‘A fairy tale’
Euphoric Houston alum Nantz on hand to see OT March Madness win
Jim Nantz, the longtime CBS broadcaster who for 40-plus years always knew what to say in the most electric moments in sports, was struggling to find the right words after Houston’s 10095 overtime win over Texas A&M on Sunday at Fedexforum in Memphis.
From Texas A&M sinking a buzzerbeating 3-pointer in regulation to Houston walk-on Ryan Elvin making a clutch free throw to help the top-seeded Cougars seal the second-round NCAA tournament win, Nantz was overjoyed to watch his alma mater grab a true March Madness win.
This time as a fan.
“In the history of the University of Houston, and I go back now 46, 47 years and the history that preceded me, this one will rank up there with the greatest wins in the history of the sport,” Nantz said in the Houston locker room after the game.
“. . . This was a fairy tale. This was storybook stuff. If we go on and win a national championship, this game, it’s a (ESPN) ‘30 for 30.’ ”
Nantz, who lives in Nashville, is a Houston alum and played on the Cougars’ golf team.
For 37 years, he watched with an unbiased perspective. Sunday was different.
“I’ve never felt like this after a game before,” he said. “I usually am in my lane and know how to control my emotions, but I’m seriously worn out. My head’s throbbing, my stomach is turning somersaults.”
When Aggies forward Andersson Garcia made the 3-pointer that sent the game to overtime, Nantz was floored.
“I will say this, I’ve been to ‘em all,” he said. “It’s been heartbreak city for our school on too many occasions. We’ve had our heart ripped out of us. If we would have lost this game, up 13 late, it would have been another.”
For Nantz, taking down No. 9 seed Texas A&M is a turning of the page for the Cougars across all sports.
“Tonight we cleared a hurdle,” he said. “That we never really have in our school’s history in any sport. We won
recent years by thoracic outlet syndrome, a nerve-related injury that affects the area between the ribs and collarbone. She had surgery in March 2023 to have a rib removed to alleviate pain. She has played just 17 competitive rounds at Stanford over the past two years, according to the team website.
But Heck did make it to the semifinals of the U.S. Women’s Amateur this past August, played for Stanford this past fall, and won a match last month in her first appearance this spring with the Cardinal. Heck wrote that she still hopes to play in amateur events and USGA championships in the future.
She burst onto the scene as a 15year-old in 2017, qualifying for the U.S. Women’s Open and then making the cut despite being the youngest golfer in the field. Heck did it again the next year as the youngest competitor at the LPGA Evian Championship and finished with the lowest score among amateurs. She continued to play high school golf for St. Agnes Academy as well, winning four straight TSSAA state championships.
Heck then delayed her professional career to attend Stanford and became just the third woman to sweep the NCAA golf postseason, winning championships at the conference, regional and national tournaments as a freshman in 2021. She was only the second freshman to win the ANNIKA Award, given annually to the best women’s Division I golfer, and her scoring average in 25 rounds of college golf (69.76) is also the lowest in NCAA history.
Heck, named The Commercial Appeal’s sports person of the year in 2021, was Stanford’s first NCAA individual champion in women’s golf and earned third team all-american status when the Cardinal won the NCAA team championship in 2022, a season in which she battled mononucleosis.
“What I didn’t know was that the next few years would be riddled with sickness and injuries and invisible trials that I’m grateful I could not have foreseen,” Heck wrote in the No Laying Up essay. “What I didn’t know is that the next time I would potentially play a full postseason would be my senior year. I have grappled with anger, hope, depression, joy, and everything in between, but amid each trial in which I so desperately sought the clarity of a deeper meaning, God always showed me the next step. Right now, the next step is not professional golf.”
Heck graduates this spring from Stanford with a degree in political science and wrote that she’s slated to begin an internship in private equity this summer. Heck has also been part of the Army ROTC for years, completed field training last summer and will soon attain the rank of lieutenant.