Joe Namath surprises Verne Lundquist in booth during Iron Bowl

As CBS broadcaster Verne Lundquist’s career comes to a close, Hall of Fame quarterback Joe Namath decided to surprise him during the Iron Bowl broadcast.

It has been an incredible career for CBS broadcaster Verne Lundquist. With the legendary sports commentator calling his final Iron Bowl game on Saturday, the CBS team decided to give him a surprise.

Lundquist will be retiring from CBS after the end of the 2016 season, so the network has been pulling out everything that they can to honor the man who has been working in the industry since 1967. Since Verne has previously said that the 2013 Iron Bowl was his favorite game he’s ever called, CBS decided to surprise him for this year’s rivalry game.

During the first half of Saturday’s game between the Auburn Tigers and Alabama Crimson Tide, Lundquist’s broadcast partner Gary Danielson told him that they had a surprise in store for him. That’s when former Alabama quarterback and Hall of Famer Joe Namath came out to give Verne a big hug.

Verne, Joe and Gary talked about Namath’s time with the Crimson Tide and all manner of things. They even brought out a classic fur coat for the former New York Jets quarterback.

Perhaps the best part of the entire surprise appearance from Namath was the Hall of Famer planting a big kiss on Verne’s cheek as he left the broadcast booth. Verne then yelled, “My career is complete!”.

It’s going to be a lot different watching SEC football on CBS next year without Verne, but for now we can at least celebrate a wonderful career from the one and only Verne Lundquist.