Ron Pitts
Encyclopedia
Ronald Dwayne Pitts is a former professional American football
player. He played defensive back
for the Buffalo Bills
and the Green Bay Packers
of the National Football League
(NFL). He played college football
for the University of California, Los Angeles
Bruins
.
Pitts was drafted by the Bills in the seventh round of the 1985 NFL Draft
. Since retiring he has worked as a sportscaster
, and currently works for Fox Sports
on its NFL coverage
.
. He moved to Orchard Park, New York as a teenager and attended Orchard Park High School
. He attended the University of California, Los Angeles
, where he played college football
for the UCLA Bruins
.
and the Green Bay Packers
. From 1986
to 1990
, Pitts played 66 games at defensive back
, starting
six times. He had seven career interceptions.
player John Lynch
. He also co-hosts Under the Helmet, a weekly E/I
program full of NFL-related segments for younger viewers. He also hosted the former Fox Sports Net
programs Total Access (whose name was later adopted by NFL Network
for its own newscast) and Hardcore Football. Earlier in his broadcasting career Pitts worked as a college football
analyst for ABC Sports and a correspondent for Black Entertainment Television
.
. He also appears as an alternate version of himself during the "Eggheads" episode of the American TV series Sliders
. He is also mentioned in the 1984 Michael Nesmith
movie Repo Man, in a college football radio broadcast heard in the background as the robbers bungle their way out of a store and just before the main characters walk in.
Pitts' voice was featured as an announcer in Microsoft's NFL Fever, a Football video game for the original Xbox.
In 2008, Pitts was hired to host a new show on the Discovery Channel
named Destroyed In Seconds
. The show features video clips of disasters, accidents, and other destructive events, both natural and man-made.
, also played for the Packers and was part of two Super Bowl
champion teams, Super Bowl I
and Super Bowl II
. Ron Pitts is mentioned briefly as one of several players' children who visited the Packers' locker room in Jerry Kramer
's diary of the 1967 season, "Instant Replay."
American football
American football is a sport played between two teams of eleven with the objective of scoring points by advancing the ball into the opposing team's end zone. Known in the United States simply as football, it may also be referred to informally as gridiron football. The ball can be advanced by...
player. He played defensive back
Defensive back
In American football and Canadian football, defensive backs are the players on the defensive team who take positions somewhat back from the line of scrimmage; they are distinguished from the defensive line players and linebackers, who take positions directly behind or close to the line of...
for the Buffalo Bills
Buffalo Bills
The Buffalo Bills are a professional football team based in Buffalo, New York. They are currently members of the East Division of the American Football Conference in the National Football League...
and the Green Bay Packers
Green Bay Packers
The Green Bay Packers are an American football team based in Green Bay, Wisconsin. They are members of the North Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League . The Packers are the current NFL champions...
of the National Football League
National Football League
The National Football League is the highest level of professional American football in the United States, and is considered the top professional American football league in the world. It was formed by eleven teams in 1920 as the American Professional Football Association, with the league changing...
(NFL). He played college football
College football
College football refers to American football played by teams of student athletes fielded by American universities, colleges, and military academies, or Canadian football played by teams of student athletes fielded by Canadian universities...
for the University of California, Los Angeles
University of California, Los Angeles
The University of California, Los Angeles is a public research university located in the Westwood neighborhood of Los Angeles, California, USA. It was founded in 1919 as the "Southern Branch" of the University of California and is the second oldest of the ten campuses...
Bruins
UCLA Bruins
The UCLA Bruins are the sports teams for University of California, Los Angeles . The Bruin men's and women's teams participate in NCAA Division I as part of the Pacific-12 Conference and the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation . For football, they are in the Football Bowl Subdivision of Division I...
.
Pitts was drafted by the Bills in the seventh round of the 1985 NFL Draft
1985 NFL Draft
The 1985 NFL Draft was the procedure by which National Football League teams selected amateur college football players. It is officially known as the NFL Annual Player Selection Meeting. The draft was held April 30 and May 1, 1985...
. Since retiring he has worked as a sportscaster
Sportscaster
In sports broadcasting, a commentator gives a running commentary of a game or event in real time, usually during a live broadcast. The comments are normally a voiceover, with the sounds of the action and spectators also heard in the background. In the case of television commentary, the commentator...
