EL PASO, Texas (KTSM) – Jack Nixon will call his final New Mexico State University football game Saturday during the Battle of I-10 after 45 years of play-calling in Las Cruces.
Nixon first began his time covering the Aggies in 1976 followed by a three-year gap until 1979. Since then, Nixon became the primary play-by-play announcer working over 500 football games for the program. In the past, Nixon has also worked women’s basketball, softball and volleyball, according to the Las Cruces Sun.
After creating a legacy within the entire athletics program, Nixon decided in August of this year this would be his last season. Now that the time has come, Saturday’s matchup against UTEP will be a bit melancholy for the announcer.
“I did my little game prep and charts, things like that for the last time,” Nixon said. “I’ll be taking the equipment up to the booth for the last time on Friday, and these things probably won’t seem like that big a thing, but that’s the routine and how you do it. Be sure when, when the game ends on Saturday, I’m kind of wistful now, but I have a feeling I might be kind of kind of sad then.”
In a full circle moment, Nixon used to announce now head coach Tony Sanchez’s games when he was a player at NMSU in the 90’s and created a relationship with Nixon in the years to follow during Sanchez’s tenure as a graduate assistant. Fast forward to 2024, Sanchez is now head coach at the same program that brought them together leading the team in Nixon’s last game.
“I was 21 years old my first year of coaching. We were at Idaho State and I remember we were going through our walk-through and I say, ‘Hey Jack, how you doing?'” Sanchez said. “And he didn’t say, ‘Hey Tony, how you doing?’ He said, ‘Hey, Coach Sanchez.’ And I was just like, wow, this guy’s been around forever and I don’t know what I’m doing yet in the coaching world. He just always lends that respect and he’s always a kind person. He’s going to be really missed. He loves this place and man 45 years – what a run.”
Nixon’s final call with begin tomorrow at 2 p.m. from Aggie Memorial Stadium in the 101st edition of the Battle of I-10.
Nixon will finish out his time within NMSU as the men’s basketball announcer for the 2024-2025 season.
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