Barry Tompkins
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Barry David Tompkins (born May 2, 1940) is an American sportscaster. He is better known for his work as a boxing commentator, but he has covered football and other sports.
Early life
Tompkins was born and raised in San Francisco.[1]
Career
KCBS, KPIX, WNBC, NBC Sports and KRON
He began his broadcasting career at
In 1974, he moved to
Tompkins returned to San Francisco in 1978 and joined then-NBC affiliate
HBO (1980-1988)
At HBO, Tompkins joined
Even though Tompkins had two years remaining on his contract, HBO replaced him in 1988 with Jim Lampley.[3] Tompkins spent ten years at HBO.
In 1992, he won the Sam Taub Award for excellence in boxing broadcasting journalism.[4]
Rocky IV and ESPN
Tompkins made his acting debut in
network, where he did play-by-play on Thursday Night Fights alongside Al Bernstein. He also did college basketball, The French Open and many other tennis tournaments, the Tour De France, World Track and Field and Swimming and Diving Championships as well as the World Gymnastics Championships. During that time he continued to be "The Voice" of Pac 10 (now 12) Conference football for various syndicators. Tompkins spent eight years at ESPN.Fox Sports
In 1995 Tompkins left ESPN to join Fox Sports as the play-by-play announcer of Sunday Night Fights, and he began traveling through the United States alongside
Western Athletic Conference
In July 2011 it was announced that Tompkins would leave Pac-12 football broadcasts and instead be the new play-by-play man for the WAC Sports Network, going into its second season. Tompkins' fight duties and college basketball games with FSN continued. Tompkins called nine broadcasts with Joe Glenn during the 2011 season.[5]
Mountain West Conference
The WAC Sports Network folded after 2011 allowing Tompkins to become a free agent in terms of college football sports broadcasting for 2012. He was hired by the Mountain West Conference to serve as their #1 play-by-play broadcaster for the new MWC regional package on Time Warner Cable SportsNet (started after Mtn folded after spring 2012). He was assigned Jay Leeuwenburg as his color analyst.
ShoBox and ShoExtreme
Tompkins joined
Dominican University
In 2013, he joined the faculty at Dominican University of California as a professor for the university's Communications Department.[7]
He continues to do college football and basketball for Time-Warner Network and Comcast.[citation needed]
Personal life
Tompkins' wife is Joan Ryan, a sports writer,[8] and son is Ryan Tompkins.[9]
References
- ^ "Barry David Tompkins, Born 05/02/1940 in California". CaliforniaBirthIndex.org. Retrieved 25 July 2022.
- ^ a b Jenkins, Bruce (12 May 2020). "Barry Tompkins at 80: a sportscasting career worth remembering". San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved 25 July 2022.
- ^ Stewart, Larry (11 March 1988). "After Leaving ABC, Lampley Is Able to Put It All Together". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 29 May 2022.
- ^ International Boxing Hall of Fame / BWAA Awards Archived 2008-06-17 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ "WSN Names 2011 Football Announcers". 2011-07-18. Archived from the original on 2012-03-25.
- ^ "BARRY TOMPKINS IN, STEVE ALBERT OUT AT SHOWTIME". BOXINGTALK. Archived from the original on 2014-09-06. Retrieved 2012-02-19.
- ^ "Emmy Award-winning broadcaster joins communications department".
- ^ Mogensen, Jackie (17 May 2017). "One of the guys: How Bay Area writer Joan Ryan 'made it' in sports journalism". Peninsula Press. Retrieved 25 July 2022.
- ^ "When her son nearly died, Joan Ryan learned to celebrate him 'as is'". Marin Independent Journal. 20 April 2009. Retrieved 25 July 2022.
External links
- Profile of Tompkins from the Tennis Channel website