Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel has amassed three dozen Sports Emmys during its 29 seasons, and now its host is getting the career treatment. The National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences said today that Bryant Gumbel with receive the 2023 Sports Emmys Lifetime Achievement.
He will be honored at the 44th annual Sports Emmy Awards ceremony on May 22 at Rose Hall in New York.
“Bryant has a storied career, from his start as a sportscaster in Los Angeles to five decades of celebrated work — every bit cementing him as an icon and trailblazer in sports and entertainment,” said Adam Sharp, President & CEO of NATAS. “Bryant‘s incredible resume spanning Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel, NBC Sports, NBC News, CBS News, PBS and many other projects has brought dramatic and human news and sports stories to life for audiences throughout his career making him a clear front runner for this distinct honor.”
Gumbel has hosted the Peabody Award-winning Real Sports on HBO since 1995, moving to premium cable after more than a quarter-century in network news and sports. He spent seven years covering football, basketball and baseball for NBC before becoming co-host of the net’s venerable morning show Today. He was in that job for 15 years, longer than anyone else.
He then moved to CBS News, where hosted his own primetime program, Public Eye, as well as the net’s morning news program The Early Show, before leaving in 2002. He began his TV career as a sportscaster at KNBC Los Angeles in 1972.
“I’m humbled by this announcement and grateful to the folks at NATAS for this prestigious award,” Gumbel said in a statement. “After 50 years in the business, sharing the same honor with men like Jim McKay, Howard Cosell and Vin Scully is heady stuff indeed.”
