Opportunities for African-American sportscasters have been extremely limited until recently. While studio analyst jobs have been available to former pro athletes who happen to be black, the top sports journalism jobs, such as play-by-play announcer, have overwhelmingly gone to white males. In 1989 CBS had two black play-by-play announcers and ABC and NBC had none. CBS sportscaster James Brown said at that time, "I firmly believe people hire in their own likeness, so that's what network executives always have done....All we're asking for is an opportunity to succeed and fail like everyone else." (1)
The situation hadn't improved much by 1993. No African-American had yet been designated as a network's top play-by-play announcer. Said Brown, "In the studio, yes. There have been big strides. But No. 1 play-by-play is almost the same as being the quarterback. He's the traffic cop. That's what everybody who does play-by-play strives for. It hasn't ever happened. It's only right that it does. There are enough talented people out there. The talent pool is there to make it happen. It should happen." (2)
Only in the past few years have sportscasters such as Greg
Gumbel and Robin Roberts moved into truly prestigious network
positions. Here are their profiles along with three others:
He grew up in North Carolina and played football and ran track in high school. He was recruited by four small colleges, but instead chose to attend the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He worked on the student radio station as a sports and news reporter and interned at a Durham, North Carolina TV station. He also played in a full-contact semipro club football league.
In 1987 Stuart graduated with a degree in speech communication and radio, television, and movies. From 1987 to 1988 he worked as a news reporter and weekend sports anchor at a TV station in Florence, South Carolina. Then for two years he was a news reporter at a station in Raleigh, North Carolina. In 1990 he moved to Orlando, Florida where he was a sports reporter and sports anchor. In August 1993 he joined ESPN 2 as a "SportSmash" anchor, one month before the network debuted. In 1994 Scott became co-host of ESPN2's "SportsNight." In 1995 he moved over to his job at ESPN.
According to Gerry Matalon, a "SportsCenter" producer, "Athletes really dig Stuart. He talks the language of the kids. He brings that attitude. He's opened up a lot of doors." (3)
Scott agreed. "I understand and I am well aware that my style is going to appeal a whole lot to the African-American audience. There haven't been too many sportscasters with a slant that way. But here's the thing about style: You have to be comfortable with it. I am not all this young hip-hop guy, but that's definitely part of me. If I'm watching a game with friends, I'm gonna say, 'Man, Mike's blowin' up.' What I'm doing here is part of me." (4)
"I've tried to make it OK to have a more laid-back style that is a little more reminiscent of the African-American subculture. I use words and expressions that are just more relaxed. You don't hear anyone describing Rich Eisen as doing his 'Jewish guy-from-Long Island schtick.' I think we associate 'hip' too much with being black, and it's not. It's just more young, carefree. That's why ESPN hired us, because we were a little different." (5)
He was there for two years when CNN hired him in 1980 at the age of 23. Hickman and Nick Charles hosted the first "Sports Tonight" broadcast on June 1, 1980. Noted Hickman, "We had to develop something consistent, and something consistently different from ESPN. We also catered to an audience that was interested in finance, world affairs and the body politic. But all those people graduated from some school, and many of them were interested in sports. That gave us a chance to develop a show where we could bring in our personalities." (7)
In 1981, when the scheduled announcer for TBS (owned by the same parent company as CNN) had to pull out because of illness, Hickman did play-by-play on the first national cablecast of a NBA game.
In 1984 he left CNN because he wanted to work at a local station in a major market. He took a job at the NBC affiliate in Detroit. "I was 26 at the time and feeling 10 feet tall and bulletproof. It was a little more money and I thought I needed a change." (8)
Hickman immediately realized he missed CNN and Atlanta (where CNN is based). His marriage was also faltering. He developed a cocaine problem. After six months of drug use he realized he needed help. He announced publicly that he was going into a drug treatment program. The station was supportive, but Hickman went back to Springfield to get his life in order. He was worried that he wouldn't find work, but in 1986 CNN hired him back. He rejoined Charles hosting "Sports Tonight." In 1989 he was signed to a five-year contract and also given the hosting jobs of CNN's "This Week in the NBA" and TBS's "NBA Preview." In 1994 he won the Cable Ace award for best sports anchor in cable television.
In 1998, Nick Charles became host of a program on CNN/SI, a new all sports network developed by CNN and Sports Illustrated. (Turner Broadcasting, which owns CNN, is now a division of Time Warner, which also owns Sports Illustrated.) "Sports Tonight," hosted by Hickman and his new partner Vince Cellini, is now shown on both CNN and CNN/SI. Said Hickman, "... what we're trying to do is be more personality driven without being pompous or coming out with gratuitous humor. ...
