television sportscaster; television show host
Personal Information
Born James Brown on February 25, 1951, in Washington, D.C., to John and Mary Ann Brown.
Education: Harvard University, BA in American government, 1973.
Career
Drafted in fourth round by NBA's Atlanta Hawks, but cut from the team during his first season; worked in sales at Xerox for seven years, followed by one and a half years at Eastman Kodak; joined CBS as a college basketball analyst and NFL play-by-play announcer, 1984-94; joined the FOX network, 1994--; worked on boxing matches for HBO Sports, contributes to HBO's Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel, hosts World's Funniest! (home videos), and hosts nationally syndicated America's Black Forum.
Life's Work
James Brown, known as "JB," is among the country's best television sports show hosts. As co-anchor of FOX NFL Sunday, along with numerous other shows and events, Brown has covered an unusually wide range of sports. He has moved beyond the realm of sports and hosted America's Black Forum and the prime-time home video showcase, "The World's Funniest!" Brown has the experience and talent to achieve success in whatever he pursues.
A former athlete whose professional career was cut short, Brown is respected for his excellent rapport with sports figures, poise, insight about the games and players, quick-wittedness, and adaptive ability to master virtually any sport. Brown approaches new assignments by reading as much as possible about his subject and consulting experts in the field. This type of extensive preparation has earned Brown the reputation as one of the hardest working and knowledgeable sports commentators in the business.
Although he is not the first African American to achieve stardom as a sportscaster, Brown is still something of a pioneer. Historically, almost all of the African Americans who worked in sports broadcasting were famous athletes or coaches within their particular sport. Brown realized that he could not compete directly with the name recognition or expertise of a Doctor J or Magic Johnson. Instead, he chose to pursue a career as a play-by-play commentator, anchor, and host. Most of these positions, however, were traditionally held by white men. In an article in USA Today, Brown remarked, "I don't have the marquee value ex-NBA players and coaches have, and I'm black. I've had to overcome both hurdles."
Brown has tackled some sports that are considered foreign to African Americans, such as professional hockey. He has served for several years as the host of FOX's hockey pre-game and halftime shows. With his rigorous work ethic and sharp mind, he consistently excels. Describing his approach in USA Today, Brown said, "If you do your homework and become fundamentally conversant with the sport, you can understand what's happening on the ice and ask intelligent questions."
Inspired to Achieve
Born in Washington, D.C., in 1951, Brown's father died when he was very young. His mother, Mary Ann, raised him and his four siblings--three older brothers and a sister--as a single parent. Brown considers his mother to be his primary influence and inspiration. By all accounts a strong parent, she required her children to focus on academic achievement. Athletic pursuits and social activities were considered secondary to academics, and homework was given top priority. Brown recounted an example of this to USA Today, "One time in high school we were practicing late at DeMatha, and my mother--we still call her `Sarge'--called coach Wootten. She called him off the court and told him he promised I'd be home by 7 p.m. to study. And he said, `You're right. James will be home soon.'"
Brown attended DeMatha Catholic High School, which is renowned for combining an excellent sports program with strong college-preparatory academics. He excelled in both areas. Under the guidance of Coach Morgan Wootten-an illustrious high-school coach who was nominated for the Basketball Hall of Fame--Brown became an All-Metropolitan and All-American basketball player. In addition to his mother, Wooten became an important mentor and influence for Brown and helped him to develop a strong work ethic.
Brown excelled in the classroom as well. In addition to being naturally intelligent, he was an avid reader who applied himself to his scholastic endeavors. Although he was recruited by many of the nation's top college basketball programs, Brown accepted an academic scholarship from Harvard University because of its traditions and its stimulating intellectual atmosphere. Brown's decision to attend Harvard was heavily influenced by his mother. As he remarked to USA Today, "When I got scholarship offers from everywhere, I thought about going to UCLA. But [Mary Ann] said, `No. It's Harvard, because to have long-term success, you've got to have the best education.'" Brown heeded his mother's advice and, many years later, he told USA Today that "I'd make the same decision again." He was a star athlete at Harvard, earning All-Ivy League honors every year after his freshman season. In 1973, Brown earned a bachelor of arts degree in American government.
Strengthened by Adversity
Drafted in the fourth round by the Atlanta Hawks, Brown was dealt a devastating blow when he was cut from the team early in his first season. "When I was cut from the Hawks, I cried like a baby," Brown told USA Today. "I cried for days. I couldn't believe it." Although his dream of becoming a professional athlete had been derailed, Brown refused to give up. As he told USA Today, "Even though I thought I should have made the team, something taught to me by my high school coach, Morgan Wootten, stuck with me. He always said, `The person who works the hardest usually succeeds the best.' And from that time on, I decided no one would outwork me." When Brown asked the coach of the Hawks, Cotton Fitzsimmons, why he had been cut from the team "He told me that I have a quality education to fall back on that the other guy doesn't have," he related to USA Today. "So I vowed never to let an opportunity go by that I wasn't prepared for."
For several years, Brown worked in sales at Xerox and Eastman Kodak. To maintain his interest in sports, he began doing some work for a local television station. As Brown remarked in the Washington Post, "I thought it would be nothing more than an avocation--just a way to wash ball out of my system. But the media bug kind of bit me." He started working as a play-by-play announcer for college and pro basketball games for local ABC and NBC affiliates. "The guy who helped me the most early was Rich Hussey at NBC," Brown told USA Today. In an interview with Contemporary Black Biography, he remarked that Hussey "wasn't afraid of offending me when he helped make me aware of some regional pronunciations. I was very grateful for his candor."
