Gayle Gardner

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Gayle Gardner (born c. 1950) is an American

sportscaster who worked for ESPN and NBC Sports beginning in 1987 until 1993. Gardner is considered a pioneer in sports broadcasting, having been the first female sports anchor to appear weekly on a major network.[1][2]

Career

Gardner graduated from Brooklyn College in 1969 and earned a master's degree in film and broadcasting from Boston University in 1971.[3]

Gardner started her career in Boston under the name Gail Granik.[4] She began working as an intern for WBZ-TV and after graduating from BU she became an associate producer for the station's Sonya Hamlin Show.[3] By 1974, she was the show's executive producer.[5] She then worked as the producer of the Pat Collins Show on WCBS-TV.[3] She returned to WBZ in 1976 as the executive producer and interviewer for the station's New England Patriots pregame show.[6] In 1977, she began making appearances on WBZ's news broadcasts, serving as a tertiary sports anchor behind Len Berman and Jimmy Myers.[7] In 1978, she became the nightly sports anchor for WDIV-TV in Detroit. At the time of her hiring she was the only woman to serve as a daily sports anchor in a top-10 market.[8] She then worked as a reporter and weekend sports anchor for WJZ-TV in Baltimore.[9]

After being hired by

Wimbledon
, and NBC's "Prudential Sports Updates". In 1989, she became the first woman to regularly host Major League Baseball games for a major television network, NBC.

In January 1989, Gardner was a member of the NBC broadcast team for Super Bowl XXIII (San Francisco vs. Cincinnati).

On August 3, 1993, Gardner became the first woman to do televised

play-by-play of a baseball game when she called the action of a game between the Colorado Rockies and the Cincinnati Reds.[12]

Gardner later worked on the Food Network before writing a screenplay. She spent three years on the Food Network.[13]

In 2004 (to celebrate the 25th anniversary of SportsCenter), Gardner returned to anchor a special "old school" edition of SportsCenter alongside Stuart Scott.

See also

References

  1. ^ Deitsch, Richard (August 6, 2004). "London calling". SI.com. Archived from the original on August 14, 2004.
  2. ^ Schwartz, Lou. "Article - Women in Sportscasting: A Brief History". American Sportscasters Association. Retrieved October 28, 2024.
  3. ^
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  10. ^ "SPORTS PEOPLE; Gardner to Shift". The New York Times. October 6, 1987. p. 30. Retrieved October 28, 2024.
  11. ^ Brennan, Patricia (July 26, 1992). "The Olympiad Covering the Best At Barcelona". The Washington Post. p. y.07. Archived from the original on October 20, 2012.
  12. ^ Schwartz, Lou. "Sportscasting Firsts 1920 - Present". American Sportspeople Online. Archived from the original on August 19, 2013. Retrieved October 28, 2024.
  13. ^ Martzke, Rudy (August 10, 2004). "Disney-owned networks pass on early talks with NFL". USA Today. Archived from the original on February 5, 2013.
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