Sports Broadcasting Hall of Fame Welcomes Nine Industry Legends at 15th-Annual Ceremony

Sports Broadcasting Hall of Fame Welcomes Nine Industry Legends at 15th-Annual Ceremony Terry Adams, Terry Bradshaw, Joe Buck, Drew Esocoff, Roger Goodell, Ross Greenburg, Manolo Romero, Deena Sheldon, and Darrell Wenhardt were inducted By SVG Staff

Wednesday, December 14, 2022 - 9:55 am

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The 15th-annual Sports Broadcasting Hall of Fame Ceremony brought the industry together at the New York Hilton Midtown Hotel last night to induct nine legends who have made an indelible mark on the sports-TV and -media industry. Hosted by Mike Tirico, this year's event once again donated all table sales to the Sports Broadcasting Fund, which supports industry members in times of need.

This year's class comprises NBC Olympics technology guru Terry Adams, Fox Sports studio luminary Terry Bradshaw, iconic play-by-play voice Joe Buck, industry-leading NBC Sports director Drew Esocoff, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell, former HBO Sports President and documentary maestro Ross Greenburg, Olympic Games host-broadcast pioneer Manolo Romero, trailblazing camera operator and innovator Deena Sheldon, and broadcast-architecture maven Darrell Wenhardt.

Joe Buck, The Voice of the Modern Generation Currently the play-by-play voice of Monday Night Football for ESPN, Joe Buck has called NFL games since 1994 (including six Super Bowls), 24 World Series, 22 MLB All-Star games, and five U.S. Open golf tournaments; hosted his own studio shows; and earned the National Sports Media Association's National Sportscaster of the Year award four times, including three years in a row (2002-04, 2006).

Buck got the call-up to the big leagues in 1991, joining his father, Sports Broadcasting Hall of Famer Jack Buck, in the radio and television booths for the Cardinals. But it was when Fox Sports launched in 1994 that he got his big break. At just 25 years old, Buck became the youngest man ever to call a regular slate of NFL games and, in 1996, became the voice of MLB on Fox. He is currently in his 29th season calling NFL games, a season in which he moved to ESPN and the iconic Monday Night Football brand.

Manolo Romero, Virtuoso of Olympic Games Production There aren't many sports-production professionals or engineers who are known in nearly every corner of the globe. And there are even fewer who are known by their first name. For the tens of thousands of broadcast professionals who have worked on the Olympic Games in recent decades, however, there is only one Manolo: Manolo Romero, who was CEO or general director for the host operations on 10 Olympic Games beginning in 1992. As each Olympics production grew in technical complexity, helping popularize formats like HDTV or stereo (or even color TV) on a global scale, Romero played a part in turning promise into reality.

He helped define the concept of a host broadcaster and Olympic Broadcast Services (OBS) during a career that spanned more than 20 years and 10 Olympic Games. He began his Olympic career in 1968 at the Mexico City Games and, in the 1992 Barcelona Games, headed up broadcast operations for the first time. Between then and the 2012 London Games, he would help broadcasters around the world deliver high-quality, cutting-edge coverage of the Olympics.

Deena Sheldon, Camera Operator, Innovator, Trailblazer In 40 years as a camera operator and technical innovator, Deena Sheldon has truly done it all. Not only has the nine-time Sports Emmy Award winner worked nearly every major sports event many times over, but her trailblazing work behind the camera has helped revolutionize the way live sports broadcasts are presented.

On the lengthy list of events for which Sheldon has run camera are 12 Super Bowls, 17 Daytona 500s, 17 Indy 500s, 24 Triple Crown races (including two Triple Crown winners), six US Open Tennis Championships, and three Olympic Games. She spent 12 years shooting ABC's Monday Night Football and another 12 shooting NBC's Sunday Night Football in 36 years covering the NFL. Sheldon has also been part of the coverage of such iconic events as the World Series, America's Cup, NBA Finals, NCAA Final Four, The Masters, PGA Championship, U.S. Open Golf Championship, and the Ryder Cup. She has also been an integral part of the coverage of nine presidential inaugurations, three presidential funerals, and countless presidential debates and political conventions. In addition, she is a technological innovator who helped create multiple custom-camera systems and a pioneering 3D producer, having worked on eight 3D feature films and served as co-VP of the Sports and Entertainment Division of Cameron | Pace Group.

Roger Goodell, Architect of NFL Growth At a time when Americans find it hard to agree on anything, they agree on this: they love football. Man or woman, from the worker on the assembly line to the IT nerd to the big boss in the corner office to the immigrant selling hot dogs from a cart, the glue is the NFL. The even more common bond is TV. It is literally where the action is. Roger Goodell, commissioner of the league since 2006, knows that. So do the broadcast and cable networks and, now, the streaming outlets.

Since becoming commissioner in 2006, Goodell has helped the NFL become the most important sports-media entity in the nation and, arguably, the world. His numerous accomplishments include building solid relationships with media partners in both the traditional-broadcast and digital space, keeping the league's rights deals on the ascent, launching a new NFL West production facility, and continuing to drive international growth.

Darrell Wenhardt, Genius of Workflows What do the NFL Network, the MLB Network, KABC Los Angeles, and WMAQ Chicago, and the PGA TOUR's new production facility (set to open in 2025) have in common? Darrell Wenhardt. Currently principal consultant at CB

LINK:	https://www.sportsvideo.org/2022/12/14/sports-broadcasting-hall-of-fam...
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