Verne Lundquist graduated from Austin High School in Austin, Texas, before attending Texas Lutheran University (formerly Texas Lutheran College), where he was one of the founders of the Omega Tau Fraternity in 1958 before graduating in 1962. He is now a member of the Board of Regents for his alma mater.

Lundquist attended Augustana Seminary in Rock Island, Illinois in 1962. His father was a Lutheran pastor and President of the Nebraska Synod of the Augustana Lutheran Church. Lundquist played basketball and baseball and was a disc jockey at WOC, Davenport, Iowa. His 'Golden Voice' was the highlight of the seminary class on preaching.

He began his broadcasting career as sports anchor for WFAA in Dallas and in Austin for KTBC, as well as being the radio voice of the Dallas Cowboys. Lundquist joined the Cowboys Radio Network in 1967 and remained with the team until the 1984 season. He was paired with future (and now current) play-by-play man Brad Sham starting with the 1977 season, the year the Cowboys went 12–2 and captured their second NFL title in Super Bowl XII. He was sportscaster at WFAA during their 6pm news, while his eventual successor Dale Hansen did the 10pm news.

Before becoming a nationwide sports commentator, from 1970 to 1974, Lundquist was commentator for the sports show, Bowling for Dollars, in Dallas, Texas. It aired weekday evenings on the ABC station, WFAA-TV, from 6:30 to 7:00, in north central Texas. During these four seasons, Lundquist started interviewing Cowboys players and their first head coach, Tom Landry, at their sidelines, during halftimes, practices, pre-season and pre-game warm-ups, in Dallas.

Nationally, Lundquist worked for ABC Sports from 1974 to 1981, CBS from 1982 to 1995, and TNT cable from 1995 to 1997 before returning to CBS in 1998. Lundquist's patented belly laugh and his contagious enthusiasm for the events he covers have made him one of the more prominent and recognizable on-air talents in network TV.

He is among the key voices of NFL Films, and in past years had called regional NFL games for CBS, NBA games for CBS and TNT, and TNT's Sunday Night Football telecasts. He called television play-by-play on Seattle Seahawks preseason games from 2006 to 2008.

During the 1992, 1994, and 1998 Winter Olympics, whose rights were held by CBS and TNT, Lundquist and Scott Hamilton served as the announcers for figure skating events. Their performances were parodied by Saturday Night Live cast members Phil Hartman and Darrell Hammond (as Lundquist) with Dana Carvey, David Spade, and Will Ferrell (both as Hamilton): in 1992 with Jason Priestley and 1994 with Nancy Kerrigan and Chris Farley. They did a spoof of the Olympics figure skating events, as both Hartman and Myers went "Oh!" when Priestly or Farley (in a pre-recorded performance) did an on-ice pratfall. Lundquist, after seeing the original footage in 1992, commented that Hartman "nailed it dead on."

Lundquist filled in for Ernie Johnson Jr. as host of TNT's coverage of the PGA Championship twice, in 2006 as Johnson was battling cancer, and in 2011 when Johnson left after the second round following the death of his father on that Friday night.

After his return to CBS, Lundquist served as the long-time lead play-by-play announcer for CBS Sports' coverage of college football on the SEC on CBSfrom 2000 to 2016.

Lundquist retired from broadcasting college football games after calling the Army–Navy Game on December 10, 2016. He planned to contribute to other CBS Sports programs, including its college basketball and golf coverage, for the foreseeable future.

In March 2018, Lundquist announced he would not work the 2018 NCAA men's basketball tournament, as he was still recovering from back surgery he had in November 2017 and would retire from calling college basketball.

Despite his retirement from calling college football and basketball, Lundquist remained active as an announcer, continuing to call golf for CBS Sports. Lundquist continued calling the PGA Championship for CBS through 2021, and annually covers the Masters Tournament. Lundquist has indicated the 2024 Masters will likely be his last broadcast, which would be his 40th year covering the event for CBS.