Sports Broadcasting Hall of Fame Welcomes Nine Industry Legends at 15th-Annual Ceremony

Terry Adams, Terry Bradshaw, Joe Buck, Drew Esocoff, Roger Goodell, Ross Greenburg, Manolo Romero, Deena Sheldon, and Darrell Wenhardt were inducted

The 15th-annual Sports Broadcasting Hall of Fame Ceremony brought the industry together at the New York Hilton Midtown Hotel last night to induct nine legends who have made an indelible mark on the sports-TV and -media industry. Hosted by Mike Tirico, this year’s event once again donated all table sales to the Sports Broadcasting Fund, which supports industry members in times of need.

This year’s class comprises NBC Olympics technology guru Terry Adams, Fox Sports studio luminary Terry Bradshaw, iconic play-by-play voice Joe Buck, industry-leading NBC Sports director Drew Esocoff, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell, former HBO Sports President and documentary maestro Ross Greenburg, Olympic Games host-broadcast pioneer Manolo Romero, trailblazing camera operator and innovator Deena Sheldon, and broadcast-architecture maven Darrell Wenhardt. 

Joe Buck, The Voice of the Modern Generation

Currently the play-by-play voice of Monday Night Football for ESPN, Joe Buck has called NFL games since 1994 (including six Super Bowls), 24 World Series, 22 MLB All-Star games, and five U.S. Open golf tournaments; hosted his own studio shows; and earned the National Sports Media Association’s National Sportscaster of the Year award four times, including three years in a row (2002-04, 2006).

Buck got the call-up to the big leagues in 1991, joining his father, Sports Broadcasting Hall of Famer Jack Buck, in the radio and television booths for the Cardinals. But it was when Fox Sports launched in 1994 that he got his big break. At just 25 years old, Buck became the youngest man ever to call a regular slate of NFL games and, in 1996, became the voice of  MLB on Fox. He is currently in his 29th season calling NFL games, a season in which he moved to ESPN and the iconic Monday Night Football brand.

Manolo Romero, Virtuoso of Olympic Games Production

There aren’t many sports-production professionals or engineers who are known in nearly every corner of the globe. And there are even fewer who are known by their first name. For the tens of thousands of broadcast professionals who have worked on the Olympic Games in recent decades, however, there is only one Manolo: Manolo Romero, who was CEO or general director for the host operations on 10 Olympic Games beginning in 1992. As each Olympics production grew in technical complexity, helping popularize formats like HDTV or stereo (or even color TV) on a global scale, Romero played a part in turning promise into reality.

He helped define the concept of a host broadcaster and Olympic Broadcast Services (OBS) during a career that spanned more than 20 years and 10 Olympic Games. He began his Olympic career in 1968 at the Mexico City Games and, in the 1992 Barcelona Games, headed up broadcast operations for the first time. Between then and the 2012 London Games, he would help broadcasters around the world deliver high-quality, cutting-edge coverage of the Olympics.

Deena Sheldon, Camera Operator, Innovator, Trailblazer

In 40 years as a camera operator and technical innovator, Deena Sheldon has truly done it all. Not only has the nine-time Sports Emmy Award winner worked nearly every major sports event many times over, but her trailblazing work behind the camera has helped revolutionize the way live sports broadcasts are presented.

On the lengthy list of events for which Sheldon has run camera are 12 Super Bowls, 17 Daytona 500s, 17 Indy 500s, 24 Triple Crown races (including two Triple Crown winners), six US Open Tennis Championships, and three Olympic Games. She spent 12 years shooting ABC’s Monday Night Football and another 12 shooting NBC’s Sunday Night Football in 36 years covering the NFL. Sheldon has also been part of the coverage of such iconic events as the World Series, America’s Cup, NBA Finals, NCAA Final Four, The Masters, PGA Championship, U.S. Open Golf Championship, and the Ryder Cup. She has also been an integral part of the coverage of nine presidential inaugurations, three presidential funerals, and countless presidential debates and political conventions. In addition, she is a technological innovator who helped create multiple custom-camera systems and a pioneering 3D producer, having worked on eight 3D feature films and served as co-VP of the Sports and Entertainment Division of Cameron | Pace Group.

Roger Goodell, Architect of NFL Growth

At a time when Americans find it hard to agree on anything, they agree on this: they love football. Man or woman, from the worker on the assembly line to the IT nerd to the big boss in the corner office to the immigrant selling hot dogs from a cart, the glue is the NFL. The even more common bond is TV. It is literally where the action is. Roger Goodell, commissioner of the league since 2006, knows that. So do the broadcast and cable networks and, now, the streaming outlets.

Since becoming commissioner in 2006, Goodell has helped the NFL become the most important sports-media entity in the nation and, arguably, the world. His numerous accomplishments include building solid relationships with media partners in both the traditional-broadcast and digital space, keeping the league’s rights deals on the ascent, launching a new NFL West production facility, and continuing to drive international growth.

