John Thomas Ralph Augustine James Facenda ( ; August 8, 1913September 26, 1984) was an American broadcaster and sports announcer. He was a fixture on Philadelphia radio and television for decades, and achieved national fame as a narrator for NFL Films and Football Follies. Through his work with NFL Films, Facenda was known by many National Football League fans as "The Voice of God". Biography Early years Facenda had six brothers and six sisters. His father was an immigrant from Italy who went from Portsmouth, Virginia, to help with building the Benjamin Franklin Bridge in Philadelphia while his wife and children remained in Virginia. Facenda attended Roman Catholic High School in Center City, Philadelphia and then later Villanova University but dropped out. Radio and television work After leaving school, Facenda worked for the now-defunct Philadelphia Public Ledger newspaper. The Public Ledger also owned a radio station, WHAT. Facenda's radio career began when the announcer for WHAT's Scholastic Sports Review program became sick one day, and Facenda was asked to substitute. Soon after, WHAT hired Facenda as an announcer. In 1948, Facenda became an anchorman at WCAU-TV (which was then Philadelphia's CBS television affiliate), a role that he held until 1973. While there, he began the station's 11 p.m. newscasts. During the 1950s and 1960s, Facenda's was the dominant news broadcast in the Philadelphia area (beating the combined ratings of the two other network affiliates) and he achieved iconic status in Philadelphia as both a face and voice before his rise to national prominence. His newscasts, originally just five minutes long, were eventually expanded to 30 minutes. Facenda and WCAU-TV pioneered the television news format as it is still practiced today: News-Sports-Weather. Among Facenda's writers was John Du Bois, a noted newsman with the Philadelphia Bulletin and County Press. NFL Films One night in 1965, Facenda went to a local tavern, the RDA Club, which happened to be showing footage produced by NFL Films. He enjoyed the slow-motion game sequences that were already an NFL Films trademark and would later recall: Thus began Facenda's association with NFL Films, one that would continue until his death. Facenda narrated many highlight films during his career with the company. His dulcet baritone was the perfect match for the highly dramatic nature of the footage he narrated, and earned him the nickname "The Voice of God". Probably one of the best-remembered (and most frequently-quoted) examples