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This fall ESPN will crank up the volume and cue the rowdy friends the only way Monday Night Football knows how -- with Hank Williams Jr. For an unprecedented 20th season, the legendary singer will perform the anthem that ushers in the NFL’s weekly primetime showcase game, a ritual that has earned him four Emmy awards (1991-1994) and national acclaim among legions of football fans.

Williams first performed "All My Rowdy Friends Are Here on Monday Night" – based on his hit song "All My Rowdy Friends Are Coming Over Tonight" – in 1989 during the 20th anniversary season of MNF on ABC. Through the years, the MNF open has featured Williams in a variety of settings -- cruising the highway in a convertible with Dallas Cowboys cheerleaders, tapping with famed dancer Savion Glover, even flying through outer space. After performing alongside an all-star band the past two years on ESPN, Williams will be a solo act this fall, welcoming fans to the weekly MNF game with a house party theme.

Williams has become synonymous with sports television’s signature series, but ironically the gig almost went to another well-known entertainer. “The leading contender was actually a song ‘20/20’ by George Benson, “admits Bob Toms, Vice President, Production Enhancements for ESPN, who was the producer for ABC Sports’ on-air promotion in 1989. “It had a pretty good vibe but it wasn’t quite right. It didn’t really talk football at all. We called Hank Williams Jr. and spoke to his manager, a great guy by the name of Merle Kilgore, and we asked if Hank would have any interest in working on MNF. We asked if he knew anything about football, and Merle’s reply was, ‘Does Hank know football? Hank is an American. He knows football.’ And ever since then, that was it.”