Earlier this year, Jim Nantz shared the incredible reason why he has an old public phone hanging on the wall of his office in Pebble Beach. Turns out, the broadcasting legend acquired the actual phone from Giants Stadium that he used to make a life-changing call to then CBS executive Ted Shaker in which he was offered a gig with the network. Classic Nantz.
But there’s a similarly amazing backstory to that story, because, apparently, that call almost didn’t happen. And you’ll never, ever guess why.
Appearing on this week’s Andrew Marchand podcast, Nants revealed the hilariously random reason why he almost wasn’t hired by CBS way back in 1985. And it has to do with . . . swordfish? Yes, swordfish. Take it away, Jim!
CLIP: Jim Nantz nearly lost his CBS job at 26 because he didn't know what swordfish was. 😂🐟🐟 😂
POD: Sign up at https://t.co/yRnHUdyUxL pic.twitter.com/slQ5RAenaH
— Andrew Marchand (@AndrewMarchand) September 5, 2024
“And I almost lost the audition over the order at lunch,” Nantz tells Marchand in the clip. “Ted and Pete both ordered swordfish, and it piqued my interest. I’m 26, my palate’s pretty limited. I said, ‘Wow, that sounds interesting. What in the world is swordfish?!’ . . . I found out later on, they went back and had a meeting, ‘We can’t hire this kid. He’s not far removed, he doesn’t even know what swordfish is for god’s sake! How can we put him on the network?! We get emergency situations, news breaking, this kid doesn’t know the world.’ But somehow, they went ahead and pulled the trigger and I got the job.”
So Jim Nantz nearly didn’t become the Voice of the Masters because he didn’t know what swordfish was? Incredible.
It’s also pretty incredible that any 26-year-old wouldn’t have ever heard of swordfish. But he was working in Utah at the time and that doesn’t exactly seem like the swordfish capital of the world.
In any event, we’re glad this crazy story had a happy ending. Nearly four decades later, CBS certainly, um, reeled in a good one.