Kirk Herbstreit's Emotional Tribute To Lee Corso, College GameDay at ESPYs

His touching remarks began with a heartfelt thank you ESPN for a tribute that, in his words, perfectly captured the analyst that Corso strived to be in college football. 

“I want to thank ESPN for this tribute and opportunity to do a job that I’ve loved for 38 years. My goal on TV was to bring a smile to everybody’s face. I hope I’ve done that,” Corso said at the ESPY’s. “My wife, Betsy, and I have been married for 69 years. And I just wanted to thank her for loving me and allowing me to love her for all of those years. Thank you very much, ESPN, for this honor [and] tribute, and I appreciate everybody here.”

Corso was joined by his colleagues in analysts Kirk Herbstreit, Desmond Howard and Pat Macafee. What Corso didn’t know on stage was that the College GameDay crew had organized a special surprise sendoff — a spirited performance from the USC Trojans spirit squads, complete with Tommy Trojan in full force.

The tribute was designed to help Corso leave the ESPYs the same way he left a traditional college football Saturday – in energy, spirit, and school pride. The USC marching band performed the iconic theme for College GameDay, where Corso was able to don the Trojan headgear one last time on stage, in front of a live audience and a national broadcast on ESPN. 

Extras also joined the Trojans’ performance as fans with posters behind corso, to mirror the traditional on-site College GameDay experience where fans gather behind the stage with their best posters, but all the posters were about their love for Corso. 

The USC Marching Band later honored Corso in an instagram post, that reminded fans the Trojans are 17-0 when chosen by Corso on a College GameDay broadcast. 

Corso has visited the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum eight times across the 24 total times the Trojans have appeared on College GameDay.

Herbstreit delivered an emotional message to the iconic college football analyst, honoring that someone like Corso is irreplaceable and will be remembered for Corso’s contribution to College Football Saturdays. 

“Just like Charles Barkley is to the TNT show, Lee has been that for us,” Herbstreit said at the ESPY’s. “I feel like to do good, quality studio television, not everybody can be the same. You need people who bring something a little bit different to the show. Lee was kind of that guy like Charles is to that show. As time has gone on, Lee’s getting older. I’ve always thought about, ‘what are we gonna do without Lee? How is our show gonna be a show without Lee?’”