By Rylie Painter | Broadcast Reporter

Pat Nunley’s voice reached Baylor fans well before the program climbed onto national stages. His commentary guided them through lean years, steady progress and the championship run that transformed Baylor basketball.

For 44 seasons, listeners have recognized his rhythm and trusted his insight. They rely on the steady energy he brings to every broadcast and feel guided by the clarity of his descriptions. His voice carries a sense of familiarity that connects fans to the team and Nunley welcomes that responsibility with gratitude.

“I love doing it,” Nunley said. “I’m a sports fan and I’m a Baylor sports fan. It’s probably the Baylor piece of it that keeps me going.”

His path toward broadcasting surprised him. In 1981, he waited for law school to begin after finishing a four-year playing career at Baylor. He stayed in Waco, worked a temporary job and expected the next step to take him into legal studies. The unexpected call from longtime broadcaster Frank Fallon changed everything.

Nunley recalled the moment clearly. Fallon, a well-known and highly regarded voice in collegiate athletics, asked him to assist on the Baylor Radio Network as a color commentator.

“The thought hadn’t even occurred to me,” Nunley said. “I just happened to be in the right place at the right time.”

He accepted without hesitation. He started in November of that year and never stepped away.

While he pursued his law degree and later practiced law for 25 years, he continued to sit courtside for Baylor. The dual life never seemed like a conflict to him. The broadcast booth offered a sense of belonging that could not be found anywhere else.

“It was not a hobby for me,” Nunley said. “It’s something I love doing.”

Each season delivers new storylines and new rosters. Even after about 1,300 games, he greets each schedule with anticipation rather than routine.

“Every year is new,” Nunley said. “The opportunities are new.”

Preparation fills the hours before every game. He studies opposing rosters, coaching tendencies, player statistics. Nunley always has notes stacked in front of him. His wife, Cassandra, watches the transformation.

“He gets his game face on,” she said. “He starts to study the other team, their players and just learn stats about them.”

Cassandra views his excitement as unmistakable. She witnesses the energy that returns every time he moves toward a microphone.

“He likes his work now,” she said. “But he loves the basketball job. He does seem happier about getting ready for a game.”

She admires more than just his dedication. She sees how he treats others with a natural warmth that draws people toward him and reveals the generosity beneath his quiet preparation.

“I’ve always been amazed how he can talk to anybody that he meets from anywhere,” she said. “He makes them feel like they’re just as important. He’s really accepting.”

Her friends often ask for him first whenever she walks into a room alone, a pattern that reminds her how naturally he connects with others and how easily he became the person everyone hoped would appear beside her.

“When he was out of town people asked me, ‘Where is Pat?’ before they said hello to me,” she said. “I was always told I married a keeper.”

That reputation follows him into the broadcast booth, where longtime play-by-play partner John Morris has worked beside him for decades. Morris, who first filled in for Fallon in 1984, eventually formed a full-time partnership with Nunley beginning in 1995. They travel together, prepare together and have moved through countless seasons side-by-side.

Nunley was the brother Morris never had, a partner who felt like family through long seasons, late nights and countless road trips. He admires Nunley’s intelligence, his Baylor background and his pace on the air.

“He’s very good at what he does,” Morris said. “He could do network broadcasts, so we’re very fortunate at Baylor to have him doing the Baylor games.”

Morris felt that Nunley’s preparation stood out and he views that commitment as a reflection of the pride Nunley carries for Baylor and for the craft of broadcasting.

“He’s always so prepared and very smart,” Morris said. “He just loves basketball and just eats it up. All that mixed together, he’s just got the knowledge that makes him great on the air.”

That combination built trust between the two. Their partnership became a rhythm. Morris describes Nunley as a friend who changed him.

“He makes me a better person,” Morris said. “I love the time we get to spend together, whether it’s working or off the air.”

The two built a library of shared memories. They recalled big wins, crushing losses and strange travel days on the road. One nickname survived nearly every season.

“He became known as the Golden Boy,” Morris said. “He’s on my phone as Pat GB Nunley, ‘GB’ for ‘Golden Boy.’”

Morris created it after watching how everyone leaned toward Nunley for help or reassurance. The name followed him for years.

“Anybody who needed him left thinking he was a really cool guy,” Morris said. “That’s the impression you’d get from him very quickly.”

His stepson, Jordan Diaz, saw that same presence inside their home. Diaz met Nunley as a child and felt shaped by his steadiness throughout adolescence.

