Firestone, Roy 1953-

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FIRESTONE, Roy 1953-

PERSONAL:

Born December 8, 1953, in Miami Beach, FL; son of Bernard and Regina Firestone; married, 1987; wife's name Midori; children: two sons. Education: University of Miami, graduated, 1974.

ADDRESSES:

Office—Entertainment and Sports Programming Network (ESPN), 6251 Afton Pl., Los Angeles, CA 90028-8204.

CAREER:

Sportscaster and stand-up comedian. Opened for various comedians, including Johnny Cash and Mel Torme, in Miami, FL, beginning at age fifteen; WTVJ-TV, Miami, FL, sports reporter, 1973-75; WPLG-TV, Miami, sports reporter, 1975-77; KCBS-TV, Los Angeles, CA, sports reporter, 1977-1985, football color commentator, 1978-79; USA Network, football color commentator, 1978-79; host of Mazda SportsLook, USA Network, 1980-1984 (moved to Entertainment and Sports Programming Network [ESPN], 1984-1990); ESPN, host of Up Close, 1991-1995, host of Up Close Primetime, 1998—. Host of a nationally broadcast radio program about major league baseball; host of Sports Comedy around the World, syndicated.

Guest star on television programs, including (as Keith) "Twin Engines," Misfits of Science, National Broadcasting Company (NBC), 1985; (as himself) "Peggy Turns 300," Married … with Children, Fox, 1990; (as narrator) "The Patriot Bowl," Coach, American Broadcasting Companies (ABC), 1992; "Colors of the Rainbow," Arli$$, Home Box Office (HBO), 1996; (as himself) "All Teed Off," Clueless, ABC, 1997; (as himself) "Secrets and Lies," Arsenio, ABC, 1997; (as himself) "Ray's on TV," Everybody Loves Raymond, Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS), 1997; (as voice) "Bart Star," The Simpsons, Fox, 1997; and (as himself) "Science Friction," Spin City, 2001; also guest on talk shows, including Late Night with David Letter-man, Later with Bob Costas, Larry King Live, and The Tonight Show. Appeared (as himself) in the television movie The Ratings Game (also known as The Mogul), The Movie Channel, 1984. Host of the television program Into the Night, ABC, 1992; provided sports-caster voices for the television series Bugs Bunny's Wild World of Sports, 1989.

Appeared in films (as himself, unless noted), including (as voice) Daffy Duck's Quackbusters (animated), Warner Bros., 1988; The Scout, Twentieth Century-Fox, 1994; Jerry Maguire, TriStar, 1996; Good Luck (also known as Gimps, Guys Like Us, and The Ox and the Eye), Moki Mac River Expedition, 1997; and Juwanna Mann, 2002. Provided additional voices for Mighty Ducks the Movie: The Face-Off, Walt Disney Home Video, 1997. Appeared in videos, including (as voice) Likely Stories, Volume 3, 1983; ESPN Highlights: The Legends of Baseball, ESPN, 1996; Roy Firestone's Greatest Moments in Golf, 1999; and Roy Firestone's Greatest Moments in Sports.

AWARDS, HONORS:

Seven Cable ACE Awards; six Emmy Awards, Academy of Television Arts and Sciences; Award for Broadcast Journalism, Northeastern University.

WRITINGS:

(With Scott Ostler) Up Close: And in Your Face with the Greats, Near Greats, and Ingrates of Sports, Hyperion (New York, NY), 1993.

(With Linda McCoy-Murray) Quotable Jim Murray: The Literary Wit, Wisdom, and Wonder of a Distinguished American Sports Columnist, Towle-House Publishing (Nashville, TN), 2003.

SIDELIGHTS:

Roy Firestone is one of the most recognizable faces in the world of American sports journalism. His pioneering television shows Sports-Look and Up Close have made him famous for covering the deeper issues in sports that other shows could not or would not handle, and he has also become known as a perceptive interviewer who is excellent at getting his guests, often hard-boiled sports figures, to open up and share their feelings and personal lives with him.

Firestone drew on those interviews in writing his first book, Up Close: And in Your Face with the Greats, Near Greats, and Ingrates of Sports, published in 1993. Firestone discusses some of the people he has met, but he also makes larger points about the role of sports in society. "One of the best chapters in the book concerns race in America" and how this is reflected in the reaction of white Americans to successful black athletes, noted a Publishers Weekly reviewer.

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

BOOKS

Newsmakers 1988, Gale (Detroit, MI), 1988.

PERIODICALS

Booklist, June 1, 1993, Scott Wilkens, review of Up Close: And in Your Face with the Greats, Near-Greats, and Ingrates of Sports, p. 1767.

Lansing State Journal (Lansing, MI), November 10, 1999, "Firestone Shows Versatility," p. C1.

Library Journal, June 1, 1993, Kenneth Tillma, review of Up Close, pp. 139-140.

Los Angeles Magazine, September, 1983, Jan Golab and Bill Buerge, "Throw da Bums Out!," pp. 234-239.

Los Angeles Times, January 4, 1997, Jon Matsumoto, profile of Firestone, p. 6.

Publishers Weekly, April 19, 1993, review of Up Close, p. 46.

Sport, November, 1998, Sam Silverstein, review of Up Close Primetime (TV show), pp. 36-37.

Sporting News, August 9, 1993, Stevel Gietschier, review of Up Close, p. 7.

Sports Illustrated, February 23, 1987, William Taaffe, "Cable's Mr. Capable," p. 77; December 15, 1997, "This Week's Sign that the Apocalypse Is upon Us," p. 34.