Darrell Wenhardt, Genius of Workflows

What do the NFL Network, the MLB Network, KABC Los Angeles, and WMAQ Chicago, and the PGA TOUR’s new production facility (set to open in 2025) have in common? Darrell Wenhardt. Currently principal consultant at CBT West, he has played a major role in bringing together countless opinions and created the workspaces and workflows that have been crucial to the sports-broadcast industry for nearly five decades.

A 50-year veteran of video production and TV broadcasting, Wenhardt has designed and managed installation of numerous facilities for events like the Olympic Games, World Cup, Goodwill Games, and America’s Cup. His understanding of technical workflows and how to apply them to new facilities helped improve the quality of sports production in countless ways.

Ross Greenburg, Architect of the HBO Sports Storytelling Dynasty

The iconic HBO Sports brand is built on superior storytelling. With compelling historical documentaries, groundbreaking behind-the-scenes docuseries, first-rate broadcast journalism, and the biggest fights in boxing, HBO Sports — echoing the network’s slogan — has made a name for itself based on one philosophy: “It’s not sports. It’s HBO Sports.” And perhaps no one has played a larger role in creating that culture of excellence than Ross Greenburg.

Greenburg redefined and reinvigorated the genre of sports documentaries during a 33-year career at HBO. He served as VP and executive producer of HBO Sports (1985-90), SVP and executive producer (1990-2000), and president of HBO Sports (2000-11). Since departing HBO in 2011, he has continued to solidify that storytelling legacy through production of dozens of award-winning sports documentaries at his production company, Ross Greenburg Productions. And he has won more than 100 major television-sports awards, including eight Peabody Awards, 56 Sports Emmys, 21 Cable ACE awards, 12 Cine Golden Eagles Awards, and five Monitor Awards from the Video Tape Production Association.

Terry Adams, The Calm at the Center of Olympics Tech

There is no sports production on the planet larger than an Olympic Games, and no broadcaster does as much as NBC Olympics in terms of content creation and innovation. Since the 2000 Sydney Summer Games, Terry Adams, retired VP, IBC engineering, NBC Olympics, was at the center of the effort, overseeing the technological infrastructure of NBC’s footprint at the International Broadcast Center. It was a run that saw multiple changes in technology and workflows and a massive expansion of programming.

Adams has been involved with remote and sports production since 1973, but it is his work on the Olympic Games for NBC since 2000 that has put him at the center of key innovations and technical advances for big-time sports events. His efforts allowed NBC Olympics production efforts to become larger and more efficient while also embracing new technologies such as HD, 4K and HDR, Dolby Atmos, remote workflows, and IP.

Drew Esocoff, The Humble Storyteller

It’s easy to know what the sports fan wants — and needs — to see in a given moment when you are a rabid one yourself. That raw love of sport and a tremendous skill to remain committed to the story in the highest of high-pressure situations have helped cement Esocoff as one of the all-time greats in the director’s chair.

The director of NBC’s Sunday Night Football is now in his 23rd season as the director for an NFL primetime game and his 17th season directing SNF (he spent six years as director of MNF). A 19-time Emmy Award winner, Esocoff has directed six Super Bowls and has also directed NBC Sports’ Triple Crown horse-racing coverage, including historic Triple Crown runs in 2015 and 2018. In the 1980s, Esocoff directed many of ESPN’s marquee events, including college basketball and football, hockey, and boxing. He also served as the director for SportsCenter and Baseball Tonight before joining ABC Sports in 1990 where he directed MNF and coverage of the NBA on ABC, including the NBA Finals.

Terry Bradshaw, The Sparkplug for Fun in Professional Football

To make it into the National Football League, especially at quarterback, you need tenacity, poise, fortitude, and leadership. Similar to a swashbuckling pirate or a high-flying ace, the position requires an aura of confidence that shouldn’t be confused with cockiness. Terry Bradshaw — for 14 years, the talisman of the Pittsburgh Steelers who lifted four Lombardi trophies and has been enshrined in both the College Football Hall of Fame and the Pro Football Hall of Fame — made his mark in the league and, in a style uniquely his, brought his swagger and humor to sports broadcasting.

Bradshaw segued from playing in the NFL to broadcasting as a guest commentator for CBS Sports’ NFC postseason broadcasts (1980-82) before joining CBS Sports as an NFL game analyst in 1984. Beginning in 1990, he spent four seasons as a studio analyst on The NFL Today before joining Fox NFL Sunday and becoming a primary force in making the show America’s most-watched NFL pregame program. His work on Fox NFL Sunday earned him Sports Emmy Awards in the Outstanding Sports Personality/Analyst category in 1999, 2001, and 2009, and he was named TV Guide’s favorite sportscaster in 1999.

Ken Kerschbaumer, Brandon Costa, Karen Hogan, Kristian Hernandez, and P.J. Bednarski contributed to this report.