Jerry Romig, voice of the New Orleans Saints for 44 years, dies at 86
Jerry Romig, who, as the voice of the New Orleans Saints, led football fans through 44 years of exasperating losses and exhilarating victories, died Wednesday (Dec. 23) at his River Ridge home. He was 86.
Although Mr. Romig's work as the play-by-play announcer for the Saints' home games was the activity for which he was best known, the lifelong New Orleanian led a varied life that included stints as a newspaper sports reporter while in his teens; an executive at two television stations; a fundraiser for the New Orleans Archdiocese; and the spokesman for Charity Hospital.
In recognition of his contributions to the community, the Institute for Human Understanding named him one of its 10 Outstanding Persons in 1988.
To judge by what he said in interviews, it was Mr. Romig's work as the Saints' announcer that he held closest to his heart.
"I love football enough that I want to be a part of it," he said in a 2009 interview. "I want to be part of something that is so meaningful to the city of New Orleans."
Mr. Romig was in the booth in Tulane Stadium, the Saints' first home, when Tom Dempsey kicked a 63-yard field goal in 1970 to beat the Detroit Lions. And he was on hand for the Saints' first post-Katrina game in the Superdome, when Steve Gleason blocked a punt by the archrival Atlanta Falcons and the men in black and gold went on to win an emotional victory that was a tremendous morale boost for a city still struggling to recover from the monster storm.
In 2005, when the Saints had to play their home games on the road because Katrina had trashed their stadium, Mr. Romig called games in San Antonio and Baton Rouge.
Throughout the years, he became so celebrated for one call in his distinctive baritone – the rallying cry "Firrrsssst downnnn! Saaaaaaainnntsss!" – that he was frequently asked to repeat it by people who encountered him in non-sports settings. He always obliged.
In an interview, he said he kept his voice in shape with a mixture of honey and lemon juice.
Mr. Romig was elected to the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame. When he stepped away from his microphone in 2013, the team gave him one of the bulky, diamond-encrusted rings that commemorated the Saints' Super Bowl victory in 2010, and the stadium's house control booth was renamed the Jerry Romig House Control Booth A.
"Dad's passion never changed because he never stopped being a fan,'' his son Mark Romig, who succeeded him as the Saints' announcer, said in an interview.
For instance, the younger Romig said, "I remember him getting so excited after a play, he pounded his fist into a table and had to spend the second half of the game with his hand in a cup of ice."
Mr. Romig's career as a public-address announcer started in 1968, when Tulane Athletic Director Rix Yard hired him to call Green Wave games when Jack Dolan, the longtime Tulane announcer, called the Saints' first season.
A year later, he was hired to replace Buddy Diliberto to call Saints games. Mr. Romig kept calling Tulane games, as well as Super Bowls, Sugar Bowls, Bayou Classics and high school football games.
Mr. Romig retired after officiating at his 446th consecutive Saints game, in which the Saints beat the Oakland Raiders in a preseason match-up.
In an August 2013 interview, he got emotional when he tried to sum up his feelings.
"Just being a part of this program and what the Saints mean to this city is hard to describe," he said. "What would the city be without the Saints?
"I have had the privilege of being a part of this program for 44 years. Being a part of really what's been so critical to New Orleans, you can't beat that. How can you touch that? It's hard to explain. It's been so great."
Mr. Romig's involvement with sports started when he was 16, reporting on high school football games for The Times-Picayune, a job that paid 23 ½ cents per column inch. He also wrote for The New Orleans States.
A Loyola University graduate who served in the Army – but not overseas – during the Korean conflict, Mr. Romig landed a job at WDSU-TV, New Orleans' first television station, in 1955 as a reporter. During 19 years there, he became news producer, program director and, eventually vice president.
Mr. Romig, who went to work for the archdiocese, set up the Office of Development and became executive vice president of the Catholic Foundation of the Archdiocese of New Orleans, which runs the archdiocese's fundraising programs.
He became the founding president and general manager of WLAE-TV, which the church supported.
Throughout his life, Mr. Romig was a strong Catholic; all five of his children attended Catholic schools.
One of his earliest church-related memories was of the Eucharistic Congress, a massive four-day gathering in October 1938. Thousands of priests attended, and, in the days before popes traveled, Pope Pius XI addressed the throng by radio.
Mr. Romig was one of a fleet of altar boys who were kept busy, not only at Masses but also in a three-mile procession from downtown New Orleans to City Park. The procession, in which participants marched 12 abreast, lasted 5 ½ hours, Mr. Romig said in a 1988 interview.
"The entire city was draped in bunting from flagpole to flagpole," he said. "It was one long week of pomp and ceremony. And I can remember well sitting with my mother in City Park's stadium. It was hot as blue blazes. People were fainting from the heat, going down one after another."
Mr. Romig left his archdiocesan job to work as vice president of fund development at Hotel Dieu Hospital (later University Hospital). He became spokesman for the Medical Center of Louisiana at New Orleans, which comprised Charity and University hospitals.
After the hospital's public relations office was closed in 2004, Mr. Romig joined Peter A. Mayer Advertising as senior counsel in the firm's public relations division.
Mr. Romig and his wife, Janice, reared their family in Lakeview. In addition to their five children, they took in 21 foster children. Pictures of all those children were lost when Katrina and the ensuing floodwaters destroyed the house.
After the storm, the Romigs resettled in River Ridge.
Survivors include his wife, Janice Romig; two sons, Jerry "Jay" Romig Jr. and Mark Romig, both of New Orleans; three daughters, Anne Tucker, Mary Beth Romig and Ellen Marie Fihlman, all of New Orleans; a sister, Mary Romig of Harahan; 11 grandchildren; and a great-grandchild.
