Bryant Gumbel

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Bryant Gumbel
Born September 29, 1948 (1948-09-29) (age 59)
Flag of the United States New Orleans, Louisiana
Occupation News and Sports Broadcaster
Spouse Hilary Quinlan
Children Bradley Christopher and Jillian Beth
Parents Dunbar Gumbel and Rhea Alice LeCesne

Bryant Charles Gumbel (born September 29, 1948), is an American television personality for news and sports programs. He is best known for his 15-year stint as co-anchor of NBC's The Today Show. He is the younger brother of veteran sports broadcaster Greg Gumbel.

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Gumbel was born in New Orleans, Louisiana, the second child of parents Richard Gumbel and Rhea Alice LeCesne. He is of Creole descent. He attended Bates College in Lewiston, Maine where he played football and baseball and was a member of the class of 1970. He was a history major and wrote sports columns for the school newspaper, The Bates Student.

Gumbel, who was raised in Chicago, IL, earned a liberal arts degree from Bates College and has honorary doctorates from Bates, Xavier University, College of the Holy Cross, Providence College and Clark Atlanta University.

Gumbel began his television career in October 1972, when he was named a sportscaster for KNBC-TV out of Los Angeles.

Gumbel impressed and surprised NBC with his likable on-air presence and well-spoken, articulate, commentary. He was hired by NBC Sports in the fall of 1975 as co-host of its National Football League pre-game show GrandStand with Jack Buck.

From 1975 until January 1982 (when Gumbel left to do The Today Show) Gumbel hosted numerous sporting events for NBC including Major League Baseball, NCAA basketball, and the National Football League. Gumbel returned to sportscasting for NBC when he hosted the prime time coverage of the 1988 Summer Olympics from Seoul and the PGA Tour in 1990.

One of Gumbel's more memorable moments during his stint at NBC Sports occurred in 1982, when he was on site for the now legendary "Epic in Miami" NFL playoff game between the San Diego Chargers and Miami Dolphins. At the end of the game, Gumbel told the viewing audience "If you didn't like this football game then you didn't like football!"

He spent 15 years on The Today Show with three co-hosts: Jane Pauley, Deborah Norville and Katie Couric. His work on the Today Show earned him several Emmys and large group of fans. He is currently the second longest serving co-host of Today, serving 2 months less than Couric. Gumbel stepped down from the show after 15 years in 1997.

After stepping down from the Today Show and Dateline NBC in 1997, Gumbel moved on to CBS, where he hosted various shows before becoming the co-host of the network's morning show The Early Show on November 1, 1999. Gumbel left The Early Show (and CBS that same year) in May 2002.

Gumbel has concentrated most of his energy recently on his duties as host of HBO's acclaimed investigative series Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel (a show that he has hosted since 1995). HBO's web page claims that Real Sports has been described as "flat out TV's best sports program" by the Los Angeles Times.[1] Also according to HBO, Real Sports has earned 15 sports Emmys, and a 2006 Alfred I. DuPont-Columbia University Award for broadcast journalism, the first time in the award's history that it was given to a sports program.[2] The award was for a story called: The Sport of Sheikhs, an investigation into the exploitation of children as camel jockeys in the United Arab Emirates.

Gumbel made a cameo appearance alongside Nicolas Cage and Michael Caine in The Weather Man, a film directed by Gore Verbinski. In the film Gumbel co-hosts a morning show entitled Hello America for which Cage's character, a depressed weatherman, auditions.

Main article: Run to the Playoffs

In April 2006, the NFL Network announced that Gumbel along with Cris Collinsworth and Dick Vermeil would call its new package of NFL games. Gumbel had never called play-by-play[3] for live sporting events in his career.[4] Even before he called his first game for the network, Gumbel's status was brought into question after he stirred up controversy in his closing remarks on his HBO program on August 15, 2006. In these remarks, Gumbel criticized NFL Players Association head Gene Upshaw and outgoing NFL Commissioner Paul Tagliabue. Gumbel would later reconcile with the NFL and has retained his play-by-play job with the NFL Network.Gumbel is considered by most critics the worst play by play commentator in all of sports.[5].

