Costas, Bob (1952—)
Costas, Bob (1952—)
Preeminent broadcast journalist and sportscaster Bob Costas began announcing basketball games for a St. Louis radio station at the age of twenty-two. He joined NBC in 1980, quickly becoming one of the network's most valuable assets through his work covering major league baseball, football, basketball, and college events, and hosting various shows including NBA Showtime, NFL Live, and Costas Coast to Coast. In 1992, a high-profile stint as the network's prime-time anchor at the XXV Olympics in Barcelona, Spain, earned him nationwide name recognition. A three-time Emmy winner for his sports announcing and hosting, his colleagues have also named him outstanding sportscaster of the year four times. Moving beyond sports in 1988, he launched a late-night interview television program, Later with Bob Costas, that won him another Emmy. When the series ended in 1994, Costas expanded his duties at NBC, contributing to Dateline, Today, NBC News, and anchoring MSNBC's Internight.
—Courtney Bennett
Further Reading:
Costas, Bob. Bob Costas: Costas on Sports. New York, Bantam Doubleday Dell, 1997.
Smith, Curt. The Story Tellers: From Mel Allen to Bob Costas, Sixty Years of Baseball Tales from the Broadcast Booth. New York, Macmillan, 1995.