Don Criqui’s voice will forever be associated with the greatest moment in Clemson football history.

He was the voice behind the NBC call of the Tigers’ 22-15 victory over Nebraska in the 1982 Orange Bowl that clinched the program’s lone national championship. Today, on Clemson’s Flagship station, you can hear the call every day on the Roy Philpot show at about 2:45 p.m.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uofAMBcKiNU

“That was the only Clemson game I had ever done, that great Orange Bowl victory,” he said.

That was the only one until this past Saturday. At 75-years old, Criqui no longer works NFL games, which he did for 47 seasons for NBC and CBS. These days he enjoys working as the play-by-play voice of Notre Dame football, as he called the Tigers’ 24-22 victory over No. 6 Notre Dame on Saturday.

“It’s a beautiful stadium,” Criqui said about Clemson Memorial Stadium.

Criqui said he was impressed with the way Clemson fans turned out for Saturday’s game despite the constant down pour of rain, but he was not surprised. After all, he witnessed the thousands and thousands of Tiger fans that made the trip to Miami, Fla., in 1982.

“Clemson fans travels, and Nebraska fans travel,” he said. “It was a tough ticket. There was orange and red all over the stadium.”

It’s easy for a guy like Criqui, who has called thousands of games in his lifetime to forget a name or two, but that was not the case at all in regards to the 1982 Orange Bowl. He remembered them all, even how old Clemson’s young head coach was at the time – 33-year old Danny Ford. He even remembered Donald Igwebuike’s name and he even said it correctly after all these years.

“They just played a real solid game,” Criqui said. “Their quarterback, Homer Jordan, really managed the game beautifully, and at the end of the day, they were the better team and they were the national champions.”

Another thing Criqui remembers very vividly about that Orange Bowl, “There was a fraternity for Clemson that ran a relay from Clemson to the Orange Bowl with a football. They had cars. They would drop one guy about two miles down and some guy would run to him and hand the ball off. They ran all the way down from Clemson to the Orange Bowl. That was amazing.”

What also was amazing was the next day, Criqui and Bob Trumpy, called the NFL Divisional Playoff Game between San Diego at Miami in the Orange Bowl. That game is known as the “Epic in Miami” as the Chargers outlasted the Dolphins, 41-38, in overtime.

That game was selected as the Game on the Century by Sports Illustrated.

“You would like to have a couple of days because you prep for such a longtime before a game, but the Clemson game was so big and that one was also so it was a busy weekend,” he said.

But he said Clemson and the Clemson people were so memorable that night in the Orange Bowl 34 years ago, he never forgot them, and being a part of the biggest moment in Clemson football history, especially considering there were not many people who knew who Clemson was at that time.

He probably will not forget his first trip to Clemson’s Death Valley now, either.

“It has a great reputation. It is a great place to see a game. It is a tough place for a visitor to play. It is tremendous,” he said. “This is Death Valley. You can see the fans. They have a ball in these games.”