Randy Cross

Published June 2011

Most people today know Randy Cross as a football analyst on CBS and Sirius Radio, but in July 2011, Cross was honored for his achievements as a UCLA student when he is inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame.

Part of a successful run for the UCLA program, offensive lineman Cross was a key contributor throughout his time in Los Angeles. He played on the Bruins’ 1976 Rose Bowl championship team as a guard, starting 28 of his 34 career games, including his final 23 games. Cross became the Bruins’ starting center midway through his sophomore season. The next two years he was moved to right guard where he became a first-team All-Conference and a first-team All-America as a senior. Throughout his senior season he would share time between the center and guard positions. Coming out of high school in Southern California as a standout in football as well as an All-State shot put champion, Cross always knew where he wanted to play college football.

“The late Trojan coach Marv Goux recruited me as did the University of Texas, Alabama and Nebraska, who was the number one team in the country at the time,” says Cross. “My dad was a big Bruins fan so it was not a hard decision for me to go to UCLA. Terry Donahue was my position coach and he really helped me to understand the game on the college level.”

Pepper Rodgers was the Bruins’ head football coach during Randy’s first season before Dick Vermeil took over in 1974. Cross won UCLA’s George W. Dickerson Award as the team’s most outstanding lineman in 1974 and 1975. During the 1975 season, UCLA shared the conference crown with UC Berkeley, beating crosstown rival USC 25 to 22. The victory over the Trojans helped UCLA earn the right to play on New Year’s Day in the Rose Bowl against the top-ranked Ohio State Buckeyes. Cross led the Bruins as they beat Ohio State 23-10 in the 1976 Rose Bowl. The victory was one of the largest upsets in Rose Bowl history, denying OSU the national championship. The win over Ohio State also avenged a 41-20 thrashing by the Buckeyes earlier in the 1975 season. Randy credits the coaching he received at UCLA as essential in his growth throughout his college experience.

"Coaches from UCLA shaped me as a young man, taught me lessons, on and off the field, and helped in life well after I left Westwood,” Cross says. “I owe those men --- Steve Butler, Moe Freedman, Terry Donahue, Pepper Rodgers, Dick Vermeil and Bobb McKittrick --- more than I can ever repay."

Selected in the second round of the 1976 NFL draft by the San Francisco 49ers, Cross played 13 years and won three Super Bowls with the franchise. Cross started in 180 of 185 games, playing at both center and guard and earning All-Pro honors six times. He also played in three Pro Bowls and was voted the San Francisco 49ers’ Man of the Year in 1985 for his work in the community. He was a four-time first-team All-NFC performer and played his final NFL contest during a 20-16 win over the Cincinnati Bengals in the 1989 Super Bowl. Cross is the 13th Bruin to be inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame.

Since retiring from playing football, Cross has had a successful career in covering football. He worked from 1989-93 as an analyst on CBS Sports' coverage of the NFL. He then covered NFL games for NBC before going back to CBS in 1998 on The NFL Today show. Cross returned to the CBS broadcast booth in 2002 and currently co-hosts a program which airs on Sirius Radio's NFL Network. In 2009, Cross began work as an analyst for CBS College Sports TV in its coverage of the U.S. Naval Academy's football games. Cross also founded a charity golf tournament which raises money for the Ronald McDonald House at Stanford’s Children’s Hospital. Cross and his wife Patrice reside in Atlanta with their three children, daughters Kelly and Crystal, and son Brendan, a quarterback at Wake Forest University.

Profile courtesy of the College Football Hall of Fame.