"When you try to be funny, it's like watching a bad comedy act. It just doesn't work. Sports is not funny all the time; there's serious things going on. There's Florence Griffith Joyner. There's Mike Tyson. There's NBA labor problems. Serious issues like that, and you can't come out and just yuk it up.
"That's the biggest turnoff to me - watching any sportscast anywhere, locally or nationally, is watching guys turn it on and turn it off. It turns out to be a phony experience, and I think people see through that." (9)
He was drafted in the fourth round by the Atlanta Hawks and also by Denver of the American Basketball Association. He went to Atlanta but was released before the season started. "Basketball was my dream. To have the rug snatched from under my feet so soon, that wasn't in the script. I cried for days." (10) He tried out the following year for the Boston Celtics but didn't make the team. "I had to confront myself and say maybe I'm just not good enough to make it. I gave it my best, and it was time to move on." (11)
He worked in sales for Xerox for six years. Then in 1978 he decided to try broadcasting. He heard that a job was opening up at a local station. With a recommendation from his high school coach, he asked to do an audition, and was hired as a Washington Bullets commentator for $250 a game.
Freelance work started to come from NBC and CBS. "My boss came to me and said it was time to make a decision, to either put my energies into the company or into broadcasting. I had a decision to make. But I had the bug. So I decided to give it five years. If I didn't make it in that time frame, I'd give it up and go back to the corporate world. I was determined to follow that plan. I didn't want to be a has-been hanging around the media." (12)
He worked for a local TV station, hosted a radio talk show, and also held a job with Eastman Kodak (the company allowed him to work around his sportscasting schedule). "Well, two weeks before my five-year plan was up (in 1984), the ABC station in Washington (WJLA) hired me as a weekend sports anchorman and weekday feature reporter." (13)
He was offered a two-year contract but didn't sign it. In six months he moved over the CBS affiliate. First he worked as a NCAA analyst then as an NBA analyst.
Brown decided that to secure his future, he needed to get into play-by-play. "My value as an analyst could easily be short. Great players and ex-coaches are available every year. This year Hubie Brown joined CBS. Last year Billy Cunningham was signed. A good play-by-play man can last for a very long time." (14) He asked Ted Shaker, then executive producer for CBS Sports, for a chance and in 1985 he was doing regional NFL play-by-play. "I knew I was going to make mistakes and believe me I did, but I needed that opportunity, and Shaker and Neil Pilson [president of CBS Sports] gave it to me." (15) He was teamed with former NFL lineman Dan Jiggetts, the first time a network had used two African-Americans in a booth together.
As time went on, Brown added NCAA men's basketball play-by-play and was the midday host for the 1992 Winter Olympics. He did play-by-play coverage of freestyle skiing at the 1994 Winter Olympics.
Later in 1994 Brown moved over to Fox when the network began broadcasting NFL games and hired most of the CBS NFL team. He was named host of Fox's NHL pregame show. "I told [David Hill, Fox Sports President] if you are looking [for someone] who is steeped in hockey traditions or knows the game intimately, I am not that person. But if you are looking for someone who is willing to work hard enough to set up the experts who are knowledgeable, then I'd certainly like to be considered.
"I had to suck it up and get my hands on anything that would help me learn the game. I'm reading books as basic as 'How to Watch Hockey,' and I've been talking with [Washington Capitals officials] David Poile and Yvon Labre as well as [studio analyst] Dave Maloney and the league has spent me basic tapes on watching the game.
"What the people are telling me is 'You're doing a good job and we appreciate the homework that shows that you're learning our game.'" (16)
He also hosts "Coast to Coast" (a syndicated radio show formerly hosted by Bob Costas); "World's Funniest" (a non-sports show on Fox); "America's Black Forum" (a syndicated television show addressing black issues); and contributes to HBO's "Real Sports." "I go back to some advice I got many years ago from Petey Green, who used to host a public affairs show in Washington, D.C. He told me if you come into this business, stay versatile. It'll keep you working long after others who concentrated on just one thing." (17)
His style is low-key. His goal is to make the others on the show look good. "Through the training I got working at CBS, I learned viewers want to hear the ex-coaches and players to learn the insight. If (the ex-coaches and players) are doing well, if I can serve them up and they provide what the viewer is looking for, well, it's like they say: A rising tide lifts all ships." (18)
"My job is to keep the show flowing. All of our guys are busy out reporting and calling everyone they know in football. They have a lot of information, and sometimes I have to pull it out of them." (19)
"I understand the role of politics. People say maybe I'm too nice, that if I was nastier I'd get a No. 1 job. But I'd like to think I'm a team player, and I'm not one to play the political game. I really am not feigning piousness, but as a Christian, all I can do is work as hard as I can." (20)
"I do carry this responsibility seriously. If the decision-makers see James Brown doing a good job, it will open the door for other brothers and sisters coming behind me and give them an opportunity to do well." (21)
Said Ed Goren, executive producer at Fox, "He has become the voice and face of not just Fox Sports. When you think CBS, it's not just Jim Nantz but Dan Rather. At Fox, there is no nightly news, so J.B. really becomes a spokesman for the entire network." (22) It is estimated that Brown's annual salary is in the $1 million range.
