of football either to the manner in which it is played and coached or to the manner in which it is enjoyed by spectators. Lundquist and Musburger become the 35th and 36th recipients of this prestigious award.

Lundquist and Musburger are most recent individuals to be announced as recipients of an NFF Major Award in 2011, joining Dr. Archie Roberts (Distinguished American Award); Penn State Athletics Director Tim Curley (John L. Toner Award for superior abilities as an athletics administrator); and Ted Ruta (Outstanding Football Official Award). The Gold Medal recipient and Chris Schenkel Award recipient for excellence in broadcasting will be announced via national press releases in the near future.

The NFF Major Award winners, along with the 2011 College Football Hall of Fame inductees and the NFF National Scholar-Athlete Class, presented by Fidelity Investments, will be honored at the NFF 54th Annual Awards Dinner on Dec. 6 at the Waldorf-Astoria in New York City. For ticket information, please contact NFF director of national events Will Rudd at 800.486.1865 or wrudd@footballfoundation.com.

-Courtesy Texas Lutheran University Sports Information Department