Musburger Back in the Sports Game With ABC

If Brent Musburger had worked for a different Chicago newspaper, he might never have become a sportscaster.

In 1968, Musburger was a sports columnist with the now-defunct Chicago American, an afternoon newspaper owned by the Chicago Tribune. Then, Chicago’s WBBM radio station converted to an all-news format and asked Musburger to become its sports director.

“My managing editor said I’d be making a tremendous mistake,” Musburger said. “Deep down, I felt afternoon newspapers were headed for major distribution problems. I saw all those traffic jams coming home from work. I convinced myself that the future of sports information was on the broadcast side. But if I had worked for the Tribune, I might have stayed in newspapers.”

So Musburger took the radio job and a year later he moved into television, on WBBM-TV, Chicago’s CBS station. Fahey Flynn, the station’s popular anchorman, had just moved to ABC-owned WLS-TV, taking much of his audience with him. Musburger was brought in as a commentator to boost the ratings.

“They wanted me to create controversy,” Musburger recalled. “The first night I did a commentary saying the Chicago Blackhawks should trade (future Hall of Famers) Bobby Hull or Stan Mikita. (Neither player was dealt.) By 10 that next morning, the news director told me there were plenty of calls from people asking me to do more of that.”

Much to his dismay, Musburger again was the subject of controversy on April Fool’s Day this year, when he abruptly was fired by CBS Sports on the eve of the NCAA Basketball Championship game. The network never gave a reason for the dismissal, but four days later, Musburger claimed it was a result of a vendetta by two top CBS Sports executives.

“I felt bad for players from Nevada-Las Vegas and Duke in that game,” Musburger said. “That should have been their celebration, and they should have been in the focus, not me.”

The latest chapter of Musburger’s broadcasting career begins Monday when he debuts with ABC, hosting the inaugural “All-Star Pro Sports Awards” at 9 p.m. (on Channels 7, 3, 10, 42). The show from the Universal Amphitheatre honors the top professional athletes in 11 categories as selected by fans’ votes.

“My involvement came about after the show was conceived,” Musburger said. “I will have nothing to do with the awarding of the trophies. I’ll give an overview and explain how the voting was handled, do some voice-over material on the clips and be backstage with some of the winners to get a relaxed feel with some of the athletes.”

At ABC, Musburger may be as busy as he was during his 15 years at CBS. He will announce harness racing’s Hambletonian, the Little League World Series, college football and basketball and the new World League of American Football.

However, there will be one event Musburger says he will miss broadcasting each year--college basketball’s Final Four.

“There will be a twinge when those kids hit the floor,” Musburger said. “I fully intend to be in the arena.”

Musburger’s dismissal came two weeks before he was set to debut as the announcer for CBS’ Major League Baseball telecasts.

“I had looked forward to it, but I hadn’t done it,” Musburger said. “Major League Baseball will come home to ABC in four or five years and I’ll be doing it then. I know the way things turn around. It would have been great, but it hurt more losing something I had done.”