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ESPN's Chris Berman is one of sports television's brightest and most recognizable personalities. Twice, the versatile Berman has been selected the National Sportscaster of the Year (1989-1990) by the members of the National Sportscasters and Sportswriters Association. He is the only cable commentator ever chosen.
As a studio host, anchor and commentator, Berman is known for balancing in-depth sports reports in an upbeat and easygoing manner, without sacrificing content. Reporting with ample amounts of humor and ebullience, Berman says "Whatever lightness I try to add, I never let fun interfere with the news. That comes first. Sports should be fun, and I want viewers to share in the enjoyment I get from the games. But I also owe it to those same viewers to be thoroughly prepared and to know what I'm talking about, or not talking about." Berman received perhaps his most praise when he and analyst Buck Martinez chose not to speak during the 22-minute celebration in the Ripken game.
Berman hosts ESPN’s “Sunday NFL Countdown”, a weekly Sunday morning pre-game show which won a Sports Emmy Award in 1991 and a Cable ACE in 1989; “NFL PrimeTime”, ESPN's extensive evening NFL highlight show. He also hosts ESPN's “NFL Draft” coverage and, on occasion, “SportsCenter”.
In 1988 and '89, he hosted ESPN's first-ever sports game show, "Boardwalk and Baseball's Super Bowl of Sports Trivia."
In 1990, Berman added a new role to his resume--a play-by-play commentator for one ESPN Major League Baseball game each week. He also hosts the Sunday night edition of “Baseball Tonight”, the network's nightly Major League Baseball news, highlights and features program.
Berman's trademark over the years has become his use of nicknames while voicing over Major League Baseball highlights. Since he began using them over ten years ago, Berman has received favorable reviews from media, viewers and players across the country. Berman's personal favorites from the over 600 monickers he has coined are Bert "Be Home" Blyleven, Jose "Can You See" Cruz, Jim "Two Silhouettes On" Deshaies and Von "Purple" Hayes.
In addition to the NSSA Awards, he was also honored in 1990 with a Cable Ace Award as cable's best sports host and The Cable Guide readers voted him "Best Cable Sportscaster." He was also voted the "Best Sports Commentator" in 1987 and 1988 by readers of The Cable Guide, and TV Guide chose him as one of the "Top Stars of the 90s." In November 1991, Berman was inducted into the Brown University Athletic Hall of Fame. In 1992, the syndicated "NFL Pre-Season Special" surveyed NFL players on their favorite football commentator and 43 of them selected Berman, an overwhelming majority.
After graduating from Brown University in 1977 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in History, Berman began his career as a disc jockey at WERI in Westerly, Rhode Island, hosting a news-oriented talk show and covering high school football and basketball games. One year later he joined WNVRRadio in Waterbury, Connecticut, broadcasting high school football games and co-hosting a sports talk show.
Berman's first broadcasting position came while he was a student at Brown, serving as sports director for WBRU Radio and commentator for baseball, basketball, football and ice hockey games. He also assisted NBC Sports telecasts in New England and served as a correspondent for WEAN, a Providence, R.l. news radio station.
Berman's first television exposure came in 1979 when he joined WVIT-TV, an NBC affiliate in Hartford, Conn., as a weekend sports anchor. In October of 1979, Berman was hired by ESPN, one month after its inception.
Berman, born May 10, 1955, resides in his native Connecticut with his wife Kathy and their two children, Meredith and Doug.
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