{"id":1767,"date":"2023-07-31T15:17:04","date_gmt":"2023-07-31T19:17:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.sportsbroadcastinghalloffame.org\/?post_type=inductees&p=1767"},"modified":"2024-01-10T16:44:35","modified_gmt":"2024-01-10T21:44:35","slug":"cris-collinsworth","status":"publish","type":"inductees","link":"https:\/\/www.sportsbroadcastinghalloffame.org\/inductees\/cris-collinsworth\/","title":{"rendered":"Cris Collinsworth"},"content":{"rendered":"
Hanging up the cleats after a 15-year playing career and going directly into sports broadcasting can be quite daunting, but no one has transitioned as seamlessly as Sports Broadcasting Hall of Famer\u00a0Cris<\/strong>\u00a0Collinsworth<\/strong>. Becoming synonymous with immense energy, the expertise of breaking down a play with precision, and\u00a0the smoothest entrance to a broadcast<\/a>\u00a0in the business, the 17-time Sports Emmy Award winner \u2014 nine as a game analyst and eight as a studio analyst \u2014 is one of the most accomplished talent in sports television.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cCris is among the best to ever work as an analyst on any sport,\u201d says NBCUniversal Media Group Chairman Mark Lazarus<\/strong>. \u201cHe has a truckload of Emmys for his work, but he also happens to be a great friend to many \u2014 a giving person who belongs in any Hall of Fame.\u00a0 His inclusion in the Sports Broadcasting Hall of Fame is long overdue.\u201d<\/p>\n Collinsworth was born in the official birthplace of aviation: Dayton, OH. Immediately, Collinsworth took flight into a life in sports at an early age. Parented by a pair of educators \u2014 his mother Donetta, a teacher, and his father Abraham, a teacher turned principal turned superintendent \u2014 he took after his father\u2019s athletic pedigree. Abraham was a standout star on the hardwood: he completed his high school career as one of the top scorers in Kentucky high-school basketball history and eventually enrolled in the University of Kentucky, where he won the 1958 national championship over Seattle University. The Collinsworths eventually moved to the state of Florida when Cris was four<\/p>\n