Greg Gumbel, first Black announcer of sports championship, dead at 78

Famed sportscaster Greg Gumbel, the first Black announcer to call a major U.S. sports championship, has died in Florida after a “courageous battle with cancer.” He was 78 years old.

His wife and daughter released a statement through CBS Sports after his peaceful passing at home on Dec. 27.

“Greg approached his illness like one would expect he would, with stoicism, grace, and positivity,” they wrote.

“He leaves behind a legacy of love, inspiration and dedication to over 50 extraordinary years in the sports broadcast industry; and his iconic voice will never be forgotten.”

Born in 1946 in New Orleans to Richard Gumbel Jr. and his wife Rhea, Gumbel was raised in Chicago, where his father served as a Cook County judge. Raised Catholic, Gumbel attended St. Thomas the Apostle Church and School in Hyde Park before graduating from De La Salle Institute in Bronzeville.

Gumbel attended Loras College in Dubuque, Iowa, where he studied English and played on the baseball team. He received his degree in 1967, after which he worked in sales for several years while his younger brother Bryant pursued journalism. The latter eventually recommended the elder Gumbel for a job at an NBC station in Chicago, which kicked off a half-century career of award-winning sportscasting. 

At MSG and ESPN, Gumbel did play-by-play as well as anchoring for the popular “Sportscenter” broadcast, before being hired part-time at CBS in 1988. In addition to calling NFL and college basketball games, he returned to his first love of baseball as a pre- and post-game show host for MSG’s coverage of the New York Yankees. He soon added college football and NASCAR coverage to his repertoire as well.

Considered a golden voice of major sporting events by the 1990s, performing duties for “NBA on NBC” as well as the playoffs of both college and pro baseball. He anchored the Winter Olympics in 1994, the same year he migrated—along with pro baseball and football’s TV deals— to NBC, where he remained for four years.

Gumbel returned to CBS in 1998, beginning an iconic 25-year run as the voice of the network’s studio coverage for men’s college basketball, including March Madness. In 2001, he became the first Black announcer to call a major U.S. sports championship, leading the coverage of Super Bowl XXXV and again three years later. He continued to call NFL games until 2023.

During his career, Gumbel won multiple Sports Emmy Awards, including for Outstanding Sports Personality in 1998 and 2007. He was named the National Sportscaster of the Year by the American Sportscasters Association, also in 1998, and the Pat Summerall Award from Legends for Charity in 2007. He was inducted in the Loras College Athletics Hall of Fame in 2023.

Gumbel was also noted for his occasional acts of protest even at the height of his career. In 1999, he made headlines for his refusal to attend a NASCAR dinner honoring Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, a fellow Black Catholic but with widely divergent sociopolitical positions.

A supporter of various philanthropic causes, Gumbel was involved with the Boys & Girls Clubs of America, the March of Dimes, St. Jude’s Children’s Research Hospital, the National Kidney Foundation, and the V Foundation for Cancer Research.

For the first time since his return to CBS, Gumbel was absent last year from the network’s coverage of March Madness, for what was described simply as “family health issues.” His cancer diagnosis was not revealed publicly prior to his death.

Gumbel was predeceased by his parents and a sister, Renee Gumbel-Farrahi. He is survived by his wife Marcy, his daughter Michelle, his sister Rhonda and his brother Bryant, a retired sports show host.

“You never forgot a birthday, a holiday, and everything in between. Always brightening up every room with your infectious spirit,” wrote Gumbel’s niece, Danielle Renee Ceballos, on social media following his death.

“A man of deep integrity, a heart of gold, and an unwavering love for family and sports. A man who didn’t just get the job done well, but who positively changed the world while doing it.”

No funeral arrangements for Gumbel have been publicly announced by the family.

Nate Tinner-Williams is co-founder and editor of Black Catholic Messenger.

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