Bryant Gumbel to Receive Lifetime Achievement Honor at Sports Emmy Awards

The National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences announced today that award-winning journalist Bryant Gumbel will be honored with the lifetime achievement award at the 44th annual Sports Emmy Awards ceremony, which will be held at Lincoln Center’s Rose Hall in New York City on May 22.

“I’m humbled by this announcement and grateful to the folks at NATAS for this prestigious award,” said Gumbel in a statement. “After 50 years in the business, sharing the same honor with men like Jim McKay, Howard Cosell and Vin Scully is heady stuff indeed.”

“Bryant has a storied career, from his start as a sportscaster in Los Angeles to five decades of celebrated work — every bit cementing him as an icon and trailblazer in sports and entertainment,” said Adam Sharp, President & CEO of NATAS. “Bryant‘s incredible resume spanning Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel, NBC Sports, NBC News, CBS News and many other projects has brought dramatic and human news and sports stories to life for audiences throughout his career making him a clear front runner for this distinct honor.”

Justine Gubar, head of the Sports Emmys, added: “For me, the selection of Bryant for the lifetime achievement honor is a wholehearted endorsement of sports journalism. Bryant is a consummate journalist, interviewer and storyteller and the sports media landscape is indebted  to the high standard Bryant continues to set to this day.”

Since 1995, Gumbel has hosted HBO’s Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel, which has earned 36 Sports Emmy Awards during its 26-season run. Before launching his own news magazine series for the cable network, Gumbel spent 20 years at NBC and holds the record for the longest-running host of Today. He also worked at CBS News where he hosted his own prime-time program, Public Eye, as well as the network’s morning news program, The Early Show, before retiring from broadcast network television. 

In addition to four Emmys, three NAACP Awards (including the President’s Award), a Peabody and the Edward R. Murrow Award, Gumbel has also received the Frederick D. Patterson Award and the Martin Luther King Award from the Congress of Racial Equality, the latter being the United Negro College Fund’s highest honor. He has also been honored with the International Journalism Award from TransAfrica, the Africa’s Future Award from the U.S. Committee for UNICEF and the leadership award from the African American Institute. Gumbel has received honorary doctorates from Bates, Xavier, Holy Cross, Providence College and Clark Atlanta University.