2024 Sports Broadcasting Hall of Fame: Steve Gorsuch, Tech Master and Mentor By Ken Kerschbaumer, Editorial Director
Thursday, December 5, 2024 - 11:26 am
Print This Story | Subscribe
Story Highlights
Steve Gorsuch, who spent decades at CBS Sports in a variety of roles and 15 years as head of broadcasting for the US Open tennis tournament, built his career on learning new skills and constantly challenging himself.
After all, he began his career as a camera operator and captured such epic shots as Secretariat's 31-length victory at the Belmont Stakes in 1973 and The Catch in 1982, when San Francisco 49er quarterback Joe Montana scrambled and threw a pass to tight end Dwight Clark, who snagged the pass in the end zone and leapt into football lore. Almost everyone else might have said, Being a cameraman is who I am and stopped there. But Gorsuch did not.
Instead, in a career spanning more than 40 years, Gorsuch, who died in March at the age of 74, redefined both tennis and golf operations, oversaw the transition from SD to HD, dabbled in 3D, and was known for having a great understanding not only of how technology works but of people as well.
Steve was instrumental to our success across a variety of sports and was the cornerstone to our golf operations on CBS Sports, says Patty Power, EVP, operations and engineering, CBS Sports. His contributions are immeasurable, and his impact will live on for years to come. Steve was a friend to all and mentor to so many across our industry.
CBS Sports President/CEO David Berson describes Gorsuch as a true legend in the business. Many of the people leading innovation at companies and leagues throughout our industry learned from Steve. Mentoring new and aspiring people in our business was a priority of Steve's and a genuine hallmark of his lasting impact.
Starting Out In the summer between his junior and senior years at American University in Washington, DC, Gorsuch was walking down a hallway in Monmouth Park Racetrack and saw a sign that said TV Control Room. At the time, he was studying TV production at school.
I walked in, Gorsuch once recalled, and the head guy in the control room said, What do you do?' And I said, I'd like to do camera.' He said, OK, great, you start on Monday.' That was basically the interview.
Gorsuch operated camera at Monmouth Park for the rest of that summer. Although his interests tended more toward sports video and photography, he secured an internship with NBC News in Washington, DC, during his senior year. After graduating, he continued to do racetrack camerawork for two more years, adding Aqueduct, Saratoga, Belmont, Yonkers, Roosevelt, Liberty Bell, Atlantic City Racecourse, and Freehold to his r sum .
While working at Belmont and Saratoga, Gorsuch became acquainted with the CBS Sports team covering the races. Two years after graduating from college, he went to work for the company packaging CBS Sports Spectacular, Marvin Sugarman Productions. In 1975, while covering a race at Yonkers, he heard that CBS Sports was hiring. Once again, Gorsuch decided to walk into the place where he wanted to work and see what would happen.
I heard that the next day was the last day they were hiring, he said, so I went down to CBS, walked in the door, went up to be interviewed, and they hired me on the spot. Luckily, a lot of the production people were CBS Sports people I had worked with on CBS Sports Spectacular, so they already knew me [even though] I wasn't a CBS Sports guy.
It didn't take long for Gorsuch to become a CBS Sports guy. From 1975 to '82, he served as a camera operator, covering various events including the U.S. Open and the Super Bowl. Gorsuch's last year in this capacity coincided with John Madden's first as a Super Bowl commentator - Super Bowl XVI at the Pontiac Silver Dome - for which Madden stressed the need for camera assignments when televising football.
[Madden] took the whole camera crew and said, Listen, guys. We're going to do assignments,' remembered Gorsuch. Instead of having each camera operator follow a wide receiver in motion, who may do nothing, Madden encouraged the entire crew to recognize the plays and to break away in the middle to focus on the action.
Somewhere during the first quarter, I think, everybody on the camera crew realized this really works, said Gorsuch. We [would get] a million angles without having a million tape machines.
Former CBS Sports Co-ordinating Producer Lance Barrow says he first worked with Gorsuch while Barrow was a spotter for Pat Summerall. At the time, Gorsuch handled the camera in the booth, but it was on the golf events where their relationship blossomed.
In golf, Barrow notes, you're dealing every week with different organizations, different groups, and different people running the tournament. Steve made everybody feel comfortable and made everybody feel like they were as important as anyone in the room. And he had experience at so many positions and knew what it was like to be in different kinds of positions. I think that's what made him so good, along with being a great person.
In 1982, Gorsuch retired his camera in favor of a new career as a technical director. After spending two years with WCBS New York and a year with CBS Evening News, he returned to CBS Sports as a sports technical director. Soon, he was named CBS Sports' first hyphenate, a position created by CBS fusing the technical director and manager roles.
No one has affected technical operations and engineering for the two sports of golf and tennis like Steve Gorsuch, says Sports Broadcasting Hall of Famer Ken Aagaard, former EVP, operations and production services, CBS Sports, who worked closely with Gorsuch at CBS Sports and the US Open. His legacy in how these sports are covered is e
Most recent headlines
05/01/2027
Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...
06/09/2026
June 9 2026, 23:00 (PDT) Dolby and MagentaTV Bring Fans Closer to the FIFA Worl...
04/08/2026
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, t...
06/07/2026
Long-developed relationships and informal access, three production models, and c...
06/07/2026
The deal follows Lumine's recent acquisition of Synamedia's video-networ...
06/07/2026
This former SportsCenter producer is shaping local-team studio coverage to surro...
06/07/2026
IMS Productions and FOX Sports deployed more than 100 cameras, 32 onboard feeds,...
06/07/2026
Lumine Group Inc. has announced the completion of its acquisition of the Video Network Business from Synamedia. The business will operate as a standalone compan...
