First Jim McKay, then Tim Russert, now former NBC play-by-play broadcaster Charlie Jones.

Like Russert, Jones died of a heart attack, though his was at his home in the La Jolla, Calif. district. And, like Russert, Jones was part of another great NBC legacy: Not only the NFL on NBC, but the young AFL on NBC.

Jones started broadcasting AFL games on ABC in 1960, then moved to NBC in 1965 where he continued with the fast-paced, high-scoring and entertaining AFL. And in the 33 years NBC had the AFL/AFC (before losing the contract in 1997), Jones was the only person to broadcast games in every season. The color commentators he ran through is a list of who’s who (and some who should never be in the broadcast booth): Elmer Angsman, George Ratterman, Johnny Morris, Willie Davis, Sam DeLuca, John Brodie, Merlin Olsen, Al DeRogatis, Len Dawson, Bob Trumpy, Bob Griese, Jimmy Cefalo, Todd Christensen and Randy Cross.

He also worked the Olympics a couple times, but his calling card was AFC football. With his death, there’s one fewer link to the AFL days. And like Russert, the broadcasting world is much poorer without him.

Though his fame came from football, his most famous call came in the ‘88 Olympics in the 100-meter dash: