Kirk Herbstreit previews final College GameDay weekend before Lee Corso retirement

Since the inception of ESPN College GameDay in 1987, there has been one constant. Lee Corso. The former player and coach turned analyst became a mainstay and part of the experience of watching college football on a Saturday for fans around the country. Now, at the age of 90, Corso is retiring with one final appearance coming on ESPN College GameDay.

One day prior to Corso’s final appearance on the program emanating from Columbus ahead of the blockbuster matchup between No. 1 Texas and No. 3 Ohio State, GameDay panelist Kirk Herbstreit joined ‘Get Up.’ There, he previewed Corso’s final show and discussed his illustrious legacy.

“Well, you know, he’s the greatest entertainer with the headgear and people see that side of him,” Herbstreit said. “But I think the reason folks like myself get emotional talking about him is because of what happens behind the scenes. We’re about to walk into a College GameDay production meeting (our first of the year) and he’ll already be sitting there.

“It’s my 30th year on the show and he does it every year. He’s 15 minutes early. First one sitting there with his No. 2 pencil out, his blank legal and his rundown for the show sitting perfect and ready to go. Huge smile. Anybody that walks into that room he gives a huge smile, gets out of his seat and hugs them and says hello. It’s the intangibles that he brings to the show and he’s kind of our founding father. He’s 90 years old.”

Corso has been mainstay on College GameDay since 1987

“I was at dinner with him last night. He’s gonna have a great lunch today with a lot of people who want to say hello to him and tell him how much they love him. So, it’s of course the great stuff he does on air but I think it’s the relationships he has with so many people that this show will miss.”

Lee Corso played at Florida State from 1953 to 1957 and quickly broke into coaching following his playing career. He’d make stops at Louisville, Indiana, and Northern Illinois as a head coach before beginning his iconic broadcast career. It’s during his broadcast career that Corso became known as an icon across television screens every Saturday morning.

Known for his eccentric personality, catchphrases like “not so fast, my friend,” and his mascot headgear picks, Corso became a legend who will forever be remembered as a sports television legend.

On3’s Dan Morrison contributed to this article.