Gil Santos (born April 19, 1940) is the longtime radio play-by-play announcer for the New England Patriots of the National Football League, and morning sports reporter for WBZ radio in Boston. He retired from WBZ on January 30, 2009. Santos was inducted into the WBZ Radio Hall of Fame on July 9, 2009. He continues to call games for the Patriots Radio Network, whose flagship is WBZ-FM (which is branded as "The Sports Hub").
He has called Patriots games continuously since 1966, except for the stretch between 1980 and 1990 when Patriots broadcast rights shifted first to WEEI 590, then to WHDH 850; Santos' return came in 1991 when broadcast rights returned to the AM version of WBZ. His 30 years of service makes him the longest-serving current announcer in the NFL, tied with Merrill Reese of the Philadelphia Eagles; he is also the last team play-by-play announcer from the American Football League era still broadcasting. From 1971-78 and 1990-2011, his partner in the booth has been former Patriots kicker Gino Cappelletti, except for the opening eight games of the Patriots' 2001 season when Cappelletti was hospitalized with an illness and former Patriots player Peter Brock substituted for Cappelletti. Cappelletti retired from his position prior to the 2012 season and was replaced by Scott Zolak.
In addition to the work at WBZ, Santos has called games for the Boston Celtics, Boston Breakers, Providence Friars basketball, Penn State Nittany Lions football, and Boston College Eagles football. He was born in Acushnet, Massachusetts and grew up in neighboring Fairhaven. From 1959 to 1971, when he joined WBZ full-time, Santos worked at WBSM and WNBH in New Bedford, and WSAR and WALE in Fall River. On January 10, 2009, Santos retired from WBZ at the end of January. He stayed within the organization as Patriots play-by-play announcer when the team's network switched from WBCN to the new WBZ FM.
In April 2012 Santos suffered a bout with pneumonia and was briefly hospitalized, calling into question his future as Patriots play-by-play announcer. He nonetheless announced he would return for one final season as Patriots broadcaster.
Read more about Gil Santos: Milestones