Clark Kellogg

1961—

Professional basketball player, commentator

A former All-American, Big Ten Most Valuable Player, and top draft choice of the Indiana Pacers, Clark Kellogg had a stellar basketball career that seemed destined for the record books. But life threw a foul ball, and Kellogg's career was sidelined early by a knee injury. Not one to sit quietly on the bench, Kellogg turned his gift of gab and his love for basketball into a successful broadcasting career that has made him one of America's favorite college basketball commentators. Yet, Kellogg has taken his success in stride. "I'm not an expert. I hate when people refer to me as an expert. I'm a guy who understands and knows the game and has a passion for it, and can make it simple for people to understand because I communicate well. That's my job, to add something to their viewing without getting in the way. I'm not the game, the players are the game. Less is always more," he told Cleveland's The Plain Dealer. With a full-time on-air contract with CBS and a growing profile, college basketball fans can expect to see more, not less, of Kellogg.

Fulfilled Dream to Play in the NBA

Clark Clifton Kellogg Jr. was born on July 2, 1961, in Cleveland, Ohio, the oldest of Mattie and Clark Kellogg Sr.'s five children. Kellogg showed an early affinity for the court, and by the age of 14 he was signing autographs as a local basketball hero. He recalled telling his mother early on that he wanted to play for the NBA. "It was during the late '60s and early '70s and the stereotype of the non-talking jock was very, very prevalent," Kellogg told The Plain Dealer. "Especially among African-Americans. And when I expressed to my mom a desire to be one of those guys that might have a microphone in front of his face because of what he did on the court, she said, ‘Boy, you better be able to put a sentence together.’" Kellogg did just that, learning to speak articulately and passionately about the game. It was a skill that would unwittingly shape his future.

Nicknamed "Special K," Kellogg led St. Joseph's High School to the 1979 state championships and in a 79-65 loss posted an astounding 51 points—a record that still stood in 2007. In 1979, he graduated as an All-American with a reputation as the best Cleveland high school basketball player in history and a scholarship to Ohio State University. In college, Kellogg was the Buckeyes leading scorer and rebounder during both his sophomore and junior years. In 1982 he had his best year, averaging 16.1 points and 10.5 rebounds per game and playing in the NCAA Tournament. His efforts won him honors as the All-Big Ten Conference Most Valuable Player. Unfortunately, the Buckeyes did not perform as well as Kellogg, losing in the tournament to the lower-ranked James Madison University. The next season, rather than begin his senior year, Kellogg decided to turn professional. He was just 44 hours short of earning his degree. "It had nothing to do with the loss to James Madison," he told The Plain Dealer, "I just felt it was time to go to the NBA."

In the 1982 NBA draft, Kellogg was picked in the first round, eighth overall, by the Indiana Pacers. According to a history of the Indiana Pacers published by The Indianapolis Star, "One of the highlights of the 1982-83 season was the drafting of Clark Kellogg." In his rookie season, he scored an average of 20.1 points and 10.6 rebounds, earning a unanimously appointed spot on the 1982 NBA All-Rookie Team. He finished the year by signing a four-year $1 million contract. Over the next three years he continued to dazzle on the court, averaging 18.9 points and 9.5 rebounds per game. Playing against legends such as Larry Byrd, Kellogg seemed on a fast track to be counted as one himself. However, an injury to his left knee early in the 1985-86 put the brakes on his career. He played in 19 games that season and just four the following. After three knee surgeries, he had no choice but to retire. "I wish I could have played eight or 10 years to see how good I could have been," Kellogg told The Plain Dealer, "But at least nobody can take away those first three years."

Found Basketball Fame as a Broadcaster

Known on and off the court as both a natural storyteller and a genuinely nice guy, Kellogg was persuaded by friends and colleagues to pursue a career in basketball broadcasting. "Even though I played, I was always the guy standing around the playground narrating the games," he recalled to the Chicago Sun-Times. Having long since heeded his mother's advice about learning to speak eloquently, Kellogg was a natural. He began by working as a radio analyst for the Pacers. Cleveland State University hired him for his first television work. This led to a brief stint providing on-air commentary for the Big East Network, which broadcasts Big East Conference games. Then in 1989, Kellogg made the leap to ESPN where he served as a basketball analyst for the next eight years. Also in 1989, he was hired as a television analyst by the Pacers, a position which he continued to hold into 2007. His burgeoning success as a basketball broadcaster was a good salve for the pain of his short-lived basketball career. "If I had to go in another direction, then this is a great fit," he told Ohio State News. "I am still around the game—I get to interact with the players and the coaches, and I am still a small part of the game."

