Carter Blackburn facts for kids

Carter Blackburn is an American sportscaster, born on March 30, 1979. He is known for describing sports games as they happen, which is called "play-by-play" announcing. He currently works for CBS Sports. Before joining CBS Sports in 2014, he worked for ESPN.

Early Life and Education

Carter Blackburn was born in Dallas, Texas. He grew up in Kerrville, which is a town in the Texas Hill Country. This area is close to San Antonio.

Starting in Radio

Blackburn began his career in broadcasting when he was in high school. He worked at radio stations KERV and KRVL during his second year at Tivy High School. By his third year, he was already the sports director for the radio station. He would give morning reports on local high school sports. He also covered Texas college and professional teams. He even did play-by-play announcing for football, basketball, softball, and baseball games.

College Years

After high school, Blackburn went to Syracuse University. He graduated in 2001 from the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications. He earned degrees in broadcast journalism and political science. While at Syracuse, he continued his play-by-play work. He announced football, basketball, and lacrosse games for the WAER-FM radio station.

Professional Career

Blackburn started working for International Sports Properties (ISP) in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. He also worked for Fox Sports Net South from 2001 to 2003. During this time, he announced games for what later became the NBA Development League.

Joining CBS Sports

In 2003, Blackburn joined CBS Sports. At that time, the channel was known as CSTV. He made his first national TV appearance on CBS Sports in January 2008. This was for a Big Ten women's basketball game. Later that year, he announced two games for the 2008 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament. He continued this role in 2009 and 2016.

Time at ESPN

In September 2009, Blackburn started broadcasting for ESPN and ESPNU. He was a play-by-play announcer for many college sports. These included football, men's and women's basketball, baseball, softball, and lacrosse. In 2011, he announced the Reebok Grand Prix. During this event, Usain Bolt set a new world record in the 100 meters. Blackburn also announced the World Series of Softball tournament in 2011. In 2012, he took over the Friday Night Football package for ESPN and ESPN2. He also announced Little League Baseball games for ESPN.

Return to CBS Sports

In August 2014, CBS named Blackburn as a main play-by-play announcer for its sports network. He also announced college basketball, football, and baseball games. On December 27, 2014, he filled in for Verne Lundquist during the 2014 Sun Bowl. Blackburn was also part of the CBS Sports team that covered the 2015 Masters Tournament golf event. He sometimes announces NFL games for CBS too.

By the time he was 31, Blackburn had announced games for the NFL on Fox, the NCAA basketball tournament on CBS, and college football on ABC. In 2008, at 26 years old, he was one of the youngest announcers for an NCAA Tournament game on CBS. Only Jim Nantz was younger when he announced a game in 1985.

Memorable Calls

Blackburn has made some very memorable calls during his career.

• He announced Penn State coach Joe Paterno’s 409th win for ABC. This was a record-setting win and Paterno’s last game as coach.
• On March 18, 2016, Blackburn announced an exciting NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament game. It was between the Northern Iowa Panthers and the Texas Longhorns. Panthers guard Paul Jesperson made a half-court shot at the buzzer. This shot won the game for Northern Iowa, 75–72. It happened just seconds after Texas had tied the game.
• On August 24, 2019, Blackburn announced a college football game for CBS Sports. It was between the Arizona Wildcats and the Hawaii Rainbow Warriors. In the final seconds, Khalil Tate was tackled at the one-yard line. This stopped Arizona from scoring and winning the game.

Personal Life

Carter Blackburn lives in Austin, Texas.