I was today year’s old when I learned that John Facenda, the legendary narrator of NFL Films for two decades, wasn’t already in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

Unfortunately, Facenda still won’t be in the Hall of Fame when I’m next year old since he missed the cut for the Class of 2025.

How is it possible that Facenda wasn’t inducted decades ago? In 1965, Facenda, a long-time news anchor in Philadelphia, was “discovered” by Ed Sabol, the founder of NFL Films, one night when they happened to be at the same local tavern, and the latter overheard the former’s legendary baritone voice as he “narrated” an NFL Films Feature that happened to be playing on the television. According to Facenda’s Wikipedia Page, Sabol asked him to stop by his studio and read one of his NFL Films scripts. Facenda did, and the rest, as they say, is history.

With Ed and his son, Steve’s, direction and vision, NFL Films offered a different and fresh perspective of professional football and made it seem theatrical, mythical and larger than life. The same could be said for the men who played the sport in those days. But not only did NFL Films make those players seem like gladiators, but the close-ups of their weather-beaten, muddied and often bloodied faces humanized them. NFL Films also fitted these players with microphones or at least had enough of them close by on the sidelines to add even more flavor to the theatrics.

However, nothing gave an NFL Films feature a more theatrical and dramatic feel than Facenda’s baritone style, and he was famously called “The Voice of God.” With the help of the company’s iconic background music, Facenda could take a five-minute segment on just about anything football-related and make a meal out of it. Even if you didn’t like football, Facenda’s style drew you in for those five minutes, and you couldn’t change the channel until he was done.

Of course, if you loved football, just hearing Facenda’s voice and style gave you chills and goosebumps. I became a football fan at an early age, and I learned so much about the sport and its participants thanks to NFL Films and its countless features. In many ways, NFL Films was pro football’s social media platform in the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s. Sure, it was a platform that you could often only find on a UHF channel at some random time like Saturday at midnight or Tuesday at 2 p.m., but there was no doubt that the Sabols and their theatrical features helped to make the National Football League America’s new pastime.

Facenda may not have been the writer, producer or arranger of the NFL Films band, but he was the lead singer at the height of the company’s powers and a hero to countless football fans who are now in their 50s and older.

There are plenty of contributors–journalists, writers, broadcasters, etc.–in the Pro Football Hall of Fame; most didn’t have the impact on football fans that Facenda did.

Speaking of contributors, both Ed and Steve Sabol are in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. John Facenda, who passed away of cancer in 1984, is synonymous with the Sabols and NFL Films. How can the founders of a company that brought the NFL to life be in the Hall of Fame but the most iconic and beloved voice of that company not be?

John Facenda may be the most famous narrator ever. If that isn’t Hall of Fame worthy, I don’t know what is.

I’ll leave you with the most famous sports narration of all-time: The Autumn Wind. 

No, that’s not the autumn wind that’s giving you chills. It’s The Voice of God.