When it comes to sports, Gene Hackman is mostly known for his iconic role in the movie, “Hoosiers,” but the legendary actor also had some ties to the NFL. Hackman, who died at the age of 95, actually served as the narrator for four different episodes of “America’s Game: The Super Bowl Champions.”
In 2006, the NFL decided to celebrate the league’s previous 40 Super Bowl champions by creating a documentary about each team. Each documentary had a celebrity narrator and Hackman agreed to be the voice actor for four of the teams:
- 1981 49ers (Super Bowl XVI champions)
- 1984 49ers (Super Bowl XIX champions)
- 1987 Redskins (Super Bowl XXII champions)
- 1989 49ers (Super Bowl XXIV champions)
Other narrators in the series included Bruce Willis, Alec Baldwin, Kevin Bacon, Tom Selleck, Laurence Fishburne. NFL historian Kevin Gallagher shared a few clips from each of Hackman’s episodes on social media.
Fans in San Francisco probably recognize Hackman’s voice more than anyone since he narrated three of their five episodes.
Hackman also had another unique tie to the NFL: He was good friends with Jack Del Rio.
After Del Rio got hired to be the Jaguars head coach in 2003, a job he held until 2011, Hackman became a fan of the team and would regularly show up to games AND practices in Jacksonville.
Not only was Hackman friend with an NFL coach, but he actually played a football coach in a move. The actor played coach Jimmy McGinty in “The Replacements,” where he served as the head coach for the fictional Washington Sentinels.
During his legendary acting career, Hackman was nominated for five Academy Awards with two wins. You can read more about his death here.
