Legendary CBS Sports anchor, commentator, and gifted storyteller Greg Gumbel was born on May 3, 1946, in New Orleans to Richard Dunbar Gumbel Jr., a probate court judge, and Rhea Alice LeCesne Gumbel. He grew up in the Hyde Park neighborhood of Chicago, where he played baseball as a child. In 1963, Gumbel graduated from De La Salle Institute and then enrolled in Loras College in Dubuque, Iowa, earning a Bachelor of Arts in English in 1967 and playing on the college baseball team. Greg’s siblings include Bryant Gumbel, former host of NBC’s Today Show and HBO’s Real Sports, Rhonda Gumbel-Thomas, and Renee Gumbel-Farrahi.
In 1973, Gumbel began his career in sports commentary at WMAQ-TV in Chicago and married Marcy Kaszynski, a nurse, in Detroit, Michigan. He adopted Marcy’s daughter, Michelle, from a previous marriage.
From 1981 to 1989, Gumbel was an anchor for SportsCenter at ESPN. In 1995, he joined CBS Sports after hosting and providing play-by-play commentary for the New York Knicks and New York Yankees on the Madison Square Garden Network. During this time, he hosted CBS’s coverage of the 1992 Winter Olympics in Albertville, France, and the 1994 Winter Olympics in Lillehammer, Norway. He also called Major League Baseball games and hosted CBS’s studio show, The NFL Today. In 1996, he hosted NBC’s daytime coverage of the Olympic Summer Games in Atlanta.
In 1998, Gumbel returned to CBS as the studio host, marking his second stint with the network, where he also served as the lead play-by-play announcer for NFL games. In 1999, he anchored CBS’s coverage of the Daytona 500 and the Pepsi 400 NASCAR stock car race.
In 2001, Gumbel made history by announcing Super Bowl XXXV in Tampa, Florida, becoming the first Black announcer to call the play-by-play for a major sports championship and the first network broadcaster to host and call the Super Bowl. He returned to the Super Bowl as the play-by-play announcer for Super Bowl XXXVIII in Houston, Texas 2003. Gumbel hosted The NFL Today from 2004 to 2005, later called the 2007 NFL Pro Bowl in Honolulu, Hawaii.
A recipient of numerous awards, Gumbel was honored with the Pat Summerall Award for excellence in sports broadcasting. He also served on the Loras College Board of Regents and the National Board of Trustees for the March of Dimes and the St. Jude Children’s Hospital Sports Council.
Greg Gumbel, who oversaw CBS and Turner’s coverage of March Madness for 26 years, passed away from cancer in Davie, Florida, on December 28, 2024. He was 78 years old.
