Bryant Gumbel
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Bryant Charles Gumbel (born September 29, 1948), is an American television personality for news and sports programs. He is best known for his 15-year stint as co-anchor of NBC's The Today Show. He is the brother of veteran sports broadcaster Greg Gumbel.
Early life
Gumbel was born in New Orleans, Louisiana, the second child of parents Dunbar Gumbel and Rhea Alice LeCesne. He is of Creole descent. He attended Bates College in Lewiston, Maine where he played football and baseball and was a member of the class of 1970. He was a history major and wrote sports columns for the school newspaper, the Bates Student.
Gumbel earned a liberal arts degree from Bates College and has honorary doctorates from Bates, Xavier University, College of the Holy Cross, Providence College and Clark Atlanta University.
Career
Gumbel began his television career in October 1972, when he was named a sportscaster for KNBC-TV out of Los Angeles. He first worked for NBC Sports in the fall of 1975 as co-host of its NFL pre-game show GrandStand with Jack Buck.
From 1975 until January 1982 (when Gumbel left to do the Today Show) Gumbel hosted numerous sporting events for NBC including of Major League Baseball, NCAA basketball, and the National Football League. Gumbel returned to sportscasting for NBC when he hosted the prime time coverage of the 1988 Summer Olympics from Seoul and the PGA tour in 1990.
He spent 15 years on the Today Show with three co-hosts (Jane Pauley, Deborah Norville, and Katie Couric). His work on the Today Show earned him several Emmys and large group of fans. He is currently tied with Katie Couric as the longest serving co-host of Today.
After stepping down from the Today Show in 1997, Gumbel moved on to CBS, where he hosted various shows before becoming the co-host of the network's morning show The Early Show on November 1, 1999. Gumbel left The Early Show in 2002 and is currently concentrating mostly on his duties as host of HBO's investigative series Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel (a show that he has hosted since 1995).
In April 2006, The NFL Network announced that Gumbel along with Cris Collinsworth would call its new package of NFL games. This is despite the fact that Gumbel unlike his brother Greg, has never called play-by-play for live sporting events before in his career.[link]
In June 2006 Gumbel performed as substitute anchor for Live with Regis and Kelly, replacing Regis Philbin and co-hosting with Kelly Ripa.
Controversies
Gumbel memo
In 1989 Gumbel wrote a memo to Today Show executive producer Marty Ryan, which was critical of other Today Show personalities. This memo was leaked to the press. In the memo, Gumbel commented that Willard Scott "holds the show hostage to his assortment of whims, wishes, birthdays and bad taste...This guy is killing us and no one's even trying to rein him in." He commented that Gene Shalit's movie reviews "are often late and his interviews aren't very good."
There was enough negative backlash in regard to Gumbel's comments toward Scott, that Gumbel was shown making up with Scott on the Today Show.
Remarks
During coverage of the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin on HBO's Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel he made the following remarks, "Finally, tonight, the Winter Games. Count me among those who don’t like them and won’t watch them ... Because they’re so trying, maybe over the next three weeks we should all try too. Like, try not to be incredulous when someone attempts to link these games to those of the ancient Greeks who never heard of skating or skiing. So try not to laugh when someone says these are the world’s greatest athletes, despite a paucity of blacks that makes the Winter Games look like a GOP convention. Try not to point out that something’s not really a sport if a pseudo-athlete waits in what’s called a kiss-and-cry area, while some panel of subjective judges decides who won ... So if only to hasten the arrival of the day they’re done, when we can move on to March Madness — for God’s sake, let the games begin."
A CBS camera caught a disgusted Bryant Gumbel blurting out "What a fucking idiot" just after he wrapped up a hostile interview with Robert Knight of the Family Research Council (FRC). The incident occurred at about 7:15am ET Thursday, June 29, 2000 following Knight's appearance to defend the Boy Scout policy of excluding gays from being leaders, a policy the Supreme Court had re-affirmed the day before. Gumbel's hostile reception for Knight had followed a much less confrontational approach to a representative of Planned Parenthood who had come aboard to support the Court's ruling overturning a law which banned partial-birth abortions.
- * [Real Video of incident]
- * [Salon Article on this incident]
- * [E Channel Article on this incident]
Awards
- 4 Emmy Awards [link]
- Frederick D. Patterson Award from the United Negro College Fund [link]
- Martin Luther King Award from the Congress of Racial Equality [link]
- Three NAACP Image Awards [link]
- Edward R. Murrow Award for Outstanding Foreign Affairs work from the Overseas Press Club, September 1984
- Edward Weintal Prize for diplomatic reporting
- Peabody Award for his reporting in Vietnam
- International Journalism Award from TransAfrica
- Africa's Future Award from the U.S. Committee for UNICEF
- Leadership Award from the African-American Institute
- Best Morning TV News Interviewer, the Washington Journal Review, 1986
- Trumpet Award of the Turner Broadcasting System, Inc.
- Alfred I. DuPont-Columbia University Award for outstanding broadcast journalism for Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel (HBO), December 2005 [link]
Trivia
- Having grown up in Chicago, Gumbel has acknowledged being a diehard Chicago Cubs fan. In 2003, Gumbel was interviewed on the ESPN special The Babe and the Billy Goat: Reverse the Curse.
- During the second season of Comedy Central's Chappelle's Show, Gumbel was compared to Malcolm X by comedian Paul Mooney. In a skit, Mooney was playing a psychic named Negrodamus when he was asked the question, "Why do white people like Wayne Brady so much?" Negrodamus responded "White people love Wayne Brady because he makes Bryant Gumbel look like Malcolm X." This became one of the most famous lines from the show and eventually led to an episode where Wayne Brady retaliates for the comment.
- Both Bryant and Greg Gumbel are contained within the Family Guy episode "If I'm Dyin', I'm Lyin'" as 'Bike Cops' in a fictional television show, Gumbel 2 Gumbel. Peter Griffin and his son Chris attempt to get the show back on the air.
References
External links
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