“He was always consistent,” Diaz said. “He gave great advice. He’s a good example of how to be a father and a husband.”

Diaz remembers guidance that arrived without drama or long lectures, guidance that appeared in the way Nunley lived each day and showed him what priorities should look like.

“He taught by example,” Diaz said. “He lives the way he wants me to live.”

Support followed every decision and Diaz felt reassured by the steady encouragement that appeared whenever he shared a new idea or goal.

“He asks about my goals,” Diaz said. “He asks about the progress I made and offers help in any way he could. He is very selfless.”

Diaz said Nunley embodies Baylor’s values as much as he represents the basketball program.

“He’s done it for 40-plus years now,” Diaz said. “That alone is impressive.”

Nunley credits his mentors for the way he learned to communicate. He admires what Fallon and Morris taught him.

“I had the privilege of learning from two of the very best in the business,” Nunley said. “I’ve considered Frank and John [as] mentor[s].”

They helped him study pacing, timing and restraint. They taught him how to say less but communicate more.

“A play-by-play commentator’s job is to say a lot but to use very few words,” Nunley said. “It’s not easy.”

He observed other broadcasters during the offseason. He took notes on style and phrasing. He believed that storytelling created emotional connection.

“I like to say stories grow legs,” Nunley said. “Stories are memorable.”

He believes that radio requires more than accuracy, it requires energy. He wants listeners to feel the passion he feels.

“If my hands don’t get a little clammy then I’m thinking I’m not ready,” Nunley said. “It’s not that I’m nervous, I’m adrenalized. It’s game time.”

The years shaped him as much as he shaped the program’s sound. Through tragedies, rebuilding eras and gradual improvement under head coach Scott Drew, he remained a fixture. He has watched the program rise from difficult seasons to national relevance.

“We had gone from being the worst college basketball had to offer up till 2021 to the very best that college basketball had to offer,” Nunley said.

The arc meant everything to him. It fulfilled a lifetime of loyalty to the university he loved. When Baylor claimed the national championship in 2021, the moment delivered the clarity he had waited decades to feel.

“My favorite moment is the national championship,” Nunley said. “Hands down.”

Morris agreed. They called that game together from Indianapolis while navigating the restrictions of the pandemic. They stayed outside the team’s bubble but remained connected through their broadcast responsibilities.

“It was really cool to experience that with Pat,” Morris said.

The celebration felt like a reward for years of patience. Nunley felt the victory belonged to the players, coaches and fans who endured every disappointment before the climb.

“All of the work of everybody,” Nunley said. “On the floor, off the floor, players, coaches and fans. I’ll never ever forget it.”

Though broadcasting shaped a major part of his life, it never existed alone. Nunley practiced law for 25 years and later transitioned into consulting. He enjoyed his second career, but the microphone always offered something unique.

“I felt like it was a fit for me,” Nunley said. “It was something I could do while I had a full-time job elsewhere.”

Cassandra saw how those two careers complemented each other. The legal and consulting work demanded focus, but the broadcast world brought joy.

Nunley retired from practicing law on his 50th birthday in 2009. He now consults for law firms.

“When he turned 50 he changed careers completely,” Cassandra said. “It sort of took the edge off a little bit for him because then he really was enjoying what he was doing.”

She said he loves mowing their property and spending quiet hours on acres of land. He played drums in a band as a younger man and continued to play them upstairs whenever the house felt empty. In her view, those details reveal the relaxed, affectionate version of him that many never see.

Diaz feels the same. He believes that Nunley’s influence reaches far beyond broadcasting.

“Anyone who worked with him learned something,” Diaz said. “Anyone who worked with him enjoyed working with him.”

Morris hopes the program will remember them for a long time. He hopes fans recall the clarity of the broadcasts and the positivity that shapes every call.

“We are very rarely negative on the air,” Morris said. “Our job is to build up the team and the coaches and we do have a lot of fun doing it.”

For more than four decades, Nunley stood courtside as a witness to Baylor basketball history. He has watched the program change, suffer through lean seasons and celebrate eras of success. The fans who listened to him in their cars and homes learned the game through his voice.

His career began with a simple phone call. It continued through years of preparation, friendship and passion. It shaped lives around him and influenced the culture of Baylor athletics.

“I never really wanted to do this anywhere else,” Nunley said. “I love doing it. It’s the passion that I have for it. It’s fun.”