To professional football fans he is known as "The Voice of God." John Facenda passed away in 1984 but his deep, authoritative intonations live on in concert with the music of Sam Spence as the official soundtrack of the National Football League.
Facenda became the voice of NFL Films in 1965 after a chance encounter with founder Ed Sabol at a Philadelphia tavern. At the time, Facenda was the city's preeminent news anchor on CBS' WCAU-TV.
Now, Facenda's family is taking on the NFL in a dispute over the use of his voice. The Philadelphia Daily News reported a federal judge ruled Facenda's son can seek damages for the use of his father's voice on an NFL Network program hyping the video game Madden NFL 2006.
Facenda gave the NFL full use of his announcing work in a written agreement signed before his death, but product endorsement was not included in the agreement, according to the judge's order. The NFL plans to appeal, and no trial date has been set.
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