CBS Sports Commentator Jim Nantz Explains Emotional Origin Behind Iconic ‘Hello Friends’ Phrase

NEED TO KNOW

• On Feb. 25, 2026, CBS’ Jim Nantz made an appearance on the Vanity Index podcast hosted by Chad Mumm and Wells Adams
• During the episode, the 66-year-old sports commentator discussed the emotional origins of his iconic tagline
• After 24 years of saying ‘Hello, Friends’ on television, Nantz revealed that it has something to do with his late father

For decades, Jim Nantz's voice has been synonymous with the biggest moments in sports. From the Masters to the Super Bowl, his steady cadence has welcomed viewers into living rooms across America. And nearly every broadcast begins the same way: “Hello, friends.”

The line has become one of the most recognizable greetings in television history, warm and familiar, like an old companion settling in beside you. But as Nantz recently revealed, the phrase carries a deeply personal meaning that traces back to his father’s long battle with Alzheimer’s.

“I'm by his bedside [in 2002], and I mentioned to him that, hey, I'm in Minnesota this weekend for the PGH Championship. And when I come on the air, I'm gonna look into that camera, and I'm gonna say, ‘Hello, friends,’ and that's for you, Dad, 'cause you have nothing but friends,” Nantz said on a recent episode of the Vanity Index podcast.

While sharing the full story with hosts Chad Mumm, creator of Netflix’s Full Swing, and Wells Adams, a former contestant on The Bachelorette, the 66-year-old said that at the time, the phrase was supposed to be a private signal between him and his father, Jim Nantz Jr.

When the sportscaster delivered the words on air from Hazeltine in 2002, he imagined his dad watching back home in Houston, catching that fleeting connection. “I thought it was a one-and-done, to be honest,” he admitted. But a colleague at CBS encouraged him to keep it.

As a result, he repeated the tagline the next day and what began as a quiet message became a signature heard across golf tournaments, Final Fours, and football’s biggest stage.

“And some people, I think, think it's some sort of attempt, lame attempt to try to have a signature phrase or line – had nothing to do with that,” Nantz emphasized. “It all had to do with trying to communicate with my father.”

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Nantz Jr. died in 2008 after a 13-year fight with Alzheimer’s. Yet every time Nantz looks into the camera and says those familiar words, he says he still feels that connection again.

“I say hello, friends, and I think of my dad watching down on me, and it relaxes me, and I fall into the flow of the show,” he said on the podcast. “So that's the story.”

Read the original article on People