Sports Broadcasting Hall of Fame Passes 100-Member Mark at 12th-Annual Induction By Jason Dachman, Chief Editor
Wednesday, December 12, 2018 - 1:22 pm
Print This Story
Story Highlights
The Sports Broadcasting Hall of Fame expanded to 105 members last night, inducting 11 industry legends during its 12th-annual induction ceremony at the New York Hilton Midtown Hotel. The evening was hosted by CBS Sports' Lesley Visser, marking the first time that a woman and a member of the Sports Broadcasting Hall of Fame has hosted the ceremony. In addition, all table sales, totaling more than $215,000 this year, are once again being donated to the Sports Broadcasting Fund, which supports industry members in times of need.
The 12th-annual Sports Broadcasting Hall of Fame ceremony was hosted by Lesley Visser at the Hilton Midtown New York Hotel.
This year's roster of honorees comprises famed on-air personalities Mary Carillo, Bob Costas, Jim Nantz, and Dick Vitale; NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman; CBS Sports and ESPN production stalwart Bill Fitts; sports documentarian Bud Greenspan; BSI co-founder Peter Larsson; NBC Sports and Olympics technology guru David Mazza; video-control master Gene Mikell; and former CBS Sports President and master sports-rights negotiator Neal Pilson.
CLICK HERE to read each inductee's full profile and CLICK HERE to watch each member's acceptance speech (also embedded below).
JIM NANTZ, the Family Man Who Became Sports TV's Father
Hello, friends. That's far more than a calling card or a catch phrase. It's a daily reminder that, in the sports-broadcasting industry, we're family. For 35 years, Jim Nantz has been family to millions of U.S. television viewers who have welcomed the legendary broadcaster into their homes for some of sports TV's biggest events, including countless NFL and March Madness games and thrilling major golf tournaments.
BUD GREENSPAN, Olympic Storyteller
Bud Greenspan's legendary Olympic documentaries were less about the heroes than about the often heartbreaking, often exhilarating stories of athletes both in competition and away from it. Greenspan wrote, produced, and directed the documentaries through his production company, Cappy Productions, from the 1960s through Vancouver 2010 Stories of Olympic Glory, released after his death. Greenspan's longtime business partner and companion Nancy Beffa accepted on his behalf.
BILL FITTS, A Career of Firsts, a Lasting Legacy
When your broadcasting career includes producing the first Super Bowl, launching The NFL Today for CBS, and then jumping aboard ESPN in its formative years, it's easy to think that ego could take over. But that didn't happen to Bill Fitts, a long-time production professional who credits those around him and takes more pride in their success than in his own. Fitts took his time on stage to thank the executives that provided him opportunities to succeed during his five-plus decades in the business.
GARY BETTMAN, Father of the Modern NHL
In the modern media era, NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman led the league's transformation from a media non-starter to a staple on NBC Sports' networks, growing the league's revenue from $400 million in 1993 (when he arrived) to $4.5 billion this year.
MARY CARILLO, Globetrotting Correspondent, Born Storyteller
There's no athlete-turned-broadcaster quite like Mary Carillo. After retiring from pro tennis, she became one of the most esteemed tennis analysts in the business, calling matches for a wide variety of networks. Although her tennis analysis earned her accolades from the industry, it was her unique storytelling at 14 Olympic Games that has made her a household name.
GENE MIKELL, Six Decades of Masterful Video Control
Gene Mikell enters the Sports Broadcasting Hall of Fame not just as an octogenarian but as an octogenarian who still spends a day or two a week working in a remote-production truck for Fox Sports. Odds are, you may not recognize his work, but you have seen it: he sets the course for the video-control and camera-shading department at Fox Sports and has worked in the industry for the better part of 60 years.
NEIL PILSON, Prodigious Leader and Sports-Rights Negotiator
During 19 years at CBS, including 13 as president of CBS Sports, Neil Pilson helped transform the Tiffany Network into a live-sports-programming goliath and earned a reputation as a tenacious but honest negotiator and cerebral tactician. Departing CBS in 1994, he launched consulting firm Pilson Communications Inc. (PCI) and has played an integral role in the negotiations for billions of dollars in sports-rights deals over the past 2 decades.