, and currently works for Fox Sports
Fox Sports (USA)
Fox Sports is a division of the Fox Broadcasting Company . It was formed in 1994 with Fox's acquisition of broadcast rights to National Football League games...
on its NFL coverage
NFL on FOX
NFL on Fox is the brand name of the Fox Broadcasting Company's coverage of the National Football League's National Football Conference games, produced by Fox Sports...
.
Early life
Pitts was born in Detroit, MichiganDetroit, Michigan
Detroit is the major city among the primary cultural, financial, and transportation centers in the Metro Detroit area, a region of 5.2 million people. As the seat of Wayne County, the city of Detroit is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan and serves as a major port on the Detroit River...
. He moved to Orchard Park, New York as a teenager and attended Orchard Park High School
Orchard Park High School
Orchard Park High School is a secondary school in Orchard Park, New York. The school has approximately 1725 children in grades 9-12. The students are divided among three houses with a principal for each house and a principal who oversees the entire school....
. He attended the University of California, Los Angeles
University of California, Los Angeles
The University of California, Los Angeles is a public research university located in the Westwood neighborhood of Los Angeles, California, USA. It was founded in 1919 as the "Southern Branch" of the University of California and is the second oldest of the ten campuses...
, where he played college football
College football
College football refers to American football played by teams of student athletes fielded by American universities, colleges, and military academies, or Canadian football played by teams of student athletes fielded by Canadian universities...
for the UCLA Bruins
UCLA Bruins
The UCLA Bruins are the sports teams for University of California, Los Angeles . The Bruin men's and women's teams participate in NCAA Division I as part of the Pacific-12 Conference and the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation . For football, they are in the Football Bowl Subdivision of Division I...
.
Professional career
Pitts was drafted in the 7th round in 1985 had a brief playing career in which he played for the Buffalo BillsBuffalo Bills
The Buffalo Bills are a professional football team based in Buffalo, New York. They are currently members of the East Division of the American Football Conference in the National Football League...
and the Green Bay Packers
Green Bay Packers
The Green Bay Packers are an American football team based in Green Bay, Wisconsin. They are members of the North Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League . The Packers are the current NFL champions...
. From 1986
1986 NFL season
The 1986 NFL season was the 67th regular season of the National Football League. The season ended with Super Bowl XXI when the New York Giants defeated the Denver Broncos to win their first league title in 30 years.-Major rule changes:...
to 1990
1990 NFL season
The 1990 NFL season was the 71st regular season of the National Football League. To increase revenue, the league changed the regular season so that all NFL teams would play their 16-game schedule over a 17-week period...
, Pitts played 66 games at defensive back
Defensive back
In American football and Canadian football, defensive backs are the players on the defensive team who take positions somewhat back from the line of scrimmage; they are distinguished from the defensive line players and linebackers, who take positions directly behind or close to the line of...
, starting
Starting lineup
A starting lineup in sports is an official list of the set of players who will actively participate in the event when the game begins. The players in the starting lineup are commonly referred to as starters, whereas the others are substitutes or bench players.The starters are commonly the best...
six times. He had seven career interceptions.
Broadcasting career
Pitts is one of Fox Sports' play-by-play announcers, working alongside former National Football LeagueNational Football League
The National Football League is the highest level of professional American football in the United States, and is considered the top professional American football league in the world. It was formed by eleven teams in 1920 as the American Professional Football Association, with the league changing...
player John Lynch
John Lynch (American football)
John Terrence Lynch, Jr. is a former National Football League strong safety and current NFL on Fox color commentator. He was drafted by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the third round of the 1993 NFL Draft. He played college football at Stanford.A nine-time Pro Bowl selection, Lynch earned a Super...
