Presented by POOL SCOUTS.
This Day In Sports…August 7, 1935:
The birthday of the iconic Lee Corso. He spent 15 years as a head coach in college football, but he’s famous (of course) for his role on ESPN’s College GameDay, a spotlight he’s enjoyed since 1987. Since 1996, Corso has donned to headgear of the mascot of the team he picks to win on-site every Saturday. He’s done it 430 times, and one of them was on the blue turf the morning of Boise State’s win over Oregon State in 2010. Corso has also dressed up as the Notre Dame leprechaun, the Stanford Tree and historic figures James Madison and Benjamin Franklin.
“Not so fast my friend” has been Corso’s signature phrase when he disagrees with his colleague’s (primarily Kirk Herbstreit’s) predictions. It has become part of American sports vernacular. Corso admittedly hasn’t been as sharp in recent years—that can be traced back to a stroke he suffered in 2009 that left him unable to speak for a short time. But Corso returned the same season after getting his voice and his mojo back.
College GameDay’s extravaganza could not have gone much better on September 25, 2010. It was unbelievable to see the line to enter Bronco Stadium snake down Broadway, onto University Drive and all the way down to the Student Union Building before 6 a.m. The placement of the set on the blue turf worked out great (I’d never seen the sun rise in the stadium before). The 13,250 fans played their part perfectly. Picabo Street’s selection as celebrity picker surprised me, but she came prepared and did a fine job. Corso agreed with Picabo picking the Broncos and put on the Buster Bronco head, naturally.
Largely forgotten is the fact that Corso was a college head coach for 15 years (at Louisville, Indiana and Northern Illinois). He also called games on ESPN for many years in addition to his GameDay duties, including a few Boise State games. One was the Broncos’ first game against BYU in Provo in 2003, when Corso intimated that they were running up the score in their eventual 50-12 victory. But he otherwise had a great relationship with Boise State. Who’s not looking forward to the first College GameDay of the new season? That’s when Ohio State hosts Texas in Columbus—and that will be Corso’s farewell show. Lee Corso…90 years old today.
(Tom Scott hosts the Scott Slant segment during the football season on KTVB’s Sunday Sports Extra. He also anchors four sports segments each weekday on 95.3 FM KTIK and one on News/Talk KBOI. His Scott Slant column runs every Wednesday.)
