Sports Broadcasting Hall of Fame 2020-21 Ceremony Preview: All Nine HOF Profiles Now Available Barkley, JB, Cornelli, Finchem, Filippelli, Gaggioni, Gaudelli, George, and Sahara to be inducted Dec. 14 By SVG Staff Tuesday, December 7, 2021 - 2:04 pm
Print This Story | Subscribe
Story Highlights
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. In recent weeks, SVG has profiled the nine inductees and spotlighted their contributions to the industry. This Year's Inductees are: Charles Barkley, James Brown, Don Cornelli, Tim Finchem, John Filippelli, Hugo Gaggioni, Fred Gaudelli, Phyllis George, and Tom Sahara. Check out links to their full HOF profiles below and CLICK HERE for more information on this year's ceremony.
Charles Barkley, the Voice of the NBA Player Many sports fans know Charles Barkley's manifold nicknames: Sir Charles, the Chuckster, the Round Mound of Rebound. Now they have a new one to learn: Sports Broadcasting Hall of Famer. An unabashed analyst on one of the most successful studio shows in the history of sports entertainment, Inside the NBA, Barkley is always willing to discuss any topic at any time and go toe-to-toe with anyone in the business. His brutal honesty has provided unfettered insights into the psyche of a professional basketball player and a character who plays by his own set of rules.
Barkley is in his 16th season as an analyst on TNT's Emmy Award-winning studio show Inside the NBA. Over his career, Barkley has earned a reputation as a straight shooter who offers solid insights along with plenty of humor and laughs. Since 2011, he has served as a studio analyst for CBS and Turner's NCAA Division I Men's Championship coverage.
CLICK HERE for Charles Barkley's full profile
James Brown, All-World Host and Human Being Integrity. Class. Warmth. Intelligence. All words one would use to describe James Brown before even touching his excellence as a sports broadcaster. A staple of the sports-television industry for nearly four decades, the man affectionately known simply as J.B. has established himself as the gold standard for the host of a live sports studio show. A winner of three Emmy Awards, Brown has been a fixture of NFL Sundays since 1994 and has hosted the Super Bowl show a record 10 times, including most recently at Super Bowl LV in February 2021.
JB serves as host for the CBS Television Network's NFL pregame show, The NFL Today. He served as host of Fox NFL Sunday for 12 years prior to returning to CBS Sports in 2006 as host of The NFL Today and play-by-play announcer for the network's coverage of college basketball, including the NCAA Tournament.
CLICK HERE for James Brown's full profile.
Don Cornelli, The Lens Through Which America Watches Sports 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.
Cornelli has been a camera operator for NFL football for 30 years and has also covered a large number of other sports: NBA, MLB, NHL, NCAA, PGA, NASCAR, the Olympics, and the World Cup. Known for his handheld-camera work, 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.
CLICK HERE for Don Cornelli's full profile.
John Filippelli, a New York Champion With Global Prestige If, as former Speaker of the House of Representatives Tip O'Neill said, all politics is local, the same can certainly be said for sports. Even today, in a world unbound by geographical limitations, few things can unite a city or a country more than a championship run by a sports team donning its letters. For John J. Filippelli, those letters are an interlocking N and Y.
Flip is one of the more respected, influential, and accomplished leaders in the history of sports media, and his career is a rare one, spanning both the executive suite and the front bench. His current role as executive producer and president, production and programming, for New York-based YES Network, is an appropriate exclamation point on a career that has engrained memories in the minds of sports viewers and altered the careers of countless sports broadcasters for nearly five decades. Over his 46-year career, he has left an indelible mark on both the national and RSN stages, leaving a legacy of sustained excellence and consistency at NBC, FOX, ABC/ESPN, The Baseball Network, and the YES Network.
CLICK HERE to read John J. Filippelli's full profile.
Tim Finchem, Transformative Leader When Tim Finchem retired in 2017 after 22 years as PGA TOUR commissioner, he had transformed the game and its relationship with fans on the course, watching on TV, watching on portable devices, and, yes, the computer at the office for the diehards who want to watch golf play from sunrise to sunset.
He introduced the FedEx Cup Playoffs, offering the sport a greater sense of an actual season. The Presidents Cup gave the sport another great international competition. And the World Golf Championships created greater opportunities for international golfers to compete together beyond the majors. And the 1997 rights deal he negotiated changed the relationship between TV and golf forever as it required every round of every tournament be carried on TV. THE PLAYERS Championship also became
