Criqui began with CBS in 1967 before moving to
NBC Sports in 1979; he was 'traded' by CBS to NBC for
Curt Gowdy. When CBS reacquired the NFL in
1998, Criqui rejoined the network, and continued to serve as a play-by-play announcer as part of the
NFL on CBS until his retirement from that position after the 2012 season. In 2013 he returned for the Cleveland Browns vs. New England Patriots matchup on CBS with his former partner
Steve Tasker, as
Bill Macatee could not make it due to his flight being cancelled by a snowstorm. He has also announced a number of other sports for
CBS,
NBC and
ESPN including
college football,
college basketball, the
ABA, the
NBA, the
NHL, professional
golf and
tennis tournaments,
Triple Crown horse racing, the
Canadian Football League () and several
Summer Olympics events. During his tenure at NBC, Criqui called 14
Orange Bowl games. Criqui's most memorable call was the
1984 Orange Bowl between undefeated
Nebraska and
Miami. Nebraska was on a 22-game winning streak coming into the game, but lost to Miami 31–30 when the Cornhuskers failed on a two-point conversion attempt which would have won the game. His most famous college basketball call was most likely the last-second upset by
St. Joseph's over top-seeded
DePaul in the Mideast regional second round of the 1981 NCAA Tournament. Criqui was the radio play-by-play voice of
Notre Dame Fighting Irish football on the Notre Dame IMG Sports Network from 2006 to 2018.
Other projects His other projects include hosting radio talk shows about sports, serving as a part-time TV announcer for the
New York Mets in 1991, and working as the play-by-play announcer for
New England Patriots pre-season telecasts on
WCVB-TV,
Boston from 1995 to 2008 and for
WBZ-TV, Boston from 2009 to 2012. Criqui was also for many years the key spokesperson for
Trans World Airlines, appearing as himself in many television, radio and print advertisements as part of the
Ogilvy & Mather-produced advertising campaign: "You're Gonna Like Us (sm). TWA.", which ran between 1978 and 1984 in support of the airline's domestic U.S. marketing efforts. For years, he also served as co-host of the weekend version of the newsmagazine
Inside Edition. He also served as a sportscaster on
WOR radio in New York on the
Rambling with Gambling show, as well as on
WNBC radio on
Imus in the Morning.
Memorable NFL calls One of Criqui's most memorable NFL calls came on November 8,
1970:
Tom Dempsey's 63-yard field goal that lifted the
New Orleans Saints to a 19–17 victory over the
Detroit Lions at
New Orleans'
Tulane Stadium. Other memorable NFL games that Criqui took part in were the
1978 "
Miracle at the Meadowlands" and the 1982 "
Epic in Miami". Criqui also did play-by-play of the
1985–
86 seasons of
Monday Night Football and Super Bowls
XX and
XXI (alongside
Bob Trumpy) for
NBC Radio. He also called "
Red Right 88" in
1980, when
Brian Sipe threw an interception in the end zone to end the
Cleveland Browns' season. He along with
Randy Cross called the
Detroit Lions' comeback victory over the Browns in 2009. He was presented with the
Pete Rozelle Radio-Television Award from the
Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2003. He is also a member of the Greater Buffalo Sports Hall of Fame. ==Personal life==