Everything about Bryant Gumbel totally explained
Bryant Charles Gumbel (born
September 29,
1948), is an
American television personality for news and
sports programs. He is best known for his 15 years as co-presenter of
NBC's
The Today Show. He is the younger brother of veteran sports broadcaster
Greg Gumbel.
Early life
Gumbel was born in
New Orleans, Louisiana, the second child of parents Richard Dunbar Gumbel and Rhea Alice LeCesne, and raised in
Chicago,
Illinois. He is of African-American and Creole descent. He attended
Bates College in
Lewiston, Maine where he played football and baseball and is 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 of Louisiana,
College of the Holy Cross,
Providence College and
Clark Atlanta University.
Career
Early career
Gumbel began his television career in
October 1972, when he was made a sportscaster for
KNBC-TV out of
Los Angeles.
NBC Sports
Gumbel impressed and surprised NBC with his likable on-air presence and well-spoken, articulate commentary. He was hired by
NBC Sports in the fall of
1975 as co-host of its
National Football League pre-game show
GrandStand with
Jack Buck.
From 1975 until
January 1982 (when he left to do
The Today Show) Gumbel hosted numerous sporting events for NBC including
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.
One of Gumbel's more memorable moments during his time at NBC Sports occurred in 1982, when he was on site for the now legendary "
Epic in Miami" NFL playoff game between the
San Diego Chargers and
Miami Dolphins. At the end of the game, Gumbel told the viewing audience "If you didn't like this football game then you didn't like football!"
The Today Show
Gumbel 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 the second longest serving co-host of
Today, serving 2 months less than Couric. Gumbel stepped down from the show after 15 years in 1997.
The Early Show
After leaving the
Today Show and
Dateline NBC in
1997, Gumbel moved to
CBS, where he hosted various shows before becoming co-host of the network's morning show
The Early Show on
November 1,
1999. Gumbel left
The Early Show (and CBS that same year) in
May 2002.
Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel
Gumbel has concentrated most of his energy recently on his duties as host of
HBO's acclaimed investigative series
Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel (a show that he's hosted since
1995). HBO's web page claims that
Real Sports has been described as "flat out TV's best sports program" by the
Los Angeles Times. Also according to HBO,
Real Sports has earned 15 sports Emmys, and a 2006
Alfred I. DuPont-
Columbia University Award for broadcast journalism, the first time in the award's history that it was given to a sports program. The award was for a story called "The Sport of Sheikhs", an investigation into the exploitation of children as camel jockeys in the
United Arab Emirates.
The Weather Man
Gumbel made a cameo appearance alongside
Nicolas Cage and
Michael Caine in
The Weather Man, a
film directed by
Gore Verbinski. In the film, Gumbel co-hosts a morning show entitled
Hello America for which Cage's character, a depressed weatherman, auditions.
The NFL Network
In
April 2006,
the NFL Network announced that Gumbel, along with
Cris Collinsworth and
Dick Vermeil, would commentate on its new package of NFL games. Gumbel had never called
play-by-play for live sporting events in his career. Before his first game commentary for the network, Gumbel's status was brought into question after he stirred up controversy in his closing remarks on his HBO program on
August 15,
2006, in which he criticized
NFL Players Association head
Gene Upshaw and outgoing
NFL Commissioner Paul Tagliabue. Gumbel would later reconcile with the NFL and has retained his play-by-play job with the NFL Network.. On
December 29 2007, Gumbel had a reunion of sorts as he called the Patriots-Giants game on the NFL Network, CBS, and NBC. This is the first 3-network simulcast NFL game and coincidentally Gumbel has worked for all three networks during his career.
Gumbel resigned as play-by-play announcer in April 2008, prior to the
2008 NFL season.
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
On
Today on
September 5 1988, Gumbel said of a quiz on racial attitudes: "This test isn't going to tell you whether you're a racist or a liberal."
A
CBS camera caught a disgusted Bryant Gumbel blurting out "What a fucking idiot" just after he finished a hostile interview with Robert Knight of the
Family Research Council (FRC). The incident occurred at about 7:15 a.m. ET on Thursday,
June 29,
2000 following Knight's appearance to defend the
Boy Scout policy of excluding
gays from being leaders.
» *
Real Video of incident
*
E Channel Article on this incident
On the February 7, 2006, episode of HBO's
Real Sports With Bryant Gumbel, Gumbel made controversial racial remarks about the Winter Olympics: "Count me among those who don't care about them and won't watch them... 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."
On the
August 15,
2006 episode of
Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel, Gumbel made the following remarks about former NFL commissioner
Paul Tagliabue and Player Union president
Gene Upshaw and directed these comments to new commissioner
Roger Goodell: In response, Tagliabue said, "What Gumbel said about Gene Upshaw and our owners is about as irresponsible as anything I've heard in a long time."
Gene Upshaw as of August 21, 2006 hasn't commented. Gumbel's response was "It's a lot like covering any story [...] You see what is front of you and you report on it."
Play-by-play
Gumbel has received criticism for his performance as a play-by-play announcer for the NFL Network. In this role, he's made numerous mistakes, such as incorrect use of football terminology, repeatedly confusing details about which team called a timeout, was called for a penalty, or recently scored and even referred to
Dallas Cowboys' quarterback
Tony Romo as "Rick Romo" after the Cowboy's win over the
Green Bay Packers, saying "We'll try to get a word in with Rick Romo.." He even referred to
San Francisco 49ers running back
Frank Gore as "
Al Gore". On April 11, 2008, Gumbel and the NFL Network announced a mutual decision to end his play-by-play duties.
» *
Bryant Gumbel Calls Tony Romo Rick Romo
Awards
In popular culture
On the Chappelle's Show; in one episode, comedian Paul Mooney, playing "Negrodamus," mentions that "White people like Wayne Brady, because he makes Bryant Gumbel look like Malcolm X".
On Family Guy, in the episode "If I'm Dyin', I'm Lyin'", there's a show within the show, called Gumbel 2 Gumbel portraying Bryant and Greg Gumbel as bicycle patrol officers.
On Australian sketch comedy television show Fast Forward, Michael Veitch sent-up Gumbel alongside Steve Vizard impersonating Willard Scott.
In The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, Gumbel is Carlton Banks' hero and inspiration.
On one episode of Mad TV Bryant does the news for the Early Show, but then goes off at the fact that no one is watching.
In an episode of Seinfeld, Bryant Gumbel interviews Jerry Seinfeld on the Today show, in the episode "The Puffy Shirt".
In an episode of Third Rock from the Sun, Dick Solomon asks his information officer, Tommy Solomon a question about ontologists in Greek, to which the answer is Bryant Gumbel.Further Information
Get more info on 'Bryant Gumbel'.
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