"[5] A farmer's son,[6] Jackson was born in Roopville, Georgia and grew up on a farm outside Carrollton, near the Alabama state line.

[10] Though best known for his college football broadcasts, Jackson announced numerous other sports for ABC throughout his career, including Major League Baseball, NBA basketball, boxing, auto racing, PGA Tour golf, the USFL, and the Olympic Games.

[11] Jackson also served as the pregame, halftime, and postgame anchor for ABC's coverage of Super Bowl XXII in 1988.

[12] Jackson began his career as a broadcaster in 1952, when he called a game between Stanford and Washington State on the Tidewater Associated Oil Co. radio network.

He then worked for KOMO radio in Seattle, and later for KOMO-TV from 1954 to 1964 as co-anchor for their first news team (first co-anchor news team on the West Coast) covering Seafair hydroplane races, minor league Seattle Rainiers baseball games, and University of Washington football games.

[13] Despite heavy suspicion and numerous hurdles by the Soviet authorities, Jackson and his cohorts were able to cover the race: the first ever American sports victory on Russian soil.

[7] In 1970, he was chosen to be the first play-by-play announcer on Monday Night Football covering the NFL, but he remained in that capacity only for the program's first season.

[15] With Gifford's death in August 2015, Jackson became the last surviving member of the broadcast teams that called MNF games from the early 1970s.

As previously mentioned, for ABC's broadcast of Super Bowl XXII at the end of the 1987 season, Jackson served as the host for the pregame, halftime, and postgame coverage.

[9] For WWOS he covered Evel Knievel's successful jump at Exhibition Stadium, in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, on August 20, 1974;[19] He also handled WWOS' first coverage of boxer Sugar Ray Leonard at the North American Continental Boxing Championships on July 26, 1975, who Jackson called a young boxer to watch.

[20] He teamed with Jackie Stewart and Chris Economaki in (WWOS) coverage of auto racing; among the notable events covered by Jackson was the 1974 Firecracker 400 at Daytona International Speedway[21] and the 1975 Indianapolis 500.

[24] Jackson's lead role on ABC's college football coverage occasionally interfered with his postseason baseball commitments.

[27] In his many years covering college football, Jackson was paired with a wide variety of color commentators, including Jackie Jensen (1966–1968), Lee Grosscup (1972–1973), Bud Wilkinson (1969–1975), Ara Parseghian (1975–1980), Frank Broyles (1978–1985), Lynn Swann (1984–1985), Tim Brant (1986, 2000–2002), Bob Griese (1987–1999), and Dan Fouts (2002–2005).

Though he greatly popularized it, Jackson notes that he learned the term "Whoa, Nellie" from earlier television announcer Dick Lane.

[13] He has often referred to offensive and defensive line players as the Big Uglies, or to an individual by saying "That guy...is a hoss" (horse).

[29] In the season before his first retirement, during what was thought to be his final game at The Big House, the Michigan Marching Band's halftime show concluded by spelling out "Thanks Keith" across the field.

[29] During the mid-'80s, he began falling out of favor with ABC executives due to the rise of stars such as Al Michaels and Jim Lampley.

The sign was a joke from Jackson's longtime friend, Nebraska sports information director Don Bryant.

The name stuck, and a permanent plaque was put up next to the restroom door that reads "The Keith Jackson Toilet Facility – Dedicated Sept 11, 1999".

During the 1978 Gator Bowl, Jackson missed Ohio State Head Coach Woody Hayes' infamous punch of Clemson defensive lineman Charlie Bauman.

[7] Approaching his 70th birthday, Jackson announced his first retirement from college football at the end of the 1998 season and his intention to live full-time at his home in California.

[13] The Rose Bowl stadium's radio and TV booths were renamed "The Keith Jackson Broadcast Center" in December 2015.

[47] Jackson had a minor career as an actor, often either playing himself, as on an episode of Coach; or a sportscaster like himself, as in The Fortune Cookie (1966), appearing in the first speaking role of the film "Football Announcer" as a CBS play-by-play man, a network for whom he never worked.

He once parodied his broadcast persona for a Miller Lite beer commercial, in which he played the officiating minister at a wedding, finishing with his famous line, "Whoa, Nellie!

Jackson appeared in "The Legend of Gatorade" ads, which he humorously alluded to during his live coverage of the 2006 Rose Bowl.

"[49] Jackson was portrayed by actor Shuler Hensley in the 2002 made-for-cable film Monday Night Mayhem, which aired on TNT.

[50] Jackson and his wife, Turi Ann, resided in California and also spent time in British Columbia, where they owned a vacation property.

[52] On the subject of writing a book, Jackson admitted that he'd considered it, but joked that he would only sit down and work on one if he were to ever lose his golf swing.