Sports Broadcasting Hall of Fame Announces the Class of 2026

The Sports Broadcasting Hall of Fame is proud to announce the Class of 2026, a group of 10 individuals whose careers spanned the entire spectrum of the sports TV industry, from behind-the-scenes legends to household names and faces in front of the camera.

“The beauty of the Hall of Fame is that each class is a microcosm of the entire industry where an excellent production requires not only great executives and on-air talent but also technology experts and skilled camera people, replay operators, and audio mixers,” says Ken Aagaard, Sports Broadcasting Hall of Fame Chairman. “This year’s class, with legends like Bob Iger and Troy Aikman inducted alongside behind-the-scenes legends like Chip Adams and Jim Dove, perfectly reflects the Hall of Fame’s values.”

Inductees were elected by a distinguished voting committee comprised of more than 175 industry professionals that includes previous Hall of Famers as well as current and retired sports TV production professionals and executives.

Ken Kerschbaumer, Sports Broadcasting Hall of Fame, Executive Director, credits the committee members for year after year putting forth a great class.

“Thanks to all of those who voted this year for once again taking their role seriously so that we continue to elect, year after year, an amazing group of industry leaders and game changers,” he says.

The Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony will be held on December 15 at the New York Hilton Hotel in midtown Manhattan. It will begin with a cocktail reception at 5:00, dinner at 6:30, and then the ceremony at approximately 7:15. Please CLICK HERE to learn more about purchasing tickets.

This year’s class is comprised of the following industry legends:

Christopher “Chip” Adams: Adams’ path in television began with an interest in photography in high school as well as being inspired by ABC’s Wide World of Sports. And he took the “wide world” of sports to the extreme during his career as he earned his HOF credentials while serving as NBC Olympics Director and then VP of Venue Engineering for every Olympics from 2000 to 2022. His contributions resulted in 20 Sports Emmy Awards for Remote Operations and Technical Achievement including four for The George Wensel Innovative Technical Achievement Award as well as a Technology and Engineering Award. Adams retired from NBC Olympics in 2022. He also had operational experience in Video Shading, Video Tape Editing, Audio, and RF engineering for clients such as ESPN/ABC, CBS, AMV Mobile Video, Christian Science Church, HBO, NEP, and NBC, prior to his first Technical Management assignment at the 1988 Olympics in Seoul, Korea. He expanded his Technical Management experience across Golf, Basketball, Football, Skiing, Horse Racing, and the first X Games as well as Athletics, Aquatics, and Alpine Skiing International World Championships.

Troy Aikman: This year marks Aikman’s 25^th year as one of the leading analysts in the NFL and his fifth at ESPN after he spent 20 years at Fox Sports where he began his career in 2001 after retiring earlier that year. Aikman works alongside fellow Sports Broadcasting Hall of Famer Joe Buck, and they have been the NFL’s most consistent broadcasting tandem, beginning their partnership in 2002 as a three-man booth with another Sports Broadcasting Hall of Famer, analyst Cris Collinsworth, before becoming a duo in 2005. Over their 24 seasons together, they have called more than 400 regular-season games, more than 40 playoff matchups, 18 NFC Championship Games and Super Bowls XXXIX, XLII, XLV, XLVIII, LI and LIV. He will also call his seventh Super Bowl overall and first for ESPN next February.

Jim Dove: For nearly 40 years, Jim Dove has been at the top of the list of ESPN replay operators and an integral part of the network, shaping and delivering some of its most innovative and influential productions and technologies like 4K zoom, pylon goal line replays, and more. A pioneer in tape replay, he first learned about EVS replay at the 1996 Super Bowl and then began working with EVS later that year on Sunday Night Baseball. He worked on the show for 29 years and he drove innovations such as integrating onsite edit systems for Sunday Night Baseball and Monday Night Football. Dove has received two Sports Emmys, in 1989 for ESPN’’s “SpeedWorld” and in 2022 for “Team Technical Event.” His annual work schedule now includes Monday Night Football, College Football Playoffs, NHL, The Masters, Wimbledon, and US Open tennis.

Jim Eady: An 11-time Emmy Award winner, Jim Eady is the founder and CEO of Broadcast Services International Inc. He thrives on the advances brought about through creative technical engineering and strives to always stay abreast of the newest developments of an industry in constant motion. Eady has been a Senior On-Site Technical Manager with NBC Olympics since 1988 and has worked on 22 Olympics. Over a 55-year career in television broadcasting, he has earned a reputation for technical excellence, innovation, and firsts. Eady’s career began at CTV Television Network where he worked as a senior Technical Producer, building bureaus and covering major events worldwide.  He then expanded into wireless and microwave as co-founder of RF Wireless Systems Inc. and fiber and satellite services as founder of Sure Shot and Sure Connect. His attention to detail, fairness, and his “get it done” attitude has resulted in a history of service to many clients for more than 35 years.

Bucky Gunts: A winner of 23 Sports Emmy Awards, Bucky Gunts played a key role in defining NBC Sports coverage for nearly two decades, from Super Bowls to golf to the NBA and especially in the Olympics unit where he held a variety of positions from 1992 to 2012 which included Head of Production, Coordinating Director, Director of Opening Ceremonies, and Director for Primetime Programming. He also director of all NBC golf coverage from 1994-2006 (directing 12 U.S. Opens, five Ryder Cups, and 13 Player Championships) as well as director of Football Night in America (2008-2012). Toss in two Super Bowl pre, half, and post-game shows, and The Today Show from 1990-1994 and you have the makings of a Hall of Fame career.

