American football cornerback who played in the National Football League (NFL) and later became a sportscaster. Cross played for the Philadelphia Eagles (1961–1965, 1969) and Los Angeles Rams (1966–1968). He retired from play before the 1970 season, becoming a coach for the Eagles. Cross is an inductee of the Indiana Football Hall of Fame.
Cross was employed as an analyst and commentator for CBS Sports from 1971, when he became the first African-American to work full-time as a sports analyst on national television, to 1994. In addition to his work on CBS’ NFL coverage (including co-anchoring The NFL Today from its inception in 1975 through 1989), Cross called NBA basketball, track and field, and gymnastics at various times for the network. He served as athletic director at Idaho State University from 1996 to 1998.
Cross was the Director of Athletics at Macalester College, St. Paul, Minnesota until May 2006. He was the CEO of Big Brothers Big Sisters of Central Minnesota until May 2010, and returned to football commentary for the Twin Cities’ Fox station KMSP-TV.
Irv Cross was the 2009 recipient of the Pete Rozelle Radio-Television Award – the award, given annually by the Pro Football Hall of Fame, recognizes “long-time exceptional contributions to radio and television in professional football.”
Cross married twice and had four children. He was diagnosed with a mild form of dementia in 2018. He died on 28 February 2021 at the age of 81 in Roseville, Minnesota.
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