From 1984 until 1994, Brown worked for CBS as an NFL play-by-play announcer and basketball analyst. He also had the opportunity to work with esteemed sportscaster Frank Glieber on college and NBA basketball telecasts. Glieber talked about Brown in an interview with USA Today, "James has got a great deal of promise. He's extremely intelligent, with a strong knowledge of the game. His biggest drawback is his credentials in the eyes of the fans. When I say I'm working with James Brown, people say `the singer?' At first they ask, `who is this guy?' Then when they hear what he has to say, they really ask `who is this guy?' All James needs to do now is to loosen up and let his personality take over more."
Attained Stardom at CBS
At CBS, Brown became a media star who was unafraid to take on challenging assignments. He co-hosted the NCAA basketball championships, hosted freestyle skiing telecasts from the 1994 Winter Olympics, and narrated the Emmy Award-winning show "Let Me Be Brave--A Special Climb of Kilimanjaro." While working for CBS, Brown came to the realization that his talents were best suited for hosting and play-by-play announcing. In 1987, he became a play-by-play announcer for NFL telecasts. CBS Sports executive producer Ted Shaker told the Washington Post, "He's worked his tail off. It just didn't drop out of the sky into his lap. He's willing to make whatever sacrifices to get better. There's still a ways to go. He has tremendous capability. I just like him on the air. I trust him."
By the late 1980s, Brown had become only the second African American sportscaster--after Bryant Gumbel--to attain premier status on a national network. Speaking to the Washington Post in 1989, NBC football analyst Reggie Rucker said, "Right now, James is the flagship of the fleet. He makes all of us in the business very proud." Brown was well aware that few African Americans were given the opportunity to work as play-by-play announcers or studio anchors, and hoped to be an agent for change. As Brown remarked to the Washington Post in the early 1990s, "To my understanding it's been that way for a long time. I've continued to talk about it because maybe it will help sensitize people to the fact there are so few of us. By talking about it, and with the modest degree of success I'm having, I'm hoping it's going to change. In conversations I've had, I continue to hear the same old thing about how there's not a big enough pool [of minority broadcasters] to draw from. I think it's there and it depends on how aggressively you go after that pool. Also, there being so few in the ranks, those of us who are here are very closely scrutinized. You have to understand that comes with the territory and accept it."
Switched to FOX
In 1994, the FOX network hired Brown as the co-host of FOX NFL Sunday with Terry Bradshaw, a retired Hall of Fame quarterback. In addition to Bradshaw, Brown was teamed with former Raiders All-Pro Howie Long and former Cowboys coach Jimmy Johnson, who was later replaced by Cris Collinsworth. Brown's role on the show is perhaps the most difficult because he must serve as an "air traffic controller." In other words, he must combine all elements of the show and do so in such a way that it appears effortless. The show proved to be a tremendously popular lead-in to Sunday afternoon football games on FOX.
In addition to his work on FOX NFL Sunday, Brown assumed the duties of the network's NHL hockey show in 1995. An avid boxing fan, he has also hosted boxing events on HBO. Brown has hosted "The World's Funniest!" home video show and America's Black Forum, contributed to Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel, and emceed a special show with figure skaters Nancy Kerrigan and Tonya Harding. On the show, Harding admitted to her role in a plot to injure Kerrigan so that she would be unable to compete in the 1994 Winter Olympics. Brown commented about the show in an interview with USA Today, "I still find it hard to believe she [Harding] didn't become aware of some snippet of information or some hint early on [of the conspiracy], although she was afraid and in an abusive relationship. What I do believe is how remorseful she is and how much she asks for forgiveness. She feels her life has been ruined....She says she has new people around her and has found religion, God. She says she's truly made peace with the whole issue and wants to go beyond it."
Brown is a deeply religious man who has been involved in a number of charitable organizations, including the Special Olympics, Big Brothers, Fellowship of Christian Athletes, Youth Life Foundation, All Stars Helping Kids, the Neimann-Pick Disease Foundation, and The Marrow Foundation. He has also received numerous awards and distinctions, including the 1996 Sportscaster of the Year Award from the Quarterback Club of Washington. In 1999, Brown won a Sports Emmy Award for his work on FOX NFL Sunday.
Through hard work and talent, Brown has achieved much in his life. As FOX executive producer Ed Goren remarked in the Atlanta Journal and Constitution, "He has become the voice and face of not just FOX sports, but FOX. When you think CBS, it's not just Jim Nantz but Dan Rather. At FOX, there is no nightly news, so J.B. really becomes a spokesman for the entire network." In the same article, Brown attributed his success to advice he had received early in his career, "I go back to some advice I got many years ago from Petey Green, who used to host a public affairs show in Washington, D.C. He told me if you come into this business, stay versatile. It'll keep you working long after others who concentrated on just one thing."
Awards
Emmy Award for "Let Me Be Brave--A Special Climb of Kilimanjaro," National Academy of Television and Sciences (NATAS), 1992; inducted into the Harvard Hall of Fame, 1996; Sportscaster of the Year Award, Quarterback Club of Washington, 1996; Emmy Award as Outstanding Host of FOX NFL Sunday, 1999.
Further Reading
Periodicals
- Atlanta Journal and Constitution, September 20, 1997, p. H2.
- USA Today, April 26, 1985, p. 3C; May 11, 1995, p. 3C; January 22, 1997, p. 2C; February 4, 1998, p. 2C.
- Washington Post, June 22, 1989 p. B11; November 8, 1991, p. C2
- Additional information for this profile was obtained from an interview with Contemporary Black Biography on June 23, 1999.
— Mark Baven