Brown has this advice to share: "I tell young blacks with sportscasting aspirations that nothing is going to be handed to them. They have to be willing to work for $50 a week, if that's what it takes, just to get experience. They have to be willing to take gofer jobs to learn the business. They have to work hard and be prepared." (23)
Her older sister was a television reporter and anchor so Roberts decided to become a communications major. In her junior year she applied to be sports director at a local country-western station. There was no such position, but they created one for her after she agreed to be a deejay on the weekends.
She graduated with honors in 1983. Her first job was part-time at a TV station in Hattiesburg, Mississippi. She had been offered a high-paying news job elsewhere, but turned it down to gain more sports experience.
Then she spent two years as the weekend sports anchor at the ABC affiliate in Biloxi, Mississippi and then two years in Nashville. "It was harder getting work in those places than it was at ESPN. I would be very stupid and naive if I said there weren't assignments I should have gotten and didn't. It's difficult for me to sit here at 30 and say, boy, have I been held back. But by my own standards, I was late getting here." (24)
In 1988 she was offered jobs in Atlanta and at ESPN. She chose to go to Atlanta as a weekend sports anchor. "I knew that if I was to have any staying power, I needed more experience." (25) She was also a regular on an Atlanta radio show.
In less than two years, ESPN called her again. She was hired as an anchor at age 29. "I was four years behind on my own schedule." She became ESPN's first on-air black woman, hosting ESPN's overnight "SportsCenter." (Now when she hosts the show, it's the 6:30 PM edition.) Out of the 600 to 700 announcer tapes annually received by Al Jaffe, head of ESPN recruitment, only 1 to 2% are from black women. Roberts didn't feel she was out of place, however. "I understand the athlete's mind-set, which isn't something all the guys at ESPN can." (26)
A month into her job at ESPN, Roberts joined the "Sunday SportsDay" and "NFL Prime Time" shows. She became the first woman to host an NFL pregame show when she filled in for John Saunders, another African-American sportscaster. She is ESPN's WNBA commentator, has been the studio host for women's college basketball coverage, and has covered the Olympics. For ABC she has done play-by-play in golf and women's and men's college basketball. "I have to admit ESPN has treated me very well. I've been a part of Final Four coverage, the U.S. Open, 'NFL Prime Time' ... I've never felt I was denied any assignment because of my gender or anything." (27)
In 1995, Roberts joined ABC's "Wide World of Sports," signing a six-year, $3.9 million dual contract with ESPN and ABC (both owned by the same parent company). "I used to watch 'Wide World of Sports' when I was a pig-tailed little girl in Mississippi, and I wish I could say I thought one day that would be me hosting the show. But I didn't, because that seemed so out of reach.
"[I'm] very proud to be the first African-American woman, and I'm not going to make any excuses for that. But it's a ticklish position because you want to be known for who you are and not just gender or race. I say with all the humbleness I can, I'm qualified and I'm prepared for this assignment." (28)
Robert's father was an Air Force colonel who was a member of the first black flying group, the Tuskegee Airmen. Her mother chaired the Mississippi State Board of Education. "I had a father and a mother who were the first to do this and the first to do that and always getting this award or that award, so I figured, well, shoot, I guess I should be a physicist on the weekend." (29)
"I'm at a crossroads. I'm getting more into issues than games. Games are fun, and doing play-by-play (announcing) is a no-brainer. I know I could be the first woman on, say, Monday Night Football. But now I'm not so sure. I may try to make a transition (out of sports) like Bryant Gumbel." (30)
Gumbel attended Loras College in Dubuque, Iowa where he played baseball. He graduated in 1967 with a degree in English. He then began working as the ad director for a clothing store in Chicago. His next job was working as a paper purchaser for Time Inc.
In the meantime, his younger brother Bryant was recruited to become a sportscaster. When NBC decided it needed someone black, it found Bryant, who was editing "Black Sports" magazine in Chicago. He had no radio or TV experience, but he spoke and dressed well. He began working as a weekend sportscaster at KNBC in Los Angeles.
