Mississippi State's radio play-by-play announcer, known for his gravelly voice and even-keel football and basketball radio calls over the last 58 years, realized two years ago his time behind the microphone was about up.

His lone working kidney was deteriorating from what he called "abuse" over the years. Steps were taken two years ago to prepare for kidney dialysis treatments.

With his kidney function dropping to 10 percent, Dr. Martin Lee of Tupelo advised Cristil, 85, to hang up his headset and microphone.

"Basically, it got down to this point where we were trying to get through the end of the basketball season," Cristil said. "But the situation is such that we had to cut that short."

Cristil, who announced his plans to retire following Wednesday's MSU-LSU basketball game, will make Saturday's MSU game at Tennessee his last.

Dialysis treatments will begin Tuesday, and will continue three times a week in four-hour sessions.

"How long I'm going to do this - whether it's going to be six weeks, six months or six years - only the good Lord knows," Cristil said.

Cristil was upbeat about the treatments in a phone conversation Thursday, but was unsure about the future.

"It sounds trite to say it, but I'll sort of take it on a day-to-day basis to see what transpires and try to make adjustments," he said. "I haven't really thought about what will happen down the road."

Jim Ellis, who served as Cristil's color commentator for the better part of 32 years, will call play-by-play the remainder of the basketball season.

Cristil endorsed Ellis to replace him fulltime, calling him "one of the finest broadcasters that has ever been in the business," but MSU has not announced a permanent replacement.

"We're not in a rush to announce anything there or do anything just yet," athletic director Scott Stricklin said. "We've got a little bit time on our side."

Preliminary plans call for a banner honoring Cristil to hang from the rafters at Humphrey Coliseum. Cristil's name will also soon be seen at Scott Field, where MSU might unveil a ring of honor in the coming years, Stricklin said.

"Boy, you think about the run he's had," Ellis said. "I feel sad for him but I feel glad for him too for the fact that he's had the privilege of doing what he enjoyed doing for, what, 58 years? That's amazing. And he's done it so well."

Some of those moments have included a Final Four in basketball and an upset of Bear Bryant's top-ranked Alabama football team in 1980. He called 636 football games (missing just the 1974 Sun Bowl because of a dispute over broadcast rights) and 1,537 basketball games since 1953.

Cristil listed Rockey Felker's game-winning touchdown drive against Memphis State in 1974 and a 74-0 shellacking at the hands of Houston in the Astrodome in 1969 as moments he'll most remember.

"But there's a lot you don't remember, too," he chuckled.

During his career, Cristil closed games with his signature "wrap it in maroon and white" call hundreds of times but it hasn't always been his calling card.

Cristil doesn't remember when he coined the phrase. Research shows he may have strung those six words together for the first time during a football broadcast on Sept. 13, 1986 - a 27-23 upset victory at Tennessee.

"We would sell a segment of the broadcast called 'The Wrap Up,'" Cristil said. "The game was over and you would, in quotes, wrap it up. It was a saleable commodity and I guess it came from that term, 'I'll be back with the wrap up of the game.' For some reason, I just said, 'Wrap it in maroon and white.' It seemed to stick."

Perhaps it's just coincidence his final broadcast will hail from Tennessee on Saturday.

Friends and colleagues shared their favorite Cristil memories Wednesday and Thursday after Cristil issued a 2-minute sign-off from Humphrey Coliseum following MSU's 84-82 loss to LSU.

"Unfortunately, we lost the game," Cristil said. "I didn't want to drag it out and overdo the thing. Hopefully it went over OK."

Fans took to the Internet to voice their support. "Jack Cristil" was a trending topic on Twitter - a website you'll never find the man navigating himself - late Wednesday.

State coaches Rick Stansbury and Dan Mullen, who were not yet born when Cristil began his career at MSU, both referred to Cristil as a "legend."

Cristil's dream to become a broadcaster started when he was 6 years old. The son of Russian and Latvian immigrants, he would listen to radio stations from Pittsburgh, Chicago and St. Louis while growing up in Memphis.

"I heard these people broadcasting these sport events and it absolutely captivated me," Cristil told Clarion-Ledger columnist Rick Cleveland. "I was mesmerized by the very idea that a guy could sit in the ballpark and describe what was going on. And I would sit there and listen to this little box and get it right in your living room. I knew at that point, this is what I want to do."

He also had to adjust as technology rapidly advanced during his career. Transistor radios came and went, and radio broadcasts are now commonly heard on the Internet. In fact, Cristil's final game Saturday will simulcast on SiriusXM, a satellite radio service.

But he won't have to worry about adjusting his headphones much longer. For the first time since he called minor league baseball games in Alabama, Mississippi and Tennessee at the beginning of his broadcast career, a new and life-changing hurdle awaits.

"When the baseball leagues collapsed, I got out of that portion of it and made some changes and everything worked well," he said. "So, maybe this will work well for me, too."