{{Short description|American football player and sportscaster (1927–1995)}} {{Use mdy dates|date=June 2024}} {{Infobox NFL biography | name = Al DeRogatis | image = Al DeRogatis - 1951 Bowman.jpg | caption = DeRogatis on a 1951 Bowman football card | number = 78 | position = Defensive tackle, tackle | birth_date = {{Birth date|1927|5|5|mf=y}} | birth_place = Newark, New Jersey, U.S. | death_date = {{death date and age|1995|12|26|1927|5|5}} | death_place = Neptune, New Jersey, U.S. | height_ft = 6 | height_in = 4 | weight_lb = 238 | high_school = Central (Newark) | college = Duke | draftyear = 1949 | draftround = 2 | draftpick = 14 | pastteams = * New York Giants ({{NFL Year|1949|1952}}) | highlights = * First-team All-Pro (1951) * 2× Pro Bowl (1950, 1951) * Second-team All-American (1948) * First-team All-SoCon (1946) * Second-team All-SoCon (1948) | statlabel1 = Games played | statvalue1 = 46 | statlabel2 = Games started | statvalue2 = 36 | statlabel3 = Fumble recoveries | statvalue3 = 4 | pfr = DeRoAl00 | CollegeHOF = 1613 }}
'''Albert John DeRogatis''' (May 5, 1927 – December 26, 1995) was an American professional football player and television and radio sportscaster.
==Life and career== DeRogatis was born in Newark, New Jersey, and attended the city's Central High School, earning All-State honors at center. At Duke University, after a knee injury shortened his junior season, he made the 1948 All-America team as a tackle.
He was drafted the following year by the New York Giants of the National Football League (NFL) and played defensive tackle. He was an NFL All-Pro in both 1950 and 1951. A recurrence of the knee injury he suffered at Duke ended his playing career after four seasons of professional football. For thirty-three years beginning in 1953, he served as a vice president with Prudential Insurance.
From 1966 through 1975, the bespectacled DeRogatis served as a color commentator for professional and college football telecasts on NBC, primarily with Curt Gowdy on the network's top broadcast team for American Football League (later, American Football Conference) regular-season and playoff matches, Super Bowls III, VII and IX and several Rose Bowls. He also was paired with Jim Simpson to call a few Orange Bowls. Prior to joining NBC, DeRogatis had begun his broadcasting career working with Marty Glickman on New York football Giants radio broadcasts on WNEW-AM from 1960 through 1965. DeRogatis was among several veteran announcers who returned to call some NFL telecasts for NBC in September 1988, while many of the network's regular broadcasters were busy calling that year's Summer Olympics in Seoul.
DeRogatis relinquished his NBC duties prior to the 1976 NFL season despite one more year remaining on his contract with the network. He was also Vice President for Community Affairs with the Prudential Insurance Company, president of the National Sight Foundation and afflicted with glaucoma at the time.<ref>[https://www.nytimes.com/1974/05/05/archives/college-fund-fete-to-honor-ewbank.html "College Fund Fete To Honor Ewbank," ''The New York Times'', Sunday, May 5, 1974.] Retrieved May 31, 2024.</ref><ref>[https://www.nytimes.com/1976/10/03/archives/derogatis-kicks-the-pro-football-habit.html Wallace, William N. "DeRogatis Kicks the Pro Football Habit," ''The New York Times'', Sunday, October 3, 1976.] Retrieved May 31, 2024.</ref>
DeRogatis can be heard with Gowdy calling a football game in the 1978 film ''Heaven Can Wait''.
DeRogatis was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1986. A resident of Spring Lake, New Jersey, he died of cancer at Jersey Shore Medical Center on December 26, 1995.<ref>via Associated Press. [https://www.nytimes.com/1995/12/28/us/al-derogatis-68-sports-broadcaster.html "Al DeRogatis, 68, Sports Broadcaster"], ''The New York Times'', December 28, 1995. Accessed July 14, 2011. "Al DeRogatis, a former defensive tackle for the New York Giants who achieved considerable popularity and recognition through his keen analysis of pro football games on radio and television, died of cancer on Tuesday at the Jersey Shore Medical Center. He was 68.... DeRogatis, who lived in Spring Lake, N.J., is survived by his wife of 45 years, Louise; two daughters, Mary Ann D'Agostino and Diane Hagen; two brothers, Pat and Michael; two sisters, Rose Mastracchio and Paula Mossucco, and five grandchildren."</ref>
==Legacy== ''Sports Illustrated'' magazine's "Dr. Z" (aka Paul Zimmerman) has rated DeRogatis as his #1 football analyst of all time.<ref>{{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20040725045726/http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2004/writers/dr_z/07/21/announcers/ Masters of the Mic: NFL]}}, Sports Illustrated news web site, retrieved June 23, 2007.</ref>
Upon his death in 1995, DeRogatis was eulogized in the ''Boston Globe'' as a prototype for what it means to be a gentleman, in the sense of displaying a gracious, polite, kind and generous nature.{{Citation needed|date=June 2007}} The ''Globe'' also published a picture of DeRogatis in the NBC booth together with Curt Gowdy and Don Meredith in the ''2006: The year in photos'' series, after Curt Gowdy's death in 2006.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20110522133051/http://www.boston.com/news/specials/year_in_review/2006/gallery?pg=72 2006: The year in photos], The Boston Globe, retrieved June 23, 2007.</ref>
==References== {{reflist}}
==External links== * [https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C04E1DE1239F93BA15751C1A963958260 "Al DeRogatis, 68, Sports Broadcaster," ''The New York Times'', Wednesday, December 27, 1995.]
{{s-start}} {{succession box| title=''NFL on NBC'' lead analyst| before=Kyle Rote| years=1971–1974| after=Don Meredith}} {{succession box | before=Kyle Rote | title=Super Bowl television color commentator (AFC package carrier) | years=1968-1974| after=Don Meredith}} {{s-end}}
{{Giants1949DraftPicks}} {{authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Derogatis, Al}} Category:1927 births Category:1995 deaths Category:American football centers Category:American Football League announcers Category:American people of Italian descent Category:Central High School (Newark, New Jersey) alumni Category:College football announcers Category:College Football Hall of Fame inductees Category:Deaths from cancer in New Jersey Category:Duke Blue Devils football players Category:Eastern Conference Pro Bowl players Category:New York Giants announcers Category:New York Giants players Category:People from Spring Lake, New Jersey Category:Players of American football from Newark, New Jersey