Robert A. Iger: Robert A. Iger is the former Chairman and CEO of The Walt Disney Company and currently serves as Senior Advisor and a member of Disney’s Board of Directors. Iger guided Disney for more than two decades, making it one of the world’s most influential and admired media companies, and overseeing an unparalleled portfolio of iconic brands, franchises, and experiences that reach billions of people around the globe. He began his career at ABC in 1974, including 13 years with ABC Sports, where he became head of programming, before rising to become President of the ABC Network Television Group and later President and COO of Capital Cities/ABC. During his tenure at Disney, Iger oversaw ESPN’s evolution into the preeminent digital sports platform, guiding its expansion across television, digital, streaming, and direct-to-consumer. He was also instrumental in ESPN’s ground-breaking agreement with the NFL. Beyond sports, Iger transformed Disney through a series of landmark strategic initiatives, including the acquisitions of Pixar, Marvel, Lucasfilm, and 21st Century Fox; the opening of Shanghai Disney Resort; and the global launch of Disney+. Iger, along with his wife, Willow Bay, own the controlling interest in the Angel City Football Club.  He was appointed an Honorary Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire (KBE) in 2022 and awarded France’s Chevalier de la Légion d’honneur in 2024. Mr. Iger is also the author of the New York Times bestselling book The Ride of a Lifetime.

Charlie Jablonski: One of the broadcast industry’s top technology leaders for more than four decades, Charlie Jablonski was a stalwart at NBC in a number of roles beginning in 1983. He was VP of engineering and technology for NBC for 16 years and also spent 36 years working with NBC Olympics in various capacities beginning with the 1988 Games in Seoul. Jablonski was at the center of transitions like the move to HDTV, stereo audio, Surround Sound, digital formats, and advances in transmission, IP and many other areas. His work resulted in 12 Emmy awards for his work on the Olympics and World Cups, as well as being recognized with an Engineering Emmy for innovation for the 1996 Olympics. After NBC he he sheparded Geocast, Myrio and OnLive through their ups (and downs) in Silicon Valley and was named one of “10 to Watch” by Electronic Media in 1999.

Robert Kraft: Robert Kraft has spent more than three decades shaping not only the success of the National Football League, but also the way fans experience it. Since purchasing the New England Patriots in 1994, he has been one of the league’s most influential voices on media strategy, chairing the NFL’s Broadcast and now Media Committees through an era of unprecedented innovation and growth. Under his leadership, the NFL transformed its media business into the gold standard of professional sports, forging landmark partnerships that redefined the value of live sports on television and digital platforms. Throughout his tenure, Kraft has earned the admiration of generations of broadcast leaders, from Rupert Murdoch, Sean McManus, Dick Ebersol and Mark Lazarus to Disney CEO Bob Iger and CBS Sports President and CEO David Berson. Regardless of network or platform, they have viewed him as a trusted collaborator whose rare ability to balance the interests of the league, its media partners and, most importantly, its fans has strengthened every relationship. His leadership has helped make NFL games the most valuable programming in television while ensuring the league remained at the forefront of every major shift in the media landscape.

Tom Rinaldi: A winner of 17 national Sports Emmy Awards and seven national Edward R. Murrow awards, Tom Rinaldi has proven to be one of the all-time great reporters, whether it was in-depth reports for the 2026 World Cup and Fox NFL games on Fox or original storytelling and reporting on ESPN beginning in 2002. Rinaldi serves as the lead reporter from FOX NFL’s top game each week alongside play-by-play announcer Kevin Burkhardt, analyst Tom Brady, reporter Erin Andrews, and rules analyst Mike Pereira. Throughout his career, Rinaldi has covered many of the biggest events in sports, from the sidelines of the Super Bowl, World Cup and College Football Playoff National Championship to the Daytona 500, Masters, Wimbledon, the Olympics, NBA, and more.

Dick Stockton: Dick Stockton enters the Sports Broadcasting Hall of Fame having amassed over a half century of calling major U.S. sports events on several networks marked by longevity, familiarity, and a signature voice well recognized by viewers. Currently, he has called the second most professional games than anyone in history, numbering 1,545 network events that does not include NCAA tournament basketball matchups, countless other college games, and two Olympics. Stockton called these games during a career that included 16 years with CBS Sports, Fox Sports where he worked for 27 years starting with the network’s initial season in 1994, and 19 years during those periods with Turner Sports. As CBS’ lead NBA play-by-play commentator for nine years, he called all of the memorable Celtics-Lakers Finals during the 80’s. His resume also includes the World Swimming and Diving Championships, championship boxing, track and field, and two years as host of the CBS Sports Spectacular. He was at the microphone for 714 NFL games, second most in history, and his repertoire includes broadcasts of NBA and MLB contests, regular season and playoffs, and a pair of NHL games. Stockton also served as the play-by-play announcer for six Super Bowls for the NFLNetwork.

The Sports Broadcasting Hall of Fame was founded in 2007 and every year honors industry executives in a several categories, including on-air talent, production, management, operations and engineering, technical crafts, and leagues and teams. The goal is to ensure that the Hall of Fame represents not only the well-known industry leaders but also those behind the scenes who help ensure every sports production is all it needs to be. For more information about the Sports Broadcasting Hall of Fame please click here.

To purchase individual tickets, please CLICK HERE.

For sponsorship opportunities please contact Rob Payne ([email protected]), Andrew Gabel ([email protected]), or Jack Bluestine ([email protected]).