06/07/2026
NASCAR has announced a content and commercial partnership with Motorsport Network, a motorsports and automotive media platform, to distribute NASCAR original co...
06/07/2026
Versant Media Group has announced a definitive agreement to acquire Full Swing, a sports technology company, from Bruin Capital and a group of minority investor...
06/07/2026
DAZN has announced global broadcast rights to 3ICE, a professional hockey format featuring three skaters and a goalkeeper per side, with no power plays or offsi...
06/07/2026
Bundle gains 100 new synths & more
Synth Anthology 5 the largest and most feature-packed edition of UVI's hardware synth emulation bundle, bringing toge...
06/07/2026
Available now via free firmware update
MOTU have just announced that three of their popular audio interfaces now boast official Milan Certification. The 16A...
06/07/2026
Rohde & Schwarz completes Hunter Preliminary Design Review for the Integrated Co...
06/07/2026
The R&S IMAGER from Rohde & Schwarz uses millimeter wave imaging to inspect the ...
06/07/2026
The National Film and Video Foundation (NFVF), an agency of the Department of Sp...
06/07/2026
Digital Domain Appoints Industry Veteran Patrick Davenport as Executive Vice Pre...
06/07/2026
Gravity Media USA appoints Brittney Boston as Head of Business Development
Brie Clayton July 6, 2026
0 Comments
The strategic new appointment supports...
06/07/2026
Remote Editing Without Cloud Storage in Resolve
Michael Cioni July 6, 2026
0 Comments
This is a step-by-step guide that demonstrates how to setup your...
06/07/2026
Automatic Caption Translation in Adobe Premiere Pro
Colin Smith July 6, 2026
0 Comments
Here I showcase the innovative automatic caption translation f...
06/07/2026
Flavor's First Ever Managing Director Neal Cohen Retires; Longstanding Execu...
06/07/2026
How Adam Rosenwach Pivoted from Music to Medtech Without Missing a Beat What do the rehearsal room and the boardroom have in common? More than you might think...
06/07/2026
Zhongyi Optics unveils the Dreamy Zone T1 FF Cine Lens Series on Indiegogo with ...
06/07/2026
Techtel debuts insyght: making ST 2110 media discovery easy
intellisphereinsyght2026
6 July Written By Suzanne Costello
Sydney, Australia - 06 July 2026 T...
06/07/2026
Monday 6 July 2026
Sky agrees to acquire ITV Media & Entertainment, creating a ...
06/07/2026
Fresh from his World Cup heroics with Cabo Verde, Roberto Pico' Lopes will join the RT panel for Argentina v Egypt tomorrow and for the England v Norway q...
06/07/2026
Nations have long invested in domestic infrastructure to advance their economies, protect and use their data, and take advantage of technology opportunities in ...
06/07/2026
Every year, the International Conference on Machine Learning (ICML) reveals where thousands of AI researchers have decided to put their work.
This year's ...
06/07/2026
A death can be unsuspicious, but it has to be explained
What happened to Ke...
05/07/2026
We've gone to another level of integrating the graphics into the set architecture' - Zac Fields, SVP, Graphic Technology and Integration, FOX Sports...
05/07/2026
Browser-based and desktop apps available
Digital Sunset Studios have been busy working on an interesting project: a free software tool that provides compute...
04/07/2026
When Canada qualified for the FIFA World Cup 2026, OneSoccer knew this wasn'...
04/07/2026
Celebrates company's 80th anniversary
Rhodes have recently revealed that they will be producing a limited run of electric pianos in celebration of their...
04/07/2026
Blackmagic Design Cameras Empower Youth Broadcasting Program
Brie Clayton July 3, 2026
0 Comments
Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera 6K Pro and Blackmagi...
04/07/2026
iZotope Joins Boris FX
Boris Yamnitsky July 3, 2026
0 Comments
iZotope, the team behind RX and Ozone, is joining Boris FX. A letter from founder Boris...
04/07/2026
April 7 2026, 19:00 (PDT) Detective Conan: Fallen Angel of the Highway Opens in...
03/07/2026
New bundle & three Single Packs
Continuing to expand their already sizeable orchestral collection, VSL's latest release introduces three new Single Pack...
03/07/2026
Venue installs new ATC-equipped control room
LSO St Luke's, a unique music venue that also serves as the home of the London Symphony Orchestra, have rec...
03/07/2026
Caden Pearson appointed new Commissioning Editor for NITV
3 July, 2026
Media releases
National Indigenous Television (NITV) has strengthened its commitment...
03/07/2026
1 February 2023
SHARE Facebook Twitter Linkedin Email
Munich, Germany, 1st February 2023: Cinegy GmbH, the premier provider of software technology for digit...
03/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
03/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
03/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
03/07/2026
Death Star
Andy Marken July 2, 2026
0 Comments
Look, I can't get involved. I've got work to do. It's not that I like the Empire; I hate i...
03/07/2026
Berklee's New Visual Identity: Honoring Our History, Building for What's...
03/07/2026
Scripps Research scientists awarded $2M to advance global disease surveillance Two Gates Foundation grants will expand wastewater surveillance and AI-driven dis...
03/07/2026
Joan Pulupa joins Scripps Research faculty to study the organization of DNA in brain cells and its links to neurodegeneration Using smell-sensing neurons and ad...
02/07/2026
Entering her senior year, this hometown girl is paving a career in live sports production gaining experience in replay and audio and as a TD
In the live-sports...
02/07/2026
In-venue and creative video staffers at the professional and collegiate level ha...
2024 Sports Broadcasting Hall of Fame: Steve Gorsuch, Tech Master and Mentor By Ken Kerschbaumer, Editorial Director 
