TODAY IN SPORTS HISTORY: On September 21, 1970, ABC aired the first Monday Night Football game ever. The man doing play-by-play that night was Keith Jackson. One year later, he was off the show. And his boss never called to tell him. "In those 38 messages, there was not one call from Roone." Here is the whole story. In 1970, Pete Rozelle wanted pro football in prime time. CBS said no. NBC said no. Football on a weeknight, in the evening, was not what TV executives thought America wanted. ABC was the last place network. It said yes. Roone Arledge built the broadcast. He put three men in the booth. Howard Cosell, the loudest voice in sports. Don Meredith, the former Cowboys quarterback with the Texas drawl. And Keith Jackson on play-by-play. The first game was Joe Namath's Jets at Cleveland. More than 85,000 people packed Cleveland Municipal Stadium. The biggest crowd the Browns had ever drawn. Homer Jones took the second half kickoff back 94 yards for a touchdown. Late in the fourth, with the Jets needing a field goal to tie, linebacker Billy Andrews picked off Namath and ran it back for the clincher. Browns 31, Jets 21. About a third of the TVs on in America that night were tuned in. Monday Night Football was a hit from week one. Now, about the guy calling it. Keith Jackson was a farmer's son from Roopville, Georgia. He was a mechanic in the Marines. Then he used the G.I. Bill to go to college. Washington State University. In Pullman. That is where he found his voice. His first broadcast was a Cougars game against Stanford in 1952, on the school's radio station. He graduated from WSU in 1954. After that he went to work in Seattle at KOMO. In 1958 he went to Moscow with the Washington Huskies rowing team and became the first American to broadcast a live sporting event from the Soviet Union. ABC hired him in 1966. Four years later, he got Monday night. The catch: ABC had wanted Frank Gifford from the start. Gifford was stuck in a CBS contract through 1970. After the season, Gifford was free. ABC gave him the job. Keith Jackson found out when the phone started ringing. Reporters. Everyone except the man who made the decision. "In those 38 messages, there was not one call from Roone." That stuck with him for years. So he took Saturdays instead. Keith Jackson became the voice of college football. "Whoa, Nellie." The linemen were "Big Uglies." He called the Rose Bowl "The Granddaddy of Them All." He is the guy people credit with calling Michigan Stadium "The Big House." He was on the call when Mr. October hit three home runs in the 1977 World Series. Ten Olympics. Games in 31 countries. His last game was the 2006 Rose Bowl. Vince Young, Texas over USC, 41-38. One of the greatest college football games ever played. He never forgot Pullman. He gave more than $1 million back to Washington State, and in 2014 the school named Keith Jackson Hall after him. The Rose Bowl put his name on its broadcast center. He died in 2018 at 89. Disney CEO Bob Iger said it simply. "For generations of fans, Keith Jackson was college football." Monday Night Football turns 56 today. Tonight the Giants play the Rams. Frank Gifford's old team. ABC gave Monday night to someone else after one year. Keith Jackson took Saturday. And he kept it for the rest of his career.