NFL Films looks at Kevin Harlan’s career, focuses on his start with Kansas City Chiefs
Seemingly every few years, sports announcer Kevin Harlan goes viral for a call during a game or even during a break in action.
Think about the field invader during a Rams-49ers game, the “No regard for human life” comment after a monster LeBron James dunk and Harlan’s epic call of two games at once for CBS while covering a Chiefs game.
Harlan has done it all and that’s why NFL Films looked at his legendary career.
The video began with Harlan’s first big job as the Chiefs radio voice from 1985-’93. Harlan recalled how a catchphrase caught on with Chiefs fans.
“A lot of people would listen to our broadcast in the stands and during one of the highlights I said, ‘Oh baby! What a play!’ Didn’t think anything about. So my wife and I are listening to the postgame show and all the calls, and these people call in and host says ‘Hi, you’re on the air’ and (they) say ‘Hi, we’re in the Arrowhead parking lot. Hold on then 1-2-3, oh baby. What a play!’ They said it and that really has been the only time that I’ve ever had like a phrase and I would save it for a big play and only use it once a game. “
“It was just like a magical time That was so fun.”
The NFL Films video also shows how Harlan broke in with the networks. It was courtesy of former Chiefs general manager Carl Peterson who recommended Harlan to Fox Sports.
As they say, the rest is history.
Speaking of history, Harlan made it Sunday during the Chiefs’ Wild Card Game victory over the Pittsburgh Steelers. Harlan called the game for Westwood One Radio and his daughter, Olivia Harlan Dekker, worked as sideline reporter. It was the first time a father-daughter duo worked an NFL playoff game, Dekker said on Twitter.
The NFL Films video also shows Harlan visiting his high school pressbox, and interviewed his father. It’s a nice retrospective.
This story was originally published January 20, 2022 at 10:08 AM.
