Paul Maguire

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Paul Maguire (born August 22, 1938 in Youngstown, Ohio) is a former American football player and current television sportscaster.

1 Early sports career
2 Professional football career
3 Media career
4 See also

[edit] Early sports career

Maguire attended Ursuline High School, then played tight end at The Citadel where he led the nation in touchdown receptions in 1959.

[edit] Professional football career

In 1960, he was selected as an original American Football League Los Angeles Charger, where he served as both a punter and linebacker. Maguire joined the Buffalo Bills in 1963 and was an ace at the "coffin corner" punt. He contributed to three Bills' Eastern Division titles, and their AFL championships in 1964 and 1965. He was involved in one of the most spectacular plays in Bills' history in the 1965 American Football League Championship game against the Chargers. Butch Byrd took a John Hadl punt and with outstanding blocking, took it 74 yards for a TD. The last two blocks were by Maguire, crushing two Chargers.

Maguire played in six of the ten American Football League Championship Games — three with the Chargers and three with the Bills, and he was the league's all-time punter in punts and yardage. He was one of only twenty players who were in the AFL for its entire ten-year existence. After his retirement he was inducted into the Youngstown, Ohio Sports Hall of Fame, and the Greater Buffalo Sports Hall of Fame.

[edit] Media career

Beginning in the 1970s, Maguire worked as a color commentator on network NFL telecasts, first with NBC and then ESPN. He also called ESPN's telecasts of college football and the now-defunct USFL. In 1998, he began a long tenure in the booth of Sunday Night Football.

Maguire worked his last NFL game on January 1, 2006, as the Sunday Night Football franchise ended on ESPN. However, Maguire was retained by ESPN to serve as a commentator for ABC's College football with Brad Nessler, former Miami Dolphins quarterback Bob Griese, and field reporter Bonnie Bernstein.

In March 2007, Maguire began to serve as an in-studio analyst for ESPN's NFL Live.