For 58 years, Jack Cristil has been the voice of the Bulldogs.
Cristil has wrapped 636 Mississippi State football games in Maroon and White. He has called 1,537 Bulldog basketball games, and tomorrow’s game at Tennessee, No. 1,538, will be his last MSU broadcast.
The man perhaps most associated with MSU sports is hanging up the mic, Cristil said Wednesday night on air after MSU played LSU in basketball.
Who better to make the announcement than Cristil himself, and what would have been more fitting than Cristil speaking the news into his mic for what was likely the most-listened to MSU radio broadcast in years?
Cristil’s comforting voice crinkled through the airwaves as he announced his departure.
“I have been privileged, at best, for the past 58 years to have had the opportunity to represent Mississippi State University as their broadcaster for football and basketball.
“All good things, as they say in the trade, must come to an end sooner or later. Please accept my sincere, genuine, honest and heart-felt thank you for all the kindness that you have displayed to me over the last 58 years.
“It has been one genuine pleasure to be associated with such a magnificent university as this. With its administration, its faculty, its students and the Mississippi State family.
“The reason that I am stepping down at this particular point, in conference with my physicians … it’s been determined because of a deteriorating health situation in which I am experiencing, it is necessary for me to immediately start kidney dialysis.
“So doing this treatment will restrict me to the point where I cannot represent this university the way that it should be represented. When I cannot do that, I have told many people over the years, that I would step aside. Now it’s time to step aside.
“Please, ladies and gentlemen,  accept my genuine, my honest, my heartfelt thank you for all the kindness, the courtesy and the encouragement that you have given to me and my family over the years.
“The Mississippi State University family is second to none, and as family, I know you understand. Thank you very much, and may God’s blessing be upon you and your family. Thank you.”
Cristil was hired in 1953 by then Athletic Director C.R. “Dudy” Noble to broadcast play-by-play for MSU football, and his first MSU broadcast was a 34-6 win over then-Memphis State on Sept. 19, 1953.
In his time at MSU, Cristil has won enough awards to fill dozens of award shelves, including a lifetime achievement award — nearly 20 years ago in 1992.
Tomorrow, Jack Cristil’s career as the Voice of the Bulldogs will be wrapped in Maroon and White.
Goodbye, Jack.