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In April 1995 Bryant Gumbel began hosting Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel, HBO's monthly magazine-style program that explores the issues, controversies and personalities that are prevalent in the world of sports.
Since its inception, Real Sports has been honored with 20 Sports Emmy awards as well as the 2006 duPont-Columbia University award for broadcast journalism. The program won its first Sports Emmy awards following the inaugural 1995 season, for a report on college football player Adam Warmuth and a profile of legendary Georgetown basketball coach John Thompson. Since then, it has piled on numerous awards, and has been nominated eleven times for Outstanding Sports Journalism.
Some of Gumbel's most compelling interviews include one-on-ones with NFL stars Randy Moss (2005) and Terrell Owens (1996); fallen baseball star Denny McLain (1999); pro golfers Phil Mickelson (2002), John Daly (1998) and Vijay Singh (2005); racing car driver Alex Zanardi (2003); and his revisit of the shocking encounter between NBA players Kermit Washington and Rudy Tomjanovich (2001).
In addition, in September 1996 the National Association of Minorities in Cable presented Gumbel with the annual award that "recognizes an individual for making an outstanding contribution toward promoting diversity in the entertainment/telecommunications industry."
One of television's most accomplished broadcasters, Gumbel was with NBC for over 20 years. He hosted the Today program for 15 years, longer than anyone in the show's history. During his time with Today, he won an Emmy award for his interviews. He anchored the network's coverage of the 1988 Olympic Games in Seoul and co-anchored NBC's coverage of the 1992 presidential election.
Gumbel joined CBS News in 1997. There, he hosted his own prime-time program, Public Eye, as well as the network's morning news program, The Early Show, before retiring from network television in May of 2002.
Gumbel also co-hosted Flashpoints on PBS, a quarterly public-affairs series that zeroed in on national issues.
Throughout his career, Gumbel has compiled a remarkably diverse array of credits. He has interviewed superpower leaders and Super Bowl heroes and has covered foreign wars, elections, international summits and Presidential inaugurations. He has anchored and reported from all corners of the globe, including Europe, China, Australia, Russia, Cuba, sub-Saharan Africa and the Middle East. Gumbel covered the outbreak of the Persian Gulf War from Saudi Arabia, the reopening of the arms negotiations from Geneva and the tenth anniversary of the fall of Saigon from Ho Chi Minh City. Gumbel earned an Edward R. Murrow award for outstanding foreign affairs work from the Overseas Press Club for his interview with top Kremlin officials in September 1984. He has also received an Edward Weintal Prize for diplomatic reporting and George Foster Peabody Award for his efforts in Vietnam.
In addition to his work with HBO, Gumbel has received four Emmy Awards, the United Negro College Fund's highest honor, the Frederick D. Patterson Award, as well as the Martin Luther King Award from the Congress of Racial Equality and three NAACP Image Awards. For orchestrating and anchoring the Africa broadcasts, Gumbel has been honored with the International Journalism Award from TransAfrica, the Africa's Future Award from the U.S Committee for UNICEF, and the leadership award from the African American Institute.
Prior to his NBC News assignment, Gumbel worked for NBC Sports from 1975 to 1982, serving as the host of virtually all its primary programs and championship event broadcasts, including Major League Baseball, the National Football League, and the NCAA basketball tournament. He also hosted its coverage of the PGA Tour in 1990.
Gumbel's broadcast career began in October 1972 when he was named sportscaster for KNBC - TV Los Angeles. He was born September 29, 1948, in New Orleans and raised in Chicago. Gumbel was graduated from Bates College in Lewiston, Maine, with a liberal arts degree. He has received honorary doctorates from Bates, Xavier, Holy Cross, Providence College, and Clark Atlanta University. He serves on the boards of the United Way of New York City, Xavier University in New Orleans, and his alma mater. Gumbel has two children: a son, Bradley Christopher and a daughter, Jillian Beth, and is married to the former Hilary Quinlan.
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Bryant Gumbel Interview NEW!
"To be able to talk about sports in an intelligent, journalistic fashion, and to do things of a serious nature is a dream job." more
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