Trailblazing CBS sportscaster Greg Gumbel dies from cancer aged 78
Greg Gumbel, a longtime CBS sportscaster, has died of cancer, according to a family statement released by CBS on Friday. He was 78.
“He leaves behind a legacy of love, inspiration and dedication for more than 50 extraordinary years in the sports broadcasting industry; and his iconic voice will never be forgotten,” his wife Marcy Gumbel and daughter Michelle Gumbel said in a statement.
In March, Gumbel missed his first NCAA Tournament since 1997 due to what he said at the time were family health issues. Gumbel has been the studio host for CBS since returning to the network from NBC in 1998. Gumbel signed an extension with CBS last year that allowed him to continue hosting college basketball while relinquishing announcing duties in the NFL.
In 2001, he announced Super Bowl XXXV for CBS, becoming the first black announcer in the U.S. to call play-by-play of a major sports championship.
David Berson, president and CEO of CBS Sports, described Gumbel as breaking barriers and setting standards for others during his years as a voice for fans in sports, including in the NFL and March Madness.
“A tremendous broadcaster and gifted storyteller, Greg led one of the most remarkable and groundbreaking sports broadcasting careers of all time,” Berson said.
Gumbel had two stints at CBS, leaving the network for NBC when it lost football in 1994 and returning when it regained its contract in 1998.
He anchored CBS’s coverage of the 1992 and 1994 Winter Olympics and called Major League Baseball games during the national pastime’s four-year broadcast. In 1995, he hosted the World Figure Skating Championships and the following year hosted NBC’s daytime coverage of the Summer Olympics in Atlanta.
But it was football and basketball where he was best known and made his biggest impact. Gumbel hosted CBS’s NFL studio show, “The NFL Today” from 1990 to 1993 and again in 2004.
He also called NFL games as the network’s primary play-by-play announcer from 1998 to 2003, including Super Bowl XXXV and XXXVIII. He returned to the NFL fold in 2005 and left that role after the 2022 season.
“Like everyone who knew and loved him, I am saddened by his death, yet so grateful to have known him in my life,” Clark Kellogg, a basketball game and studio analyst for CBS Sports, said in a statement. “What a gift to be touched by such a good man and partner.”
Gumbel, the older brother of sportscaster Bryant Gumbel, grew up in Chicago and graduated from Loras College in Dubuque, Iowa, in 1967 with a degree in English. He won local Emmy Awards during his long career and received the 2007 Pat Summerall Award for Excellence in Sports Broadcasting.
Outside of his career as a sports reporter, he was associated with the March of Dimes for three decades, including as a member of the board of trustees. He also served on the Sports Council of St Jude’s Children’s Research Hospital for 16 years.