Veteran sports broadcaster hails from Whitestone
calling plays for Thursday
night college football
and college basketball for the
network. He has also handled
NBA and golf coverage for
ESPN and ABC. Never one to
rest on his laurels, the multitalented
Tirico also anchored
the 2009 tennis U.S. Open, coanchored
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TIMESLEDGER | QNS.COM | DEC. 17 - DEC. 23, 2021 15
QUEENSLINE
In conjunction
with the Greater
Astoria Historcal Society,
TimesLedger Newspapers
presents noteworthy
events in the borough’s
history.
Born Michael Todd Tirico
on Dec. 13, 1966, in Whitestone,
Mike Tirico is a veteran
TV sportscaster. He was a playby
play announcer on ESPN’s
Monday Night Football and
currently works for NBC
Sports.
While perhaps best known
as a football announcer, the
versatile Queens native has
called games in a multitude of
sports, including basketball,
hockey, golf, tennis and World
Cup soccer.
The future celebrity
sportscaster graduated Bayside
High School and the S.
I. Newhouse School of Public
Communications at Syracuse
University. While in college,
he began covering sports
for CBS affiliate WTVH. He
joined ESPN as an anchor on
SportsCenter in 1991, and soon
proved his skill in handling
a variety of assignments for
the popular sports program,
including serving as the first
host of ESPNews.
He became well-known to
sports fans across the country
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the 2010 and 2014
FIFA World Cup, as well as
UEFA Euro 2016.
Since joining NBC Sports
in 2016, the famed sportscaster
has become the lead
primetime host of the Olympics
for his new employer. 2017
was a banner year for Tirico,
with NBC naming him the
lead play-by-play commentator
for Notre Dame Football,
and he debuted as the host of
the Triple Crown horse races.
That year, he was also started
working Thursday Night
Football alongside analyst
Cris Collinsworth, and the
NBC program was primetime
television’s #2 rated show that
season and the #3 show the
following season. Mike Tirico
also hosts Football Night in
America, the Indianapolis 500
and the Stanley Cup.
The sportscaster from Whitestone
has shared the broadcasting
booth with luminaries
from all of these sports. In football,
he has worked alongside
Doug Flutie, Lee Corso and
Drew Brees, and he has covered
golf with the likes of Curtis
Strange and Nick Faldo.
His career has made Mike
Tirico a household name
among American sports fans,
and his sports coverage has
spanned the globe. After making
his Olympics debut hosting
NBC’s broadcast of the
2016 Summer Olympics in
Brazil, he appeared as the network’s
primetime host for the
2018 winter games in South
Korea and the Tokyo Olympics
in 2021.
His career, however, has not
been without controversy. Two
books about ESPN, “ESPN:
The Uncensored History” and
“These Guys Have All the
Fun,” recounted allegations
of sexual harassment against
Tirico. The sportscaster was
suspended by the network in
1992 for his behavior.
After NBC fired Matt Lauer
in 2017 over sexual misconduct,
the station stated they
knew of Tirico’s past and he
had assured his new employer
he was a changed man. According
to one former executive,
“That happened well over
two decades ago and Mike has
been nothing but the consummate
professional (since).”
Notable quote: “You can’t
just look at the back section of a
newspaper or the sports section
by itself, you need to understand
everything that is going on.”
For further info, call the
Greater Astoria Historical
Society at 718-278-0700 or
www.astorialic.org.
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