Greg Gumbel, a pioneering CBS sportscaster who became the first Black announcer to call a major U.S. sports championship, died Friday from cancer at age 78, according to a family statement released by CBS.
Gumbel’s groundbreaking 50-year career included hosting “The NFL Today,” calling Super Bowls 35 and 38, and serving as a fixture of CBS’s March Madness coverage since 1998. He made history in 2001 when he became the first Black play-by-play announcer for a major sports championship at Super Bowl 35.
“A tremendous broadcaster and gifted storyteller, Greg led one of the most remarkable and groundbreaking sports broadcasting careers of all time,” said CBS Sports President David Berson.
After starting as a weekend sports anchor in Chicago in 1973, Gumbel went on to cover multiple Winter Olympics, Major League Baseball, and the World Figure Skating Championships. His last major role change came in 2022 when he stepped back from NFL announcing while continuing to host college basketball coverage.
“The fact that I got to sit in the same chair and do the same thing or try to do the same thing that [Brent Musburger] did was an incredible honor,” Gumbel reflected earlier this year about replacing Musburger on “The NFL Today” in 1990.
Beyond broadcasting, Gumbel served three decades with the March of Dimes and 16 years on the Sports Council for St Jude’s Children’s Research Hospital. He won multiple local Emmy Awards and received the 2007 Pat Summerall Award for broadcasting excellence.
He is survived by his wife Marcy, daughter Michelle, and brother Bryant Gumbel, fellow broadcaster and host of HBO’s “Real Sports.”