At a Glance …

Born in 1961, in Cleveland, OH; married: Rosy; children: Talisa, Alex, Nicholas. Education: Ohio State University, BA, business management, 1996.

Career: Indiana Pacers, NBA, professional basketball player, 1982-87; ESPN, college basketball on-air analyst, 1989-97; Indiana Pacers, on-air analyst, 1989-; CBS, college basketball analyst, 1997-; CBS SportsLine.com, columnist, 2006-.

Memberships: Ohio State University Alumni Association, board member; Commerce National Bank, Columbus, OH, board member; Fellowship of Christian Athletes, member; Athletes In Action, member, speaker; Pacers Foundation, member; Simon Youth Foundation, member.

Awards: Ohio State Athletics Hall of Fame, 2001; Ohio State University, distinguished service award, 2001; Legends of the Hardwood, Coach Wooden Keys to Life Award, 2003.

Addresses: Office—CBS SportsLine, 2200 West Cypress Creek Road, Fort Lauderdale, FL 33309. Home—Westerville, OH.

Kellogg got to be a much bigger part of the game when he was hired as a full-time college basketball analyst for CBS in 1997. He had begun serving as an NCAA Final Four game analyst for the network in 1993. In his full-time position he joined long-time sports commentator Greg Gumbel. Gumbel praised Kellogg to the Plain Dealer, saying "He's got such a gift for being likeable." Gumbel added that "I like to think that you're not a real person if you're a different person once you're on the air. And Clark is the same person. I don't think he could be anything else if he tried." Kellogg's basketball-guy-next-door image was a hit with fans. "I'm real all the time," Kellogg clarified in the same article, "I'll pick up my energy level on TV, but if we sat here and watched the Final Four, I'd be talking to you exactly how I talk to the people, like barbershop talk." Kellogg gained a reputation for peppering that talk with a player's perspective in a style he described to the Chicago Sun-Times as a "player's announcer." He was also credited with creating a new vocabulary of hoop jargon to describe the game. In Kellogg's world, an assist is "dropping a dime," a dunk is a "punch," and a spectacular play has "flavor."

As co-host of the popular annual CBS series "Road to the Final Four" since 1997, Kellogg has been watched by tens of millions of viewers. As columnist for CBS Sportsline.com, his unique player-centric take on the game reaches even more basketball fans. Despite this high-flying success, Kellogg maintains a very supportive, close relationship with his wife Rosy and their three children, Talisa, Alex, and Nicholas. He has regularly attended Alex's basketball games at Providence College and Talisa's volleyball games at Georgia Tech. Committed Christians, he and his wife are also active in a number of charitable organizations including the Simon Youth Foundation which provides college scholarships to at-risk youth. Kellogg, who returned to Ohio State part-time in 1983 and finally earned a degree in business management in 1996, told Ohio State News, "I hope that my coming back to school says something positive. It is not about doing something quickly, but achieving what you set out to do." In Kellogg's case, he set out to be an NBA player and achieved just that. He did not plan on becoming a top-rated basketball broadcaster, but he achieved that as well, proving that sometimes life's unexpected foul balls can lead to a slam dunk of success.

Sources

Periodicals

Chicago Sun-Times, March 18, 1994.

The Plain Dealer (Cleveland, OH), March 25, 2000, p. 2D, March 25, 2006, p. D10, April 3, 2006, p. C1.

USA Today, April 2, 2007, p. 2C.

On-line

"Clark Kellogg to Address Autumn Quarter Commencement," Ohio State News,http://www.osu.edu/osu/newsrel/Archive/98-11-17_Clark_Kellogg_to_Address_Autumn_Graduates.html (September 1, 2007).

"History of the Indiana Pacers," The Indianapolis Star,http://www2.indystar.com/library/factfiles/sports/basketball/indiana_pacers/history.html (September 1, 2007).