. He also co-hosts Under the Helmet, a weekly E/I
E/I
E/I, which stands for "educational and informative," refers to a type of children's television programming shown in the United States. The Federal Communications Commission requires that every full-service Terrestrial television station in the U.S. show at least three hours of these television...
program full of NFL-related segments for younger viewers. He also hosted the former Fox Sports Net
Fox Sports Net
The Fox Sports Regional Networks, or simply Fox Sports Net , are a collection of cable TV regional sports networks in the United States owned and operated by News Corporation.- Beginnings :...
programs Total Access (whose name was later adopted by NFL Network
NFL Network
NFL Network is an American television specialty channel owned and operated by the National Football League . It was launched November 4, 2003, only eight months after the league's 32 team owners voted unanimously to approve its formation...
for its own newscast) and Hardcore Football. Earlier in his broadcasting career Pitts worked as a college football
College Football on ABC
ESPN College Football on ABC presented by Kay Jewelers is a presentation of the American Broadcasting Company's regular season American college football television package...
analyst for ABC Sports and a correspondent for Black Entertainment Television
Black Entertainment Television
Black Entertainment Television is an American, Viacom-owned cable network based in Washington, D.C.. Currently viewed in more than 90 million homes worldwide, it is the most prominent television network targeting young Black-American audiences. The network was launched on January 25, 1980, by its...
.
Film & television career
Pitts also had a cameo as a sports commentator in the film Hot Shots! Part DeuxHot Shots! Part Deux
Hot Shots! Part Deux is a 1993 comedy/parody film, and a sequel to the 1991 comedy Hot Shots!.Directed again by Jim Abrahams, the film stars Charlie Sheen, Lloyd Bridges, Valeria Golino, Richard Crenna, Brenda Bakke, Miguel Ferrer, Rowan Atkinson, and Jerry Haleva...
. He also appears as an alternate version of himself during the "Eggheads" episode of the American TV series Sliders
Sliders
Sliders is an American science fiction television series. It was broadcast for five seasons, beginning in 1995 and ending in 2000. The series follows a group of travelers as they use a wormhole to "slide" between different parallel universes. The show was created by Robert K. Weiss and Tracy Tormé...
. He is also mentioned in the 1984 Michael Nesmith
Michael Nesmith
Robert Michael Nesmith is an American musician, songwriter, actor, producer, novelist, businessman, and philanthropist, best known as a member of the musical group The Monkees and star of the TV series of the same name...
movie Repo Man, in a college football radio broadcast heard in the background as the robbers bungle their way out of a store and just before the main characters walk in.
Pitts' voice was featured as an announcer in Microsoft's NFL Fever, a Football video game for the original Xbox.
In 2008, Pitts was hired to host a new show on the Discovery Channel
Discovery Channel
Discovery Channel is an American satellite and cable specialty channel , founded by John Hendricks and distributed by Discovery Communications. It is a publicly traded company run by CEO David Zaslav...
named Destroyed In Seconds
Destroyed In Seconds
Destroyed in Seconds is a half-hour American television series that airs on Discovery Channel. Hosted by Ron Pitts, it features video segments of various things being destroyed fairly quickly such as planes crashing, explosions, sinkholes, boats crashing, fires, race car incidents, floods, etc....
. The show features video clips of disasters, accidents, and other destructive events, both natural and man-made.
Personal life
His father, Elijah PittsElijah Pitts
Elijah Eugene Pitts was an American football halfback in the National Football League for the Green Bay Packers, the Los Angeles Rams, and the New Orleans Saints. He played college football at Philander Smith College in Little Rock, Arkansas.Pitts scored two touchdowns in the original Super Bowl...
, also played for the Packers and was part of two Super Bowl
Super Bowl
The Super Bowl is the championship game of the National Football League , the highest level of professional American football in the United States, culminating a season that begins in the late summer of the previous calendar year. The Super Bowl uses Roman numerals to identify each game, rather...
champion teams, Super Bowl I
Super Bowl I
The First AFL-NFL World Championship Game in professional American football, later known as Super Bowl I and referred to in some contemporary reports as the Supergame, was played on January 15, 1967 at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum in Los Angeles, California.The National Football League ...
and Super Bowl II
Super Bowl II
The second AFL-NFL World Championship Game in professional American football, later to be known as Super Bowl II, was played on January 14, 1968 at the Orange Bowl in Miami, Florida....
. Ron Pitts is mentioned briefly as one of several players' children who visited the Packers' locker room in Jerry Kramer
Jerry Kramer
Gerald Louis "Jerry" Kramer is a former professional football player, author and sports commentator, best remembered for his 11-year NFL career with the Green Bay Packers as an offensive lineman...
's diary of the 1967 season, "Instant Replay."