 DeRogatis on a 1951 Bowman football card | |||||||||
| No. 78 | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Positions | Defensive tackle Tackle | ||||||||
| Personal information | |||||||||
| Born | (1927-05-05)May 5, 1927 Newark, New Jersey, U.S. | ||||||||
| Died | December 26, 1995(1995-12-26) (aged 68) Neptune, New Jersey, U.S. | ||||||||
| Height | 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) | ||||||||
| Weight | 238 lb (108 kg) | ||||||||
| Career information | |||||||||
| High school | Central (Newark, New Jersey) | ||||||||
| College | Duke | ||||||||
| NFL draft | 1949: 2nd round, 14th overall pick | ||||||||
| Career history | |||||||||
| Awards and highlights | |||||||||
| Career NFL statistics | |||||||||
| |||||||||
Albert John DeRogatis (May 5, 1927 – December 26, 1995) was an American professionalfootball player andtelevision andradiosportscaster.
DeRogatis was born inNewark, New Jersey, and attended the city'sCentral High School, earning All-State honors atcenter. AtDuke University, after aknee injury shortened his junior season, he made the 1948All-America team as a tackle.
He was drafted the following year by theNew York Giants of theNational Football League (NFL) and playeddefensive tackle. He was an NFLAll-Pro in both1950 and1951. A recurrence of the knee injury he suffered at Duke ended his playing career after four seasons of professional football. For thirty-three years beginning in 1953, he served as a vice president withPrudential Insurance.
From 1966 through 1975, the bespectacled DeRogatis served as acolor commentator for professional and college football telecasts onNBC, primarily withCurt Gowdy on the network's top broadcast team forAmerican Football League (later,American Football Conference) regular-season and playoff matches,Super BowlsIII,VII andIX and severalRose Bowls. He also was paired withJim Simpson to call a fewOrange Bowls. Prior to joining NBC, DeRogatis had begun his broadcasting career working withMarty Glickman on New York football Giants radio broadcasts onWNEW-AM from 1960 through 1965. DeRogatis was among several veteran announcers who returned to call some NFL telecasts for NBC in September 1988, while many of the network's regular broadcasters were busy calling that year'sSummer Olympics inSeoul.
DeRogatis relinquished his NBC duties prior to the1976 NFL season despite one more year remaining on his contract with the network. He was also Vice President for Community Affairs with thePrudential Insurance Company, president of the National Sight Foundation and afflicted withglaucoma at the time.[1][2]
DeRogatis can be heard with Gowdy calling a football game in the 1978 filmHeaven Can Wait.
DeRogatis was inducted into theCollege Football Hall of Fame in 1986. A resident ofSpring Lake, New Jersey, he died ofcancer at Jersey Shore Medical Center on December 26, 1995.[3]
Sports Illustrated magazine's "Dr. Z" (akaPaul Zimmerman) has rated DeRogatis as his #1 football analyst of all time.[4]
Upon his death in 1995, DeRogatis was eulogized in theBoston Globe as a prototype for what it means to be agentleman, in the sense of displaying a gracious, polite, kind and generous nature.[citation needed] TheGlobe also published a picture of DeRogatis in the NBC booth together with Curt Gowdy andDon Meredith in the2006: The year in photos series, after Curt Gowdy's death in 2006.[5]
| Preceded by | NFL on NBC lead analyst 1971–1974 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Super Bowl television color commentator (AFC package carrier) 1968-1974 | Succeeded by |