Athletics have live coverage 2025 Men's March Madness Selection Show
Greg Gumbel, a gentleman, reached out to offer a welcoming handshake. Did Ernie Johnson respond… with a bulging fist?
The nasty exchange – one Johnson still explains 10 years later as “very embarrassing” – probably lasted two seconds. For Johnson, a veteran of television, it felt like an eternity. Still, if it had to happen, then 2 seconds or 20 times, I agree that no one except Gumbel could have handled it that smoothly.
For more than a quarter of a century, Gumbel has settled down with the most chaotic stretches of the sports calendar, gently and seamlessly leading NCAA tournament viewers from thrilling upset to another marquee matchup. He kicked off the insanity of March every year at a Sunday selection show and ended it by throwing it into “One Shining Moment.”
“In certain shows, it's like, 'Let's add a bunch of bells and whistles,'” Johnson said. Athletic. “But with Sunday's choice, all you need was Greg Gumbel and a bracket. There's a lot to run that show, but honestly, you could have made it a single camera shoot: Here's Greg, Here's the bracket, GO.”
The tournament is here again. It's been here for the first time since the legendary sportscaster died of cancer on December 28th at the age of 78. He missed it for the first time last March since he started in 1998 on private reasons, and while people know this has something to do with his illness, many people have hoped he would return to the studio this spring.
Gunber's descriptions from those who knew him best and worked with him are kind, classy, soothing, charismatic and surprisingly entertaining. Above all, I can't flare.
Unless Charles Berkley is in the studio, of course.
“When you can make Greg Gumbel laugh,” Berkley said. Athletic“That's when you know you're having a good day.”
CBS and Turner merged in 2011, bringing TNT's “inside the NBA” crew to NCAA tournament coverage, and loosening Berkley with college basketball fans and Gumbel.
“I'll never forget at first, I'm not in the studio anymore, I was on the phone for the game, so I'm watching from the gym, and like, 'Oh, what's going on!' basketball analyst Clark Kellogg, another mainstay during the NCAA tournament, was recalled with a laugh. “When it got into a bit of a circus, when it got on Greg's face, you can say he was on fire. He was so adaptable and handled it well.”
Leading by Gumbel, including Johnson and Clark after returning to the studio in 2014 – the new group found a rhythm that quickly worked, even if Barkley was Barkley. One particularly memorable on-air moment is Gumbel's laughing uncontrollably in response to Berklee's strange story about showering in his uniform.
According to Gumbel's daughter, Michelle, her dad loved the chaotic pace of March Madness, and the fact that the script couldn't keep up with “non-stop action.” His widow, Mercy, pointed out that her husband appreciates the unpredictability of basketball, noting that even if the team is ranked each spring, if he calls his name during a Sunday selection, they would have a “chance of chasing their dreams.”
But Gumbel was more than one of College Hoop's most trusted and encouraging voices. Berkley considered him a joke from his father's king. He loved the Rolling Stones with an unparalleled passion and took part in over 50 concerts. He sped golf lightly. “It's a stupid game,” he will tell anyone who will hear. “You wander around and chase the ball. It's not a sport!” He had “a huge and special laughter” because he liked to explain that CBS Sports president and CEO David Burson was as recognisable by the viewers as his authenticity and warmth on camera.
He was a pioneer and an unusual talent. He was also a husband, dad and grandpa.
Suzanne Smith, CBS Sports' first female manager who worked with Gumbel on football broadcasts since the early 1990s, said, “Greg has always been the coolest guy in the room.
Gumbel's career achievements included the first Black Play announcer to invoke major sporting events at Super Bowl XXXV in 2001. He won three Emmy Awards, pinned three Olympics to two networks, leading broadcast coverage from the NFL to the NBA. It's not that he wanted to boast about it.
“He's an iconic pioneer of the space, but he wasn't interested in talking about it, so you tend to forget about it,” Kellogg said. “It was a revelation, especially for me, as a fellow black man. I forgot some of the pioneering things he did, and trust me, he wasn't going to tell you.”
On CBS, Harold Bryant became the first black executive producer to oversee the sport on one of the major broadcast networks. Bryant studied how Gumbel handled being “first” himself.
“He didn't want to be known as a groundbreaker,” Bryant said. “He wanted to let him speak his presence for himself, so I took a lot from it.
“He'll say, 'I want to be known as the best of my craft.' By being always the best he has shown that anyone can do this job, it is not limited to a particular type of person. He didn't want to break the mold. ”
Berkley said Gumbel's talent was always clear.
“As long as he was in business and going from sports to sports is not easy, but he doesn't have a really good career,” he said.
Despite sitting in the number one chair, Gumbel never wanted to focus on him.
