Chris Berman

In October 1979 – one month after its inception – ESPN hired a little known 24-year-old sports anchor named Chris Berman. Over the past three and a half decades, Berman has become one of America’s most respected, popular, and in many ways, most beloved sportscasters of his era. A legend in the industry, Berman has also been recognized by the Pro Football Hall of Fame, his peers and countless other organizations for his exceptional contributions to sports broadcasting. Berman regularly hosted SportsCenter in ESPN’s first 11 years, culminating in the network’s first SportCenter Emmy Award in 1990. Although his assignments have changed, he always returns to host a few “just to keep DiMaggio’s hitting streak alive.” Berman graduated from Brown University in 1977 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in history. His first broadcasting position came while he was a student at Brown as sports director for WBRU Radio and commentator for basketball, football, ice hockey and baseball games. He also assisted NBC Sports telecasts in New England – including the memorable Game 6 of 1975 World Series – and served as a correspondent for WEAN, a Providence, R.I. news radio station. In November 1991, he was inducted into the Brown University Athletic Hall of Fame, and in May 2007 he received an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree from his alma mater. Berman began his career as a disc jockey at WERI in Westerly, RI, hosting a news-oriented talk show and covering high school football and basketball games. One year later, he joined WNVR Radio in Waterbury, Conn., broadcasting high school football games, co-hosting a sports talk show and doing traffic reports. Berman’s first television exposure came in 1979 when he joined WVIT-TV, an NBC affiliate in Hartford, Conn., as a weekend sports anchor. Berman, born May 10, 1955, resides in his native Connecticut with his wife, Kathy. They have two grown children, Meredith and Doug.