Editing Chuck Thompson (section)

===National work===
Thompson's national television debut was in 1954 when he succeeded [[Ray Scott (sportscaster)|Ray Scott]] as the voice of the NFL's Saturday night ''Game of the Week'' on the [[NFL on DuMont|DuMont Television Network]], as well as that year's [[NFL Championship Game, 1954|NFL Championship Game]]. Four years later, he teamed with [[Chris Schenkel]] to call the telecast of the legendary [[NFL Championship Game, 1958|1958 Championship Game]] on [[NFL on NBC|NBC]]. The announcers [[coin flipping|flipped a coin]] to determine play-by-play assignments for the two halves. Schenkel won the toss and chose the second half. Thompson ended up broadcasting the first-ever [[sudden death (sport)|sudden-victory overtime]] in professional [[American football|football]] history. Thompson also called the [[NFL Championship Game, 1959|1959]] and [[NFL Championship Game, 1964|1964]] Championship Games for NBC and CBS, respectively, and regular-season NFL games for the [[Mutual Broadcasting System|Mutual]] radio network. In 1988, he was among several veteran announcers who called some September NFL telecasts for NBC while many of the network's regular broadcasters were working that year's [[1988 Summer Olympics|Summer Olympics]] in [[Seoul|Seoul, South Korea]].

Thompson also did baseball work for [[Major League Baseball on NBC|NBC]], beginning with the [[Major League Baseball Game of the Week|''Game of the Week'']] in 1959 and 1960. He, along with [[Curt Gowdy]], covered the [[Memorial Stadium (Baltimore)|Memorial Stadium]] legs of the World Series in 1966, [[1970 World Series|1970]] and [[1971 World Series|1971]], and conducted the victorious post-Series clubhouse interviews in 1966 and 1970.

He is particularly remembered for his flawed but endearing call of [[Bill Mazeroski]]'s championship-clinching [[home run]] to end the [[1960 World Series]], for which he was the play-by-play announcer for NBC Radio.[https://web.archive.org/web/20101129045034/http://pbrtv.com/blog/audio/19601013.mp3 (Audio)] This event was replayed in full on an MLB radio special some years ago, during one of the players' [[strike action|strikes]]. The pitcher was actually [[Ralph Terry]]; [[Art Ditmar]] was warming up in the [[bullpen]], and besides that error, Thompson just got caught up in the moment:
<blockquote>Well, a little while ago, when we mentioned that this one, in typical fashion, was going right to the wire, little did we know…Art Ditmar throws—here's a swing and a high fly ball going deep to left, this may do it!…Back to the wall goes [[Yogi Berra|Berra]], it is…over the fence, home run, the Pirates win!…(long pause for crowd noise)…Ladies and gentlemen, Mazeroski has hit a one-nothing pitch over the left field fence at [[Forbes Field]] to win the 1960 World Series for the Pittsburgh Pirates by a score of ten to nothing!…Once again, that final score…The Pittsburgh Pirates, the 1960 world champions, defeat the New York Yankees. The Pirates ten, and the Yankees NINE!... and Forbes Field... is an insane asylum!</blockquote>

In 1985, Thompson's Ditmar-Terry flub became a commercial hit, featured as an audio-over in a nostalgia-immersed [[Budweiser (Anheuser-Busch)|Budweiser]] TV ad during [[1985 World Series|that year's World Series]]. A [[libel]] lawsuit subsequently filed by Ditmar against [[Anheuser-Busch]] and its advertising agency for the commercial was ultimately rejected by a [[United States District Court]].<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1988/10/12/sports/sports-people-ditmar-loses-lawsuit.html|title=SPORTS PEOPLE; Ditmar Loses Lawsuit|work=The New York Times|date=October 12, 1988}}</ref>