Jack Whitaker, the understated voice who was a staple on CBS Sports broadcasts in the 1960s and '70s, has died of natural causes at the age of 95, the network confirmed Sunday.

The Philadelphia native began his broadcasting career in 1950 after serving in World War II. He joined CBS Sports in 1961, serving in a variety of roles, including play-by-play announcer, analyst, reporter and essayist.

He was part of CBS's broadcast team for Super Bowl I, hosted the CBS Sports Spectacular and was a major presence on the network's golf and horse racing coverage.

After 22 years at CBS Sports, Whitaker moved to ABC, covering the 1984 and 1988 Olympic Games and serving as a commentator for ABC News.

Whitaker was inducted into the American Sportscasters Hall of Fame in 1997 and the Sports Broadcasting Hall of Fame in 2012. He also received the Lifetime Achievement Award at the 2012 Sports Emmy Awards ceremony.

"There will never be another Jack Whitaker in sports broadcasting," CBS Sports chairman Sean McManus said in a statement.

Whitaker once said the greatest sports event he ever covered was the 1973 Belmont Stakes, when Secretariat ran away from the field to win the Triple Crown. "It just blew me away," he said in 1998. "It blew everybody away. People were crying. It was just perfection."