With my great friend, five-time Grammy winner Christian McBride, who was Sting’s bassist for fifteen years
Covering the NCAA tournament with broadcast partners Bill Raftery and Verne Lundquist
The NBA was fun with Pat O’Brien, and I got to travel the world with Peggy Fleming, Dick Button, Brian Boