{"id":493,"date":"2018-10-22T00:55:31","date_gmt":"2018-10-22T00:55:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.sportsbroadcastinghalloffame.org\/?post_type=inductees&p=493"},"modified":"2018-11-14T16:16:48","modified_gmt":"2018-11-14T16:16:48","slug":"joe-schiavo","status":"publish","type":"inductees","link":"https:\/\/www.sportsbroadcastinghalloffame.org\/inductees\/joe-schiavo\/","title":{"rendered":"Joe Schiavo"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Friends of Joe Schiavo \u2014 or Joey, as everyone seems to call him \u2014 like to tell the same story about the journeyman technical director.<\/p>\n

He was working at YES Network a few years ago, producing Mike Francesa\u2019s radio show on location at a golf tournament in Westchester, NY. One of the guests slated for that day\u2019s show was Frank Gifford, the former voice of Monday Night Football<\/i> on ABC.<\/p>\n

Upon seeing Schiavo, Gifford reportedly leaned over to Francesa. \u201cDo you know who that is?\u201d he exclaimed. \u201cThat\u2019s Joey Schiavo! He\u2019s a legend at ABC Sports. A legend!\u201d<\/p>\n

Of course, those who know Schiavo best know that he would never tell such a story about himself or tout his own \u201clegend.\u201d For all his accomplishments as technical director at ABC Sports and continued successes as senior technical manager at YES Network, Schiavo is still the kid from Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn, the youngest of four brothers and the class clown, who grew up playing CYO baseball and dreamed of one day working in television.<\/p>\n

Getting His Start
\n<\/b>After three years of night classes at the RCA Institute in New York, Schiavo was hired by ABC in 1968. Despite his lifelong love for the Brooklyn Dodgers and then the New York Mets, he didn\u2019t actively pursue a career in sports. The kid who used to play with 8mm cameras would be a camera operator for Eyewitness News<\/i> and find his way into sports later.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I went to work in television, I wasn\u2019t thinking about sports. I was just thinking about getting into TV,\u201d says Schiavo. \u201cThe first thing I did was Eyewitness News<\/i>, which everyone did. \u2026 [ABC] sized you up, and, if you\u2019re a city kid, they sent you out into the field because they figured you could work in rain or snow and it wouldn\u2019t bother you. I think that was their logic in the beginning, so when they found out about me, they sent me out into the field, and that\u2019s how I got into sports.\u201d<\/p>\n

Schiavo, like all new ABC hires at the time, joined the company as a vacation-relief employee and did not expect to become a permanent employee right away. However, he had a leg up on the competition: a commercial driver license.<\/p>\n

\u201cI drove a school bus when I was a kid, and they knew that, [so] they sent me out to drive one of the TV mobile units,\u201d he explains. \u201cThe money was good with the overtime, and [the bosses] said, well, if you\u2019re willing to drive, you have a job here. I said I\u2019ll do whatever you want. And that\u2019s how I got the job.\u201d<\/p>\n

Schiavo would stay with ABC for 34 years.<\/p>\n

A Monday Night Football<\/i> Stalwart
\n<\/b>In 1979, following a successful stint as camera operator, Schiavo was asked to be a technical director. \u201cActually, they didn\u2019t ask me,\u201d he laughs. \u201cThey told me.\u201d<\/p>\n

Once again, he began his tenure as a vacation-relief employee, returning to Eyewitness News<\/i> before traveling for several sports productions, including a boxing match and college football game. Then he was called up to the big leagues.<\/p>\n

\u201c[ABC Sports director] Chet Forte put me on Monday Night Football<\/i>,\u201d says Schiavo. \u201cI was one of Chet\u2019s camera people on Monday Night Football<\/i>. \u2026 They told me I was only going to do four or five games because the TD that was doing Monday Night Football<\/i> was also doing baseball and it was a World Series year, so they needed someone to cover him. \u2026 After the fifth game, Chet walks in the truck and goes, \u2018Oh, by the way, the other guy is never coming back.\u2019 I was in a state of shock.\u201d<\/p>\n

For 22 years, Schiavo served as technical director of Monday Night Football<\/i>. He also covered Triple Crown horseracing, countless Wide World of Sports<\/i> telecasts, and the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics, among other events.<\/p>\n

\u201cJoey had the hand-eye coordination, the dexterity, and the ability to listen and translate that was absolutely flawless,\u201d says Jack Kestenbaum, a close friend who mixed audio alongside Schiavo at ABC and is now director, technical operations, for YES Network. \u201cHe was the best. He never made a mistake. As a technical director, he never made a mistake.\u201d<\/p>\n

On Jan. 20, 1985, ABC broadcast its first Super Bowl \u2014 Miami Dolphins vs. San Francisco 49ers \u2014 with Gifford, Don Meredith, and Joe Theismann on the call and Schiavo on the switcher. He would do four more Super Bowls for the network.<\/p>\n

\u201cJoey is a legend at ABC Sports,\u201d says Ed Delaney, who worked with him at ABC Sports and YES Network before joining Fox Sports as EVP, operations, this year. \u201cJust a delightful guy to be around, brilliant at what he does, and a true leader. Back then in the network days, the technical directors really were the crew leaders, and Joey was such an exceptional leader. \u2026 Joey got everything done and was beloved by everybody.\u201d<\/p>\n

After Forte left ABC, Schiavo remained as technical director on Monday Night Football <\/i>for director Craig Janoff and producer Ken Wolfe. In 2002, however, Schiavo felt it was time to move on.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was time to go, and you know what? I don\u2019t have any regrets,\u201d he says. \u201cIt was a wonderful, wonderful era to work at ABC; it was a wonderful time that will never come around again, and we were a part of it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Continuing a Hall of Fame Career
\n<\/b>Schiavo\u2019s time in sports television was hardly finished. In 2002, he joined the YES Network and several former ABC colleagues, including Kestenbaum and Delaney.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was fortunate enough, when I took the position at YES Network, to bring Joey over in a management position,\u201d Delaney explains. \u201cIt worked out so well because I had a bunch of young junior professionals who were fresh out of school and Joey did such a great job of mentoring these folks, just like he mentored me years ago.\u201d<\/p>\n

As technical manager of YES Network, Schiavo finally has the opportunity to cover his favorite sport. He travels for all New York Yankees road telecasts, including spring training in Florida, and roots for the team\u2026 except when they play the Mets. \u201cTo be involved with the Yankees and to go to all the cities now and all the ballparks in the country and see the teams \u2014 I\u2019m enjoying that,\u201d he says. \u201cI\u2019m having a great time.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cJoey\u2019s r\u00e9sum\u00e9 is weighted by pure excellence,\u201d says John J. Filippelli, president of production and programming at the YES Network. \u201cHe has graced the biggest and most prestigious events in our industry with his unparalleled talent, experience, and enthusiasm. No one is more deserving of the Hall of Fame than Joey Schiavo. He has been an invaluable member of the YES team since before our March 2002 launch.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the Yankees\u2019 offseason, Schiavo covers Mike Francesa\u2019s remote radio shows, which are simulcast on YES Network, as well as Brooklyn Nets basketball, college football, and baseball\u2019s winter meetings. Any free time is spent relaxing with his family in Staten Island, NY, including his wife, Kelly, five children, and four grandchildren.<\/p>\n

Looking back on his Hall of Fame career, Schiavo is quick to pay tribute to the guys who worked alongside him. When you were on the air, he says, you gave 100% of yourself at all times and expected those around you to do the same.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou didn\u2019t worry about who was watching you or who was watching at home,\u201d he continues. \u201cYou worried about the people you were around who were watching you because you had to be on all the time. And if you didn\u2019t perform, they were very nice, but you were gone. They needed you to perform.\u201d<\/p>\n

Of course, after four-plus decades in the business, Schiavo has not only proved time and again that he can perform but has emerged as one of the most down-to-earth, likeable guys in the industry.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe can walk in virtually any mobile unit in the country, and the EIC yells, \u2018Joey, where have you been! I haven\u2019t seen you in so long! What do you need, pal?\u2019 And [Schiavo] walks away with anything he wants,\u201d says Kestenbaum. \u201cEverybody loves him. Everybody in this industry who has ever known him loves Joey Schiavo.\u201d<\/p>\n

– Karen Hogan, SVG, Associate Editor<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":778,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"tags":[27],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sportsbroadcastinghalloffame.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/inductees\/493"}],"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\/778"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sportsbroadcastinghalloffame.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=493"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sportsbroadcastinghalloffame.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=493"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}