Long-time Buccaneers legend back for another year
It seemed his time with the Buccaneers was over. As the 2022 Tampa Bay Buccaneer season ended in a dismal 31-14 loss to the Dallas Cowboys, it appeared the team would be looking for a new voice of the franchise. And no, not metaphorically, with the retirement of QB Tom Brady. The actual voice of […]
It seemed his time with the Buccaneers was over. As the 2022 Tampa Bay Buccaneer season ended in a dismal 31-14 loss to the Dallas Cowboys, it appeared the team would be looking for a new voice of the franchise.
And no, not metaphorically, with the retirement of QB Tom Brady. The actual voice of Tampa Bay Buccaneers football was thought to possibly be going out with him.
Fortunately, for Bucs fans, just the former will be gone in 2023, not both.
Gene Deckerhoff, the voice of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers for the past 34 seasons, will make it 35 this fall, as he announced on his Twitter account that he will be back calling games for the Bucs.
Deckerhoff announced his retirement in early 2022 from calling Florida State football games, for whom he has served as play-by-play radio broadcaster since 1979. Before that, he started calling men's basketball games for Florida State in 1974.
As such, it was believed by many that he would hang it up after the Bucs 2022 football season. He was quoted in his retirement announcement by FSU that he would at least handle the 2022 season calling games for the Bucs.
“I will finish my commitment to the Buccaneer Radio Network and who knows maybe broadcast another Super Bowl.” – via Rob Wilson, Seminoles.com
Instead, the Bucs will get back the voice that so many fans have heard on many a Sunday afternoon relaxing by the pool, at the beach, in the car, and anywhere else within earshot of a radio. The voice that made the phrase "fire the cannons" synonymous with the successes of the team over the decades.
And perhaps, the voice fans will hear one last time from a podium at the 50-yard line at halftime of a future game when his name is being inducted in the Buccaneer Ring of Honor.
For now, fans will gladly welcome that voice over the airwaves again this fall.
