Sports Broadcasting Hall of Fame Announces Class of 2018

Sports Broadcasting Hall of Fame Announces Class of 2018 Features Bettman, Carillo, Costas, Fitts, Greenspan, Larsson, Mazza, Mikell, Nantz, Pilson, & Vitale By SVG Staff

Wednesday, August 29, 2018 - 11:19 am

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The Sports Broadcasting Hall of Fame is proud to announce the class of 2018, comprised of 11 legendary professionals from across the industry who helped transform and revolutionize the business.

This year's class continues our strong tradition of honoring those in our industry who have made a difference both in front of and behind the camera and even in the executive board rooms, says Ken Aagaard, Sports Broadcasting Hall of Fame, chairman.

This year's class will be inducted on Dec. 11, 2018 at the New York Hilton Hotel in midtown Manhattan. All ticket sales will be donated to the Sports Broadcasting Fund, a fund that helps those in the sports broadcasting industry who find themselves in a difficult financial situation due to illness, injury, or disaster.

This year's class includes:

Gary Bettman: Gary Bettman's leadership during his 25 years of service as the National Hockey League's first commissioner has driven explosive growth of the League, including its expansion to 31 teams and a 10-fold increase in League revenues. His vision and direction have spearheaded changes on and off the ice that have produced unprecedented franchise stability and competitive balance and built the NHL into a global brand. Under Bettman, the NHL has attracted unprecedented network television coverage with multi-billion-dollar national broadcast rights agreements in the United States (NBC Sports) and Canada (Rogers Communications). Bettman championed the creation of the NHL Network and the expansion of its online companion, NHL.com, into eight native language websites to reach hockey fans worldwide. In recognition for his contributions to the game of hockey, he was recently elected to be inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame as a member of the Class of 2018.

Mary Carillo: Mary Carillo's voice, face, and name have become synonymous with tennis coverage as well as with the Olympics and Real Sports With Bryant Gumbel. She began her television career working for USA Network from 1980 through 1987, PBS from 1981 through 1986, and MSG from 1981 through 1988. She worked with ESPN for nine years starting in 1988, returning in 2003. She began working on the US Open tennis tournament for CBS Sports in 1986 and worked on Wimbledon coverage for HBO and Turner and the French Open for NBC in the late '90s. Carillo has been a correspondent on HBO's Real Sports With Bryant Gumbel since 1997, winning a Sports Emmy Award for her feature on the Hoyt family.

Bob Costas: Bob Costas, a 28-time Emmy Award-winning journalist, is one of the most respected and honored broadcasters of his generation, and has handled a wide array of assignments, including play-by-play, studio hosting and reporting. He served as NBC's primetime host for a U.S.-television record 11 Olympics - every Olympics on NBC since 1992, including the 2012 London Games, which is the most-watched television event in U.S. history, reaching 217 million viewers - before passing the torch to Mike Tirico on Feb. 9, 2017. In December 2017, Costas was selected as the 2018 recipient of the Ford C. Frick Award, presented annually for excellence in broadcasting by the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum.

Bill Fitts: Bill Fitts's career in sports production spanned nearly 50 years and involved working for everyone from CBS to NBC and ESPN. Beginning his CBS Sports career in 1962, he worked on eight Super Bowls, including the first one, for which he was in charge of the production aired on both CBS and NBC. In 1980, he made the unconventional move to ESPN where he played an integral role in providing the voice of experience and an eye on new initiatives and approaches. He retired in 1997.

Bud Greenspan: For more than six decades, the late Bud Greenspan helped define the nature of what makes for a great sports documentary. His work on the Olympics (the first one he worked on was the 1948 London Games) celebrated the athletes and the competition and his ability to tell a story was second to none. Greenspan received lifetime achievement awards from the Directors Guild of America and the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences, as well as a Peabody and the Olympic Order award. His best-known work was The Olympiad, the culmination of 10 years of research, more than 3 million feet of rare, archival film, hundreds of interviews and visits to more than 30 nations. The 10-part series he produced was aired in more than 80 countries.

Peter Larsson: Having graduated from the University of New South Wales with a degree in electrical engineering in 1979, Peter Larsson found himself playing a role in advancing the use of the wireless camera systems that today are a major part of sports production. In 1981, the technology made the move to the U.S. for use in the Daytona 500, and, in 1983, Larsson followed, co-founding Broadcast Sports with fellow Hall of Famer John Porter. That year, the new company and NASCAR began a relationship on the use of in-car cameras that continues to this day.

David Mazza: A 38-year veteran of the broadcast industry, David Mazza was named Senior Vice President and Chief Technical Officer, NBC Sports Group and NBC Olympics, in 2012. Mazza joined NBC in 1994 as Director of Engineering and led the technical design, building and operation of NBC's International Broadcast Center for the 1996 Atlanta Olympics. Since beginning his career in 1978, Mazza has worked in the broadcast production community in many disciplines including engineering design, project management, technical director, and director. Mazza earned many awards including 24 Emmys for the Oly

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