“(Fox Sports chief executive officer) Eric Shanks – my boss, our boss, the boss – is a good man. “When I first started doing games with (football analyst) Charles Davis at Fox, we were on FX,” Johnson said. Fox had some college football from the Big 12 and Pac-12 conferences, but they weren’t regularly airing on its broadcast network. Johnson left CBS for Fox Sports following the 2011 NCAA Tournament. His genuine, excitable announcing style became synonymous with some of the most absurd moments in sports. Before underdog Gonzaga became a full-grown power, Johnson witnessed the program's coming of age. When Pete Carril and the Princeton Tigers upset the defending national champions from UCLA, Johnson was on the call. Johnson became a fixture of the network’s coverage of college basketball and the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament. Simple as that.Īfter a few tours through local television stations, Johnson caught on as a college basketball announcer before his big break came with CBS in the mid-1990s. You start on Monday.’”Ī few conversations in less than an hour’s time later, a sportscasting career was born. It pays $500 per semester, and you got the job. “‘Congratulations, you’re the only one that applied. I was a kid, so I was too dumb to know you’re supposed to set up appointments, but I just walked down the hill and knocked on the door. “I didn’t have anything to do, so I walked down there. Grimes at WHUR because today is my intern’s last day,’” Johnson recalled Harris telling him. “He said, ‘By the way, go down the hill and talk to Mrs. Harris told him how much he loved sports and how different each day can be. Johnson asked him what he liked about sportscasting. Harris was the sports director at WHUR-FM in Washington D.C. One day, I was walking down a hill – I don’t what I was walking down the hill to do, probably going back to my dorm – and I ran into a man named Glenn Harris.” “As my time at the university continued, I started stressing about that and thinking about it. “Dad would always say, ‘An education is good, son, but you better come out of there with a job. “I went to college, and you know how it is sometimes as a college kid, I’m trying to figure out what I’m going to do,” Johnson said. Johnson earned a baseball scholarship to continue his career at Howard University in Washington D.C., but he was still unsure of what life after playing sports would look like. “Great coaches, teachers, other moms, other dads. “I did it to keep me busy, to keep my mind active and motivated around good people,” Johnson said. He also had a wrestling career in high school. He played nearly every sport under the sun. Johnson grew up with his mom and dad in Detroit. Johnson has respect for old school announcers. When an athlete achieves a historic milestone, they tend to back away from the microphone and let the roar of the crowd serve as the soundtrack of the moment. Play-by-play announcers like Pat Summerall and Vin Scully were known and revered for a kind of presidential stateliness behind the microphone.Īs the action unraveled on the field, announcers in this tradition remained calm, cool and collected. Whether he intended to or not, Johnson’s arrival in sports television signaled a change for the industry. You know a Gus Johnson game when you see it and hear it. Thomas, shake, crossover, stepbaaaaack…AHHHHHH! At the buzzer! Young Zeke! And Washington wins it! On a last-second J! COLD! BLOODED!” “Mixon hopping through the hole! WATCH OUT! He’s a blazer! Can he get there? Yes. Gus Johnson On What Goes Into A Great Call
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