In 1989, Gumbel wrote a memo to Today Show executive producer Marty Ryan, which was critical of other Today Show personalities. This memo was leaked to the press. In the memo, Gumbel commented that Willard Scott, "holds the show hostage to his assortment of whims, wishes, birthdays and bad taste...This guy is killing us and no one's even trying to rein him in". He commented that Gene Shalit's movie reviews "are often late and his interviews aren't very good."[6]

There was enough negative backlash in regard to Gumbel's comments toward Scott, that Gumbel was shown making up with Scott on The Today Show.[7]

Also on 'The Today Show' on September 5, 1989, Gumbel said of a quiz on racial attitudes: "This test is not going to tell you whether you're a racist or a liberal."[8]

A CBS camera caught a disgusted Bryant Gumbel blurting out "What a fucking idiot" just after he wrapped up a hostile interview with Robert Knight of the Family Research Council (FRC). The incident occurred at about 7:15 a.m. ET Thursday, June 29, 2000 following Knight's appearance to defend the Boy Scout policy of excluding gays from being leaders.

On the February 7, 2006 episode of HBO's "Real Sports With Bryant Gumbel," Gumbel made controversial racial remarks about the Winter Olympics: "Count me among those who don't care about them and won't watch them... So try not to laugh when someone says these are the world's greatest athletes, despite a paucity of blacks that makes the winter games look like a GOP convention."

On the August 15, 2006 episode of Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel, Gumbel made the following remarks about former NFL commissioner Paul Tagliabue and Player Union president Gene Upshaw and directed these comments to new commissioner Roger Goodell.

“ Before he cleans out his office have Paul Tagliabue show you where he keeps Gene Upshaw's leash. By making the docile head of the players union his personal pet, your predecessor has kept the peace without giving players the kind of guarantees other pros take for granted. Try to make sure no one competent ever replaces Upshaw on your watch. ”

In response, Tagliabue said "What Gumbel said about Gene Upshaw and our owners is about as irresponsible as anything I've heard in a long time." Gene Upshaw as of August 21, 2006 has not commented.[9] Gumbel's response was:

"It's a lot like covering any story [...] You see what is front of you and you report on it."[citation needed]

Reportedly, Gumbel has raised over $8 million for the United Negro College Fund.

  1. ^ http://www.hbo.com/realsports/about/
  2. ^ http://www.hbo.com/realsports/awards/
  3. ^ On Sports Media | Gumbel's move to play-by-play was a bad call
  4. ^ http://news.yahoo.com/s/bw/20060420/bs_bw/nf200604208433db016
  5. ^ http://msnbc.msn.com/id/14701011/
  6. ^ Monica Collins, "Memo to NBC: We Love Scott", USA Today, March 1, 1989.
  7. ^ Brian Donlon, "On Today, it's kiss and make up", USA Today, March 14, 1989.
  8. ^ David Brudnoy, "The great divide", Boston Phoenix, June 20, 2003.
  9. ^ Michael McCarthy, "Gumbel's remarks strike ill chord with Tagliabue", USA Today, 22 August 2006.

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to:
Preceded by
Tom Brokaw and Jane Pauley		 Today Show Host with Jane Pauley from 1982 to 1989, with Deborah Norville from 1990 to 1991 and with Katie Couric from 1991 to 1997
1982–1997		 Succeeded by
Matt Lauer and Katie Couric
Preceded by
Jim McKay		 American television prime time anchor, Summer Olympic Games
1988		 Succeeded by
Bob Costas
v • d • e
Anchors of Today
Garroway • Chancellor • Downs • McGee • Walters • Hartz • Brokaw • Pauley • Gumbel • Norville • Garagiola • Couric • Lauer • Vieira
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bryant_Gumbel"
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