In 1973 Bryant told Greg that a Chicago TV station was auditioning for a sports announcer. At the time Greg was selling hospital supplies in Detroit. "I hated sales." (32) He got the job and worked there for seven years. The sportscaster he replaced, Dennis Swanson, went on to become president of ABC Sports.
Bryant's career was also coming along, which led to a break for Greg. ESPN, just starting up, called Bryant and asked if he had a brother. That led to Greg's first network TV job in 1981. "The experience was priceless, but it was rough going at first. SportsCenter was rudderless at the beginning. The announcers doing the show were pretty much responsible for the content. There was no teleprompter, no floor director. At times, it was very hectic. A lot of improvisation and ad-libbing. But you did get a chance to do everything." (33)
''It was great. That network gave you [a] chance to expand. It was more than just reading the scores.'' (34)
He left ESPN in 1986 and went to Madison Square Garden Network for three years. He served as backup announcer to Marv Albert for the NBA Knicks. Gumbel also covered college basketball. In 1989 MSG signed a huge contract to broadcast Yankees games; Gumbel served as host of the pregame and postgame shows. In addition he was the host of a morning show on the radio station WFAN.
In 1988 CBS hired him to do NFL play-by-play. Said Ted Shaker, then executive producer of CBS Sports, "I drive in to work, and I would listen to WFAN while he was hosting the morning show. For five minutes he'd talk with Hubie Brown about the NBA, then he'd talk to Sal Messina about the Rangers, then he'd talk to Billy Packer about North Carolina basketball. He would effortlessly take me from one sport to the next, asking the questions I'd have asked. And I thought, Wow!" (35)
While at CBS, Gumbel served as the play-by-play announcer for the NBA Cavaliers, did play-by-play for college basketball, and did daily commentating on CBS radio. In 1990 he began hosting "The NFL Today" (the pregame, halftime, and postgame program). He also hosted Major League Baseball and college football shows.
He was co-anchor of the weekday morning coverage of the 1992 Winter Olympics and anchor of the prime time coverage of the 1994 Winter Olympics. ''I ended up enjoying it much more than I thought I would. I found it to be much more challenging, much more fun and exciting, than I ever thought it would be. The response for the network and myself was overwhelming.'' (36)
He left CBS in 1994 after five years and went to NBC. ''I thought I'd be content to stay there forever, but the problem is, all the things I went there to do have gone elsewhere. When I arrived five years ago, they had NBA basketball, baseball and NFL football. All of them are gone.'' (37)
Gumbel said the move was not a result of Bryant's position at NBC (host of the "Today" show from 1982 to 1997). "Geez, give me more credit than that. I think better than that. It is an odd circumstance, sure, two brothers progressing as we have. But it's really because of good upbringing, a lot of studying, and a lot of hard work. Nothing more than that.'' (38)
"I think being a minority had something to do with my first TV job and with being hired seven years later at ESPN. But it wasn't a factor in keeping those jobs, or in being hired by MSG and then CBS." (39)
While at NBC he was involved in NFL (host of the pregame show, "NFL Live"), NBA (a play-by-play announcer), major-league baseball (host of "Baseball Night in America"), and figure skating coverage (host of the 1995 World Championships). Then in 1996 he covered the Summer Olympics for NBC, serving as the daytime anchor.
When CBS got the NFL back in 1998, Gumbel returned to the network. He hosted the NCAA men's basketball championship and became CBS's No. 1 NFL play-by-play voice, making him the first black lead play-by-play announcer at any network. "It's not something I strove to do for the sake of being that (first) person.
"But I'm glad it's happened." (40)
"At various times during my broadcasting career, my priorities changed. I was perfectly happy to be where I was until somebody came along and said, 'You can do this' or 'You can do that.' "
"Is it important to other people? I have no doubt. Is it important to me? Somewhat.
"I don't believe it necessarily implies an accomplishment on the part of an African-American person as it implies an accomplishment by a person. I have always tended to believe that it doesn't matter what color you are. If you can't do the job, they'll find someone else." (41)
"There are a lot of people who could do this job very well but who just don't get the chance. Being able to do it doesn't do you a damn bit of good, unless you can show people that you can do it." (42)
A key to his success: "I don't pretend I'm more important than the broadcast." (43)
''I've been told I'm easy to listen to and I make people feel comfortable. It's hard for me to say. You tend to overestimate your abilities. I just basically try to take a calm and reasoned approach and display a sense of humor. I enjoy this and have fun doing it.'' (44)