Funeral arrangements, which will be handled by Jacob Schoen & Son Funeral Home, are incomplete.
Although Mr. Romig's work as the play-by-play announcer for the Saints' home games was the activity for which he was best known, the lifelong New Orleanian led a varied life that included stints as a newspaper sports reporter while in his teens; an executive at two television stations; a fundraiser for the New Orleans Archdiocese; and the spokesman for Charity Hospital.
In recognition of his contributions to the community, the Institute for Human Understanding named him one of its 10 Outstanding Persons in 1988.
To judge by what he said in interviews, it was Mr. Romig's work as the Saints' announcer that he held closest to his heart.
"I love football enough that I want to be a part of it," he said in a 2009 interview. "I want to be part of something that is so meaningful to the city of New Orleans."
Mr. Romig was in the booth in Tulane Stadium, the Saints' first home, when Tom Dempsey kicked a 63-yard field goal in 1970 to beat the Detroit Lions. And he was on hand for the Saints' first post-Katrina game in the Superdome, when Steve Gleason blocked a punt by the archrival Atlanta Falcons and the men in black and gold went on to win an emotional victory that was a tremendous morale boost for a city still struggling to recover from the monster storm.
In 2005, when the Saints had to play their home games on the road because Katrina had trashed their stadium, Mr. Romig called games in San Antonio and Baton Rouge.
Throughout the years, he became so celebrated for one call in his distinctive baritone – the rallying cry "Firrrsssst downnnn! Saaaaaaainnntsss!" – that he was frequently asked to repeat it by people who encountered him in non-sports settings. He always obliged.
In an interview, he said he kept his voice in shape with a mixture of honey and lemon juice.
Mr. Romig was elected to the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame. When he stepped away from his microphone in 2013, the team gave him one of the bulky, diamond-encrusted rings that commemorated the Saints' Super Bowl victory in 2010, and the stadium's house control booth was renamed the Jerry Romig House Control Booth A.
"Dad's passion never changed because he never stopped being a fan,'' his son Mark Romig, who succeeded him as the Saints' announcer, said in an interview.
For instance, the younger Romig said, "I remember him getting so excited after a play, he pounded his fist into a table and had to spend the second half of the game with his hand in a cup of ice."
Mr. Romig's career as a public-address announcer started in 1968, when Tulane Athletic Director Rix Yard hired him to call Green Wave games when Jack Dolan, the longtime Tulane announcer, called the Saints' first season.
A year later, he was hired to replace Buddy Diliberto to call Saints games. Mr. Romig kept calling Tulane games, as well as Super Bowls, Sugar Bowls, Bayou Classics and high school football games.
Mr. Romig retired after officiating at his 446th consecutive Saints game, in which the Saints beat the Oakland Raiders in a preseason match-up.
In an August 2013 interview, he got emotional when he tried to sum up his feelings.
"Just being a part of this program and what the Saints mean to this city is hard to describe," he said. "What would the city be without the Saints?
"I have had the privilege of being a part of this program for 44 years. Being a part of really what's been so critical to New Orleans, you can't beat that. How can you touch that? It's hard to explain. It's been so great."
Mr. Romig's involvement with sports started when he was 16, reporting on high school football games for The Times-Picayune, a job that paid 23 ½ cents per column inch. He also wrote for The New Orleans States.
A Loyola University graduate who served in the Army – but not overseas – during the Korean conflict, Mr. Romig landed a job at WDSU-TV, New Orleans' first television station, in 1955 as a reporter. During 19 years there, he became news producer, program director and, eventually vice president.
Mr. Romig, who went to work for the archdiocese, set up the Office of Development and became executive vice president of the Catholic Foundation of the Archdiocese of New Orleans, which runs the archdiocese's fundraising programs.
He became the founding president and general manager of WLAE-TV, which the church supported.
Throughout his life, Mr. Romig was a strong Catholic; all five of his children attended Catholic schools.
One of his earliest church-related memories was of the Eucharistic Congress, a massive four-day gathering in October 1938. Thousands of priests attended, and, in the days before popes traveled, Pope Pius XI addressed the throng by radio.
Mr. Romig was one of a fleet of altar boys who were kept busy, not only at Masses but also in a three-mile procession from downtown New Orleans to City Park. The procession, in which participants marched 12 abreast, lasted 5 ½ hours, Mr. Romig said in a 1988 interview.
"The entire city was draped in bunting from flagpole to flagpole," he said. "It was one long week of pomp and ceremony. And I can remember well sitting with my mother in City Park's stadium. It was hot as blue blazes. People were fainting from the heat, going down one after another."
Mr. Romig left his archdiocesan job to work as vice president of fund development at Hotel Dieu Hospital (later University Hospital). He became spokesman for the Medical Center of Louisiana at New Orleans, which comprised Charity and University hospitals.
After the hospital's public relations office was closed in 2004, Mr. Romig joined Peter A. Mayer Advertising as senior counsel in the firm's public relations division.
Mr. Romig and his wife, Janice, reared their family in Lakeview. In addition to their five children, they took in 21 foster children. Pictures of all those children were lost when Katrina and the ensuing floodwaters destroyed the house.
After the storm, the Romigs resettled in River Ridge.
Survivors include his wife, Janice Romig; two sons, Jerry "Jay" Romig Jr. and Mark Romig, both of New Orleans; three daughters, Anne Tucker, Mary Beth Romig and Ellen Marie Fihlman, all of New Orleans; a sister, Mary Romig of Harahan; 11 grandchildren; and a great-grandchild.
Funeral arrangements, which will be handled by Jacob Schoen & Son Funeral Home, are incomplete.
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