PETER LARSSON, Peter Larsson, Wireless-Camera Pioneer
Without the efforts of Peter Larsson, mind-blowing perspectives in live production - such as the driver's seat in NASCAR or on the putting green at major golf tournaments - would never have been available to viewers at home. The co-founder of Broadcast Sports Inc. (BSI) and the wireless-camera and -audio systems, he has brought sports fans inside the action in ways never thought possible over the past four decades. In addition to thanking his family, the entire BSI team, production teams he's worked with over the years, Larsson thanked the industry at large.
BOB COSTAS, Sports' Poetic Voice and Conscience
Bob Costas, a 28-time Emmy Award winner, has been the face of many of the largest sports events that U.S. television has ever produced. Whether it was the play-by-play call of the World Series or the NBA Finals or sitting behind the desk to welcome viewers to a big night in the NFL or to the Olympic Games, he became the benchmark of sportscasting.
DAVID MAZZA, NBC's Gold-Medal Tech Visionary
Few individuals have had a greater impact on the way the Olympic Games are produced for U.S. viewe
Most recent headlines
06/10/2025
France T l visions, France's leading broadcaster, has received the 2025 EBU ...
04/09/2025
Monumental Sports & Entertainment (MSE), in collaboration with Dalet, has been a...
31/08/2025
Legrand | AV, a global specialist and industry leader in audiovisual solutions, returns to CEDIA Expo 2025, taking place Sept. 4-6 in Denver, with a powerful li...
31/08/2025
Global media technology company Backlight will unveil new capabilities in its Iconik, Wildmoka, and Zype product lines at IBC2025 (booth #1.D09), September 12 1...
30/08/2025
WASHINGTON The Federal Communications Commission has adopted its FY 2025 Regulatory Fees Order that establishes the regulatory fee rates for the broadcast stati...
29/08/2025
Australian Red Cross and SBS launch training to help workplaces in the fight aga...
29/08/2025
The National Film and Video Foundation (NFVF), an agency of the Department of Sp...
29/08/2025
L3Harris Technologies has concentrated decades of expertise across the entire enterprise to develop affordable and reliable best-of-breed solutions to rapidly c...
29/08/2025
BURBANK, Calif. The CW Network and the Pac-12 Conference have announced a new media rights deal that will extend their broadcast partnership beginning with the ...
29/08/2025
NEW YORK Gracenote has released a new analysis of its global video dataset showing that the number of FAST channels grew nearly 14% from Q1 2025 and 76% since 2...
29/08/2025
SAN JOSE, Calif. Harmonic has announced a series of improvements to its live sports streaming solution that the company said will improve fan engagement, protec...
29/08/2025
NEW YORK and LOS ANGELES Fox Corp. and YouTube TV last night announced a renewal of the full portfolio of Fox networks, including Fox News Channel, Fox Business...
29/08/2025
Budapest, Hungary, August 2025 - The integration of Microsoft Teams Rooms (MTR) with Lightware's Taurus universal matrix switchers delivers a new level of f...
29/08/2025
Frequency, the engine behind many of the world's best-known streaming television channels, today announced it will launch Studio Live, a next-generation uni...
29/08/2025
In an era when AI and cyber resilience are essential, Scality will mark the 10th anniversary of Scality Day on October 16, 2025 in Paris. This flagship global e...
29/08/2025
Disguise's In-House Creative and Technical Teams Pre-Visualised, Programmed and Delivered Content for the Experience, All Powered by EX 3+
Technology solu...
29/08/2025
Disguise will be demonstrating the latest workflows for TV, film and live events on a number of partner booths at the show
Disguise, the industry-leading tech...
29/08/2025
STOCKHOLM, Sweden Accedo will showcase Accedo Compose, its AI agent-powered modular orchestration layer that assists streaming providers in transitioning client...
29/08/2025
LOS ANGELES Cineverse has announced that it is working with Xperi to bring four of its streaming channels to automobiles for the first time as part of the DTS A...
29/08/2025
DALLAS & ATLANTA Gray Media has announced an agreement with the sports streaming service Victory+ to simulcast 17 Dallas Stars NHL games in 15 television market...
29/08/2025
NEW YORK AND CULVER CITY Comcast NBCUniversal and Amazon have announced new and extended distribution agreements that will expand the content available on their...
29/08/2025
FOOTHILL RANCH, Calif. RED Digital Cinema will feature its Cine-Broadcast Module supporting live broadcast workflows during IBC2025, Sept. 12-15, at the RAI Ams...
