Sports Broadcasting Hall of Fame Names Nine to Class of 2023

The honorees are Val Ackerman, Lance Barrow, Cris Collinsworth, Tom Fletcher, Steve Hellmuth, Andrea Joyce, Tony Petitti, and Jeff Zachary

The Sports Broadcasting Hall of Fame is pleased to announce the the Class of 2023, who will be inducted in a ceremony on Dec. 12 at the New York Hilton.

This year’s inductees continue a 17-year tradition of excellence: Val Ackerman, Big East Conference commissioner and first president of the WNBA; Lance Barrow, former CBS Sports producer; Cris Collinsworth, NBC Sunday Night Football analyst; Tom Fletcher, inventor of the super-slo-mo camera and other innovations; Steve Hellmuth, former NBA EVP, media operations and technology; Ernie Johnson, long-time NBA on TNT studio-show host; Andrea Joyce, leading sports reporter; Tony Petitti, Big Ten Conference Commissioner and former TV-network executive; Jeff Zachary, legendary camera operator.

“More than 150 leading sports-TV-industry executives took part in this year’s voting, our most ever,” says Ken Aagaard, chairman, Sports Broadcasting Hall of Fame. “Once again, they elected an exceptional class of innovators and game-changers who embody the commitment to excellence, professionalism, and leadership that makes our industry great.”

2023 Inductees

Val Ackerman:Ackerman has served since 2013 as Commissioner of the BIG EAST Conference, one of the country’s leading college basketball conferences.  She was previously an attorney and senior executive at the NBA and founding President of the WNBA, where she helped lead the groundbreaking launch and day-to-day operation of the league in its formative years.  She has served as President of USA Basketball and U.S. representative to the International Basketball Federation (FIBA) and had advised various organizations on women’s sports strategies.  She is a member of the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame and the New Jersey Hall of Fame.  She graduated with high honors from the University of Virginia and holds a law degree from UCLA.

Lance Barrow: Barrow retired in 2020 after a rich career at CBS Sports that included working as coordinating golf producer from 1997 to 2020 and as lead game producer for CBS Sports NFL coverage from 2004 to 2017. The 12-time Emmy Award winner worked on the Masters and the PGA Championship, NCAA Men’s Basketball Final Four, Daytona 500, US Open Tennis Championships, and The NFL Today and six Super Bowls. Barrow earned Emmy Awards for his work on the NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Championship, the Daytona 500, and the NFL.

Cris Collinsworth: The only NFL analyst other than John Madden to receive a Sports Emmy for Outstanding Sports Event Analyst, Collinsworth has taken home the award nine times. He currently sits alongside Mike Tirico in the NBC Sunday Night Football announce booth. His career began in 1990 when he joined NBC Sports as a game analyst for NFL coverage and selected college-football broadcasts. In 2005, Collinsworth joined the NFL on Fox broadcast booth alongside play-by-play announcer Joe Buck and former quarterback Troy Aikman to form the broadcaster’s lead broadcast team.

Tom Fletcher: Transforming sports production with such innovations as the super slo-mo camera and smaller remote-controlled and RF cameras, Fletcher changed the nature of sports coverage by allowing cameras to be placed in locations that deliver camera coverage with maximum emotional impact. The Fletcher Sports division provides specialty cameras to NFL, MLB, NBA, and NHL broadcasters throughout North America.

Steve Hellmuth: In a career spanning nearly 45 years, Hellmuth enjoyed working on a mix of production, live events, systems design, and technology. He recently retired from his role as NBA EVP, operations and technology, in which he developed statistical systems, directed facility construction, and created digital-media archives. Before joining the NBA, he spent two years as SVP and GM of Major League Baseball Productions, supervising the programming and production departments. He also served as SVG Chairman.

Ernie Johnson: Three-time Sports Emmy Award-winner Johnson is in his 34th year as studio host for Turner’s NBA coverage and NBA on TNT. Since 2011, he has also served as a studio host for Turner’s and CBS’s NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Championship coverage. Johnson is also a play-by-play announcer for TBS’s exclusive coverage of the MLB regular season and postseason, including the Wild Card Game, Division Series, and League Championship Series. From 1999 to 2005 and 2007 to ’12, he served as host and play-by-play announcer for TNT’s coverage of professional golf, including the PGA Championship, British Open, Presidents Cup, and PGA Grand Slam of Golf. He was studio host for TNT’s NFL coverage from 1990 to ’94, an onsite host for the 1995 and 1996 seasons, and Wimbledon host from 2000 to ’02. Other international events include the 2001, 1998, and 1994 Goodwill Games; and 1992 and 1994 Olympic Winter Games.

Andrea Joyce: During a career that spans nearly 30 years on the national stage, Joyce has spent time at ESPN, CBS Sports, and now NBC Sports, building a reputation for solid reporting on a wide range of global and national sports events. Since 2000, she has been a reporter for NBC Sports Group. She has served in a variety of roles at 16 Olympic Games, including the past eight with NBC (she will also work on her 17th in 2024). She has served as a reporter for NBA on NBC and WNBA on NBC broadcasts. Joyce debuted as a reporter for ESPN at the 1988 Seoul Olympic Summer Games and worked three Winter Games for CBS, serving as co-host of weekend and Opening and Closing Ceremony coverage at the 1994 Lillehammer Winter Games and 1998 Nagano Winter Games. She spent nine years at CBS, covering events from the NCAA Final Four to US Open tennis.

Tony Petitti: Prior to becoming commissioner of the Big Ten Conference, Petitti served in senior executive roles for ABC, CBS, and NBC Sports. He helped create the Bowl Championship Series to determine college football’s national champion and joined Major League Baseball in 2008 to create, launch, and oversee programming at MLB Network. In 2015, he was promoted to MLB chief operating officer, replacing Rob Manfred when Manfred became commissioner. Petitti also served briefly as president of sports and entertainment for Activision Blizzard.

Jeff Zachary: The first person to bring Steadicam to NFL coverage and winner of 11 Sports Emmys, Zachary brought a new angle of coverage to countless events. Among the highlights of his 47-year career as a camera operator: Ali vs. Holmes 1980; FIFA World Cup Finals 1994; 26 NBA All-Star Games/Slam Dunk Contests; 12 Super Bowls; 15 Kentucky Derbys; 13 MLB All-Star Home Run Derbys; U.S. Open Golf; 36 years of ABC’s Monday Night Football, ESPN’s and NBC’s Sunday Night Football, Fox NFL, CBS NFL, TNT NFL; nine Presidential Inaugurations; four Olympics; 33 years of boxing; and three America’s Cups. Always an innovator, he introduced the RoverCam at CBS’s PGA Championship, providing a new perspective for sports coverage.