Jim Gray

Born on November 11, 1959, in Denver, Colorado, Jim Gray commenced his broadcasting career in 1977 as a video tape editor and sports reporter at KBTV (now KUSA), the ABC affiliate in Denver, maintaining this role until 1981. In the same year, he relocated to Philadelphia to work for PRISM-TV, where he contributed to a sports studio show and served as a host and reporter for the 76ers and Phillies broadcasts through the end of 1983. Concurrently, from 1979, Gray worked as a freelance reporter for ESPN and was subsequently hired as the network’s only full-time reporter in Los Angeles from 1984 to 1987. His early career also included ventures into boxing broadcasting, beginning in 1978 with closed-circuit telecasts for Top Rank and Kingvision as a reporter and interviewer, laying the groundwork for his future in sports journalism.

Gray’s career advanced with significant tenures at major broadcasting networks. He joined NBC Sports in 1987, where his assignments included NFL Live, the 1988 Seoul Olympics, and boxing coverage. His responsibilities at NBC Sports expanded in 1994 to include the NFL, NBA, MLB, Notre Dame football, PGA golf, and further Olympic Games in Atlanta (1996), Sydney (2000), Beijing (2008), and London (2012, for radio). Between 1989 and 1994, Gray worked for CBS Sports as a reporter and interviewer for NFL, NBA, NCAA, and Major League Baseball. He also contributed to the “NFL Today” studio show and covered the 1992 Winter Olympics in Albertville and the 1994 Winter Olympics in Lillehammer. In 1992, he began his long association with Showtime as a reporter for the Showtime Championship Boxing Series.

From 2000, Gray served as the live studio host for “Monday Night Football” on the Westwood One Radio network, also covering the Super Bowl and NCAA Final Four. His radio partners have included Mike Ditka, Phil Simms, Don Shula, Larry Fitzgerald, and Tom Brady. He also covered The Masters for CBS Radio Sports and Westwood One Radio from 1989 to 2021. In 2021, he co-launched the “Let’s Go!” radio show and podcast on SiriusXM with Tom Brady and Larry Fitzgerald. His distinguished career is marked by 12 National Emmy Awards, three times named Sports Reporter of the Year by the American Sportscasters Association, and induction into the International Boxing Hall of Fame (2018) and the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame (2020) with the Curt Gowdy Award. He is also the author of the best-selling memoir, “Talking to GOATs.”