Chris Cooley knows greatness when he sees it and he readily has praised Sonny Jurgensen over the years.
Buy Commanders TicketsThe two-time Pro Bowl tight end out of Utah State was a Redskin from 2004-2012 and then was employed as a member of the team’s radio game-day broadcasts from 2013-2019.
Jurgensen had begun working the broadcasts in the 1981 season with Frank Herzog and Sam Huff. When Huff needed to step aside due to health issues, Cooley was hired as his replacement. Cooley then had the opportunity to work with Larry Michael and Jurgensen during the 2013-2018 seasons. In Cooley’s final 2019 season, it was a two-man booth with Michael doing the play-by-play.
A guest on the “Kevin Sheehan Show” podcast Thursday, Cooley, with no preparation, spoke to Sheehan glowingly of Jurgensen, the man, and fellow broadcaster. Cooley was happy for Jurgensen that his No. 9 is finally being retired Sunday at FedEx Field in the 2022 season finale against Dallas.
Sonny Jurgensen, Larry Michael & Chris Cooley in the Redskins Radio booth prior to kickoff at the Skins/Eagles game. pic.twitter.com/WPGRRITuId
— The Team 980 (@team980) December 27, 2015
“It was amazing for me to get to know Sonny. As a player, he was always amazing, as he and Sam were always great to me. Many times on the bus on game days, I would sit with those two, have a chance to talk with those guys about their careers.”
“As I called the games, I was so appreciative to have had Sonny as part of my life. He was great with my children. He was great with my wife.”
“He was unbelievable as a player, unbelievable as a broadcaster. And without saying anything else about who deserves jerseys retired, for everything that Sonny did as a part of Washington, he deserved his jersey retired a long time ago.”
“It is somewhat unfortunate, in my opinion, that it is game number 17 in a non-impactful game. Like you said earlier, there will be more Cowboy fans. But the fact of the matter is they are retiring his jersey, and it will be forever that his jersey is retired.”
“It is something that he gets to be a part of while he is still alive, his family gets to be a part of, and I am so proud of all that he did.”
“I have always been amazed by Sonny.”
