Terry Gannon
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Born in Joliet, Illinois, Terry Gannon is a broadcaster for ESPN on ABC and ESPN. Gannon's work includes an extensive variety of sporting events for the network, including college basketball, as well as figure skating, golf, and college football.
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[edit] College Basketball Career
Gannon played college basketball at North Carolina State University, where he was a member of Jim Valvano's national championship-winning team in 1983. During his illustrious four-year career, (1981-1985), he was a two-time Academic All-American and the school's all-time leading free throw shooter. In 1983, he was the #1 three-point shooter in the nation.
[edit] Early Broadcasting Career
From 1987 through 1994, Gannon was a college basketball analyst for Raycom Sports, Prime Network, Jefferson-Pilot Sports, Sports South and Home Team Sports. From 1991 to 1994, he served as a play-by-play announcer for Prime Sports and Jefferson-Pilot's coverage of college baseball. From 1990-1994, he was a professional baseball announcer for the class AAA Charlotte Knights.
[edit] Current broadcasting work
Gannon serves as the host of ABC's figure skating coverage. In addition, he handles play-by-play for college basketball and the network's coverage of college football, a position he's held since 1993. Gannon is also an announcer on ABC's golf coverage of the PGA TOUR and the Senior PGA Tour. Additionally, Gannon served as the studio host for ABC Sports' coverage of the 2002 FIFA World Cup and has hosted WTA Professional Tennis. In 2007, Gannon's primary assignment is play by play alongside analyst Stephen Bardo as part of ESPN's Big Monday college basketball coverage.
Gannon has hosted the Tour de France Three times and three times called the play-by-play at the Little League World Series.
Gannon has stated, about figure skating, that "it was not one of my passions before I started covering the sport, but I've certainly grown to appreciate the personal sacrifice of the skaters. The singular aspect of the sport, the fact that their careers can hinge on four or four and a half minutes on the ice is outstanding. It has to be one of the scariest moments for an athlete, when you're out there all alone like that."
Figure Skating also involves Gannon's most dramatic sports moment he has witnessed: "Rudy Galindo's win at the 1996 U.S. Figure Skating Championships in his hometown [ San Jose, California] was as dramatic a moment as you can envision," he has stated.
About the Tour de France, another sporting event not in his radar screen before covering it, Gannon says: "It is one of the most amazing spectacles in the world of sports. It is like a Super Bowl every day for three weeks that spans not only one country, but in many cases, numerous countries along the route. And I think physically, it's the most demanding sport of them all."
Gannon's work on ABC's Wide World of Sports has taken him "around the globe" to cover downhill skiing, ski jumping, supercross motorcycle racing, beach volleyball, mountain biking, the Special Olympics, the Goodwill Games and the Tournament of Roses Parade.
His biggest influences in his career have been Al Michaels and Harry Caray. Like Caray, Gannon strives to be "the ultimate fan. Ultimately, I've tried never to forget that aspect of broadcasting -- that the average fan wants to hear the kind of questions asked that they would ask."
Terry Gannon lives in Santa Monica, California with his family.
[edit] External links
Categories: Motorsport announcers | American basketball players | NC State Wolfpack men's basketball players | North Carolina State University alumni | American sports announcers | Living people | Golf writers and broadcasters | Year of birth missing | Baseball announcers | American horseracing announcers | Football (soccer) announcers | Figure skating media
