The word fearless<\/i> is often associated with acts of heroism, in particular those that put one\u2019s life at risk. A career in live sports production also requires being fearless. Night after night, live cameras, audio, and graphics roll with the ever present threat of something going wrong and impacting thousands, if not millions, of people.<\/p>\n
But Chet Simmons, one of the early pioneers at ABC Sports who later became the first president of NBC Sports, ESPN, and even the first commissioner of the United States Football League, took the concept of \u201cfearless\u201d to a new level for an executive. Many executives at the level he reached become comfortable with their success and, consequently, afraid of change. Simmons not only seemed to be comfortable with change: he pursued it.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe liked the challenge of starting a new operation,\u201d Chuck Pagano, EVP of technology, engineering and operations for ESPN, recalls of the early (and long) days at ESPN working alongside Simmons.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe was calm, reflective, and encouraging, and I learned a lot from Chet as a person. He was the quintessential father figure.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
\u2014 Chuck Pagano<\/p>\n
Three months after ESPN launched, Simmons told the New York Times<\/i>, \u201cTwenty-four hours of sports sounds like a lot but not in the concept we call narrow-casting. Cable subscribers have about 18 channels to choose from.\u201d<\/p>\n
In those early days, there were often two reactions to what ESPN was trying to accomplish: laughter and the word absurd. But George Bodenheimer, co-chairman of Disney Media Networks\/president of ESPN, says that Simmons, working closely with ESPN VP Scotty Connal, shaped ESPN into something that was real and connected with sports fans. Simmons also forged a culture that is still ESPN\u2019s defining advantage in the marketplace, according to Bodenheimer.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe treated everyone like a colleague,\u201d says Bodenheimer, who was a driver in the mailroom at the time. \u201cAnd you had these two icons from the broadcast-sports industry who moved to a funny cable startup and got the best out of everybody.\u201d<\/p>\n
Among Simmons\u2019s key contributions is creation of SportsCenter<\/i>, a highlights and news program that became required viewing for sports fans across the country. He also acquired TV rights for the early rounds of the NCAA Men\u2019s Basketball Tournament as well as the NFL Draft.<\/p>\n
\u201cBroadcasting the NFL Draft was considered unusual because it was basically televising a business meeting,\u201d says Bodenheimer. \u201cBut today it gets ratings as a high as an NFL game and is a jewel among the NFL\u2019s assets.\u201d<\/p>\n
Simmons\u2019s career in sports broadcasting began in 1957, when he joined Sports Programs Inc., which later was known as ABC Sports. Over seven years, Simmons helped create programs like Wide World of Sports, establishing ABC Sports as TV\u2019s leading sports division. He left ABC to join NBC, where he spent 15 years before running ESPN.<\/p>\n
In 1982, Simmons left ESPN and moved to another startup: the USFL, a spring and summer football league that hoped to become a strong alternative to the National Football League. As commissioner, he made a deal with ESPN to carry its games.<\/p>\n
In later years, he was a consultant and spent the majority of his time on Tybee Island outside Savannah, GA, after moving to Savannah in 1986. He and his wife, Harriet, married for 53 years, had four children \u2014 Pam, Jed, Pete, and Nikki \u2014 and nine grandchildren. Simmons died on March 25 at the age of 81.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":800,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"tags":[24],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sportsbroadcastinghalloffame.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/inductees\/445"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sportsbroadcastinghalloffame.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/inductees"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sportsbroadcastinghalloffame.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/inductees"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sportsbroadcastinghalloffame.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/800"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sportsbroadcastinghalloffame.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=445"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sportsbroadcastinghalloffame.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=445"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}