A few years ago, after calling the Colts game, Smith, Gumbel and CBS crew were rolled up at St. Elmo, the Indianapolis steakhouse famous for its shrimp cocktails. After the group was told it was 2 hours, perhaps 3 hours, a few people tweaked the Gumbel and suggested he drop his name. After all, his photos were hanging from a celebrity wall.
“He didn't want a part of it,” Smith said. Later, when the crew insisted they would take a photo of him standing by the wall of photographs, he was mostly frustrated and told his colleague, “What are we doing? No one cares who I am!”
There are “specific broadcasters that have that loud voice” all over sports media, Smith said. “Greg Gumbel was one of them. If he had called it, you knew it was an important and special event.”
Despite that perception from almost everyone on sports television, Gumbel has always postponed it to his teammate.
“He loved to pave the way for others,” said Berson, president of CBS Sports. “That's a big part of why he was a really good studio host because he was always trying to tee his colleagues and look great.”
Gumbel has come to understand how to skillfully move from one topic and from one topic to another, and has taken the viewer smoothly through a complete overview. Perhaps the best for everyone who works with him, he didn't look rattle. What viewers have experienced in the living room is the same thing that producers have experienced on production trucks and sets.
This was true regardless of the situation – highlights don't work, promotions that are not read correctly, or Barkley needs to be enclosed.
“When we got off the rails, Ernie was used to it,” Berkley said. “We probably do it 20 times a year with him on TNT. But Greg only met us once a year and he had to respond in real time. It has talent. He never seemed upset.”
Many people who worked with Gumbel spoke about their ability to relieve tension on set, not at the cost of someone else.
Kellogg called him a “closet comedian.” Barkley said Gumbel said, “I made 10 dads jokes a day, and they were terrible. I didn't know if you were laughing or not because they were so funny or they were so nerd.”
Just as Gumbel's work revolves around sports, the stories that are engraved in the hearts of colleagues, friends and family are about life and conversations that go beyond courts and disciplines.
Greg Gumbel was a private man, but his love for the Rolling Stones and his granddaughter, Riley, was no secret. (Commentary by the Gumbel family)
Michael Gluc worked as a spotter for Gumbel in the NFL games for over 20 years. They exchanged family stories and holiday cards and checked in with each other throughout the offseason. Gluc is waiting to share dinner plans with what was heading to the NFL city the day after waiting for Gumbel's regular Friday email.
“He loved stones. Everyone knew it. He saw it at concerts many times, and for 24 years I couldn't tell him I liked the Beatles more,” Gluc confessed with a laugh. “I didn't want to disappoint him.”
At the 1992 Winter Olympics, Gumbel was the first CBS host to Gambell, who was equipped with a plane in Albertville, France, and found Smith struggling. With a crutch after a broken leg, she was unable to juggle her luggage. Gumbel, who hadn't seen Smith yet, rushed to help him.
“There were probably 200 people who got off the plane. This guy is a CBS superstar and runs to help people he doesn't know,” Smith said.
At the 2011 Final Four in Houston, Bersson shared a car with Gumbel and Dependent Stadium. Gumbel asked Burson about his interests outside of sports. They spent the entire ridebook recommendations after discovering they prefer authors of the same suspense, like Vince Flynn, Harlan Coben, and Sue Grafton (Gumbel also recommended John Sandford and Lee Child).
Still, there is no doubt that the real highlights of Gumbel's life came in 2012, when his granddaughter Riley was born. Gambel was a very personal person, but many people on CBS didn't know that he had been diagnosed with cancer shortly before his death – one topic he never eschewed was Riley.
“Photos and videos,” Kellogg said.
Riley's favorite memories of Grandpa include dancing off in the kitchen, conveying knock knock jokes and his claim that she is also familiar with the Rolling Stones.
“He always sent me his favorite songs that I wanted him and I ended up loving each one,” Riley wrote in an email. Athletic. “Every time I hear one of those songs on the radio, such as 'Brown Sugar', I always think about how he and he communicate with me. ”
A few years ago, when Riley was in fifth grade, her school put together a morning show. When it was Riley's turn to anchor, her parents recorded it and sent it to her grandpa for feedback.
Next time she glowed in front of the camera.
“I remembered everything he taught me,” she said. “Speak slowly, pronounce words in a dictionary, and always bring a smile.”
A hint for this week's March Madness is the absence of Gumbel. Michelle attended her first and only Final Four with her father in Houston in 2011, proudly “seeing him do what he always does his best.”
“I feel lucky to have had the opportunity to see my dad over the last few years,” Michelle said in an email. “After calling games and hosting, I missed his send-off a lot. I say goodbye and long” with my sincerest “goodbye.” ”
(Illustrated by Demetrius Robinson / Athletic;Photo: Kyle Terrada / USA Today Network via imagn Images)
