Sports Broadcasting Hall of Fame 2020-21: Don Cornelli, The Lens Through Which America Watches Sports By Jason Dachman, Chief Editor Friday, December 3, 2021 - 9:34 am
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In a ceremony postponed by the pandemic, the Sports Broadcasting Hall of Fame Class of 2020 will be inducted on Dec. 14 at the New York Hilton. SVG is profiling the nine inductees in the weeks prior. For more information, CLICK HERE.
Anyone who has watched an NFL broadcast in the last 30 years has seen a Don Cornelli shot. And they've also probably seen him in the shot: he's the guy sprinting down the sidelines anticipating the next play, inches from the celebrating player who has just scored, or getting run over by a player tumbling out of bounds. Whether it's on the football field, the hardcourt, the fairway, or anywhere else a sports event is taking place, Cornelli and his handheld camera can somehow be found in the right place at the right time to capture the money shot.
From the very beginning of Don's long, successful career in network television, says Sports Broadcasting Hall of Famer and camera operator Davey Finch, he has always possessed the wonderful, natural gift of a great eye' for shot composition and framing. His camerawork excels because he knows what to shoot, when to shoot, and how to position himself to achieve the best possible shot on any sport he covers.
As one of the top handheld-camera operators working today, Cornelli endeavors to get viewers as close as possible to the action and is a mainstay on the sidelines of some of the NFL's biggest games. Though most known for his work on NFL broadcasts on CBS Sports and Fox Sports for more than three decades, he has also covered NBA, MLB, NHL, NCAA, PGA, NASCAR, the Olympics, and the World Cup.
Nobody sees the world more clearly through a viewfinder than Cornelli, says Fox Sports CEO/Executive Producer Eric Shanks. And the world is better for it.
Catching the Fever: How Cornelli Fell in Love With Broadcasting A native of suburban Detroit, Cornelli grew up loving sports and, after graduating from Troy Athens High School, attended Central Michigan University, where he caught the sports-broadcasting bug.
I did not go to Central Michigan thinking I was ever going to be in broadcasting, he says, but, when I got there and started doing the hands-on stuff in the studio, I got hooked. That's when I realized that this is what I wanted to do.
He began working at the student-run cable station MHTV as well as at the public-broadcasting station WCMU Mount Pleasant, MI. In his sophomore year, he landed a gig freelancing for ESPN on USFL games in Detroit. It marked the beginning of what would become a lifelong love affair with pro football.
A Life in Pictures: From CBS to Fox and Beyond After graduating from Central Michigan, he landed a job shooting instructional and promotional videos for General Motors and eventually got a full-time camera gig in news - first at CNN's office in Detroit and then at UPN affiliate WKBD Detroit. He continued freelancing on live sports shows on the weekends and, in 1986, worked his first NFL game for CBS Sports in Minneapolis.
Cornelli worked his way up the ranks and, by 1988, was a fixture on the CBS A game with the fabled team of director Sandy Grossman, producer Bob Stenner, and Pat Summerall and John Madden in the booth.
By this point, Cornelli had opted to leave the local news scene in Detroit and was freelancing full-time, working NFL, NBA, NASCAR, college basketball, and other broadcasts for CBS; Pistons, Red Wings, and Tigers shows for PASS Sports in Detroit; and college basketball for ESPN.
By 1993, Cornelli had begun to make a name for himself as one of the best handheld-camera operators in the business. However, when CBS lost the rights to the NFL's NFC package to fledgling Fox Sports, he found himself unsure of what was next.
When it happened after the '93 season, no one knew what was going to happen, he remembers. Thankfully, Fox ended up taking Madden and Summerall, and they brought Sandy and Bob with them, and Sandy asked me to go with him as well. Those were really exciting times because we were starting something brand new at Fox.
Cornelli has been working the NFL on Fox A games ever since. In all, he has worked 33 NFC Championship games for Fox and CBS and 23 Super Bowls for various broadcasters. He has also captured countless iconic NFL moments, including the Giants' Plaxico Burress's game-winning TD catch to beat the undefeated Patriots in Super Bowl XLII.
As a freelancer, Cornelli retains the freedom to work events for different broadcasters. And work he does. After the NFL season winds down, he works on CBS Sports' golf coverage in the offseason, including The Masters and PGA Championship. Over the years, he has also run handheld camera at the NBA Finals, NCAA Final Four, NHL Stanley Cup Final, World Series, Olympics (1992 and 1994 Winter Games for CBS and 1996 Summer Games for NBC), FIFA World Cup (1994 in the U.S.), US Open tennis, and Daytona 500, among others.
Don's body of work speaks for itself, says Sports Broadcasting Hall of Famer and longtime director at CBS Sports Bob Fishman. A consummate pro who makes every broadcast better with his creative eye for the perfect shot, as well as his unparalleled work ethic. He is a credit to every camera crew he has ever worked on.
It's a Gift: A Knack for Being in the Right Place at the Right Time Although Cornelli attributes much of his intuitive right place, right time ability to luck, he does acknowledge that movement and positioning are key to his success. For example, if it's a must-win game for a team with a great passing offense, he will position himself farther down the field from the line of scrimmage than