29/08/2025
29 Aug 2025
Kyivstar Rings Opening Bell at Nasdaq Marking Landmark Listing and ...
29/08/2025
More than half of all NFL games live on Sky for the first timeFriday 29 August 2025
Sky Sports has announced a new three-year deal with the NFL, extending its ...
29/08/2025
Back to All News
RIV4LRIES: The Trailer of the New Series With Samuele Carrino ...
29/08/2025
Get ready for an inspiring and emotional insight into the world of competitive Irish dancing with My Story: Tomi Champion of the World airing on RT 2 this monda...
29/08/2025
RT has today announced that David McCullagh is to be the new presenter of RT Radio 1's flagship Today programme, which airs every weekday at 10am, replaci...
28/08/2025
By Kristin Feeley, Director, Documentary Film & Artist Programs
If you want to tell untold stories, if you want to give voice to the voiceless, you've got ...
28/08/2025
Directed by Steven Bognar and Julia Reichert, Sundance Institute-supported Amer...
28/08/2025
Corridos have been a cornerstone of M sica Mexicana for generations, telling stories rooted in everyday life. Now, a new chapter is taking shape: motivational c...
28/08/2025
Los corridos han sido un pilar de la M sica Mexicana durante generaciones, contando historias enraizadas en la vida cotidiana. Ahora, un nuevo cap tulo est tom...
28/08/2025
Earlier this month, we promised our Verano Forever party would bring the heat, a...
28/08/2025
L3Harris will provide the Polish F-16V fleet with the Viper Shield electronic warfare system as part of an upgrade program....
28/08/2025
Bilbao, August 26, 2025 - AgileTV, an international television and video technol...
28/08/2025
Ken Wilkinson is an Emmy Awards nominated New York audio engineer who specialises in production sound mixing for film, commercial, episodic and documentary work...
28/08/2025
NEW YORK FuboTV today announced that it will launch Fubo Sports, a skinny bundle that focuses on sports with a subscription price of $56 monthly....
28/08/2025
NEVADA City, Calif. At IBC2025, Sept. 12-15 at the RAI Amsterdam, Telestream will debut its new Global Ingest strategy, introducing a next-generation ingest arc...
28/08/2025
Dr. Rhoda Bernard Releases Groundbreaking Debut Book on Accessible Arts Educatio...
28/08/2025
TAG Video Systems, the leader in software-based IP end-to-end workflow monitoring, deep probing, and real-time visualization, has named Oliver Gappa as Sales Di...
28/08/2025
AI-based voice enhancement will be among a series of innovations making their IBC 2025 debut on the DHD stand B46 in Hall 8 at the RAI Amsterdam Convention Cent...
28/08/2025
Telef nica Servicios Audiovisuales (TSA), the leading system integrator and service provider in the media sector in Spain, with the support of Appear, the globa...
28/08/2025
To fully immerse sailing fans in the world's biggest offshore yacht race, production company, Optical Media turned to LiveU's On-site Production solutio...
28/08/2025
Working with Calrec on its most recent overhaul, radio and television broadcaster, WNED has migrated to a fully IP infrastructure with multiple Type R consoles,...
28/08/2025
Cleeng, the Subscriber Retention Management (SRM ) inventor, has unveiled Cleeng Pro, the first-ever direct-to-consumer (D2C) subscription management platform t...
28/08/2025
Zixi, the industry leader in live broadcast-quality video over IP, today announced that French media distribution platform OKAST has selected Zixi to enable rel...
28/08/2025
Solution offers a streamlined, speaker-free architecture to optimize integration with premium external loudspeakers and advanced loudness metering
Nixer Pro Au...
28/08/2025
Cinegy, the premier provider of software-defined television technology, has announced a strategic partnership with Vision One Touch Film Production Services L.L...
28/08/2025
Telestream, a global leader in media workflow technologies, will debut its new Global Ingest strategy at IBC2025, introducing a next-generation ingest architect...
28/08/2025
Tier 1 operator selects Broadpeak to power high-performance, unified CDN solution across Norway, Sweden and Finland
Broadpeak, a leader in streaming and moneti...
Sports Broadcasting Hall of Fame Passes 100-Member Mark at 12th-Annual Induction By Jason Dachman, Chief Editor 
