22 Facts About Jerry Punch

Gerald Punch was born on August 20,1953 and is an American auto racing and college football commentator working for ESPN, as well as a physician.

Jerry Punch is currently a Principal Investigator for an award-winning clinical research company, Alliance for Multispecialty Research or AMR, in Knoxville.

Jerry Punch began his broadcasting career when he was selected to join the local radio station staff of Newton-Conover High School.

Jerry Punch was successful and was selected by fellow students to become a new reporter and, thus, he was permitted to participate in the weekly Saturday morning live broadcasts on WNNC.

Jerry Punch received a medical degree from Wake Forest University School of Medicine in 1979.

Jerry Punch paid his college and medical school tuition through prize money earned racing at short tracks in North Carolina.

Jerry Punch initially worked at Halifax Medical Center in Daytona Beach, Florida in 1982.

Jerry Punch later served as the director of emergency medicine at Bunnell Community Hospital in Palm Coast, Florida.

Jerry Punch began radio broadcasting for Motor Racing Network in 1980.

Jerry Punch has been a pitlane reporter for the Indianapolis 500 from 1989 to 2006 and from 2010 to 2018.

Jerry Punch served as the lead play-by-play voice for ESPN's coverage of the Craftsman Truck Series until the network lost that contract to Speed Channel following the 2002 season.

In 2015, after ESPN lost broadcast rights to NASCAR, Jerry Punch returned to his previous role as a sideline reporter for college football games on ESPN, pairing up with Mike Patrick and Ed Cunningham to call selected games on the network.

Jerry Punch has been ESPN's expert for discussion of medical issues.

Jerry Punch was consulted as a doctor in 1996 to report the condition of Nebraska quarterback Tommie Frazier, who would go undrafted in the NFL due to a blood clot in his left leg.

Jerry Punch continued to be the pit road reporter until the 2017 Chevrolet Dual in Detroit, the final IndyCar race on ESPN's contract for 2017.

In 2019, Jerry Punch returned to college football coverage with ESPN, serving as a part-time sideline reporter for games in 2019 and 2020.

In 1988, in two separate incidents, Jerry Punch helped with the rescue efforts after the wrecks of Rusty Wallace and Don Marmor.

Jerry Punch revived Wallace, who was able to start the following night's race with only minor injuries, driving for about half the race before giving his seat up to a relief driver.

Jerry Punch is credited with helping to save Ernie Irvan following a practice crash at Michigan International Speedway in August 1994.

Jerry Punch had aided injured pit crew members on pit road in several races in the 1990s.

Jerry Punch immediately rushed from the podium to the back of the room where Jenny Gill, a Nashville Superspeedway intern, had fainted.

Jerry Punch helped revive her, and she was taken to a local care center for observation and soon recovered, according to Sean Dozier, the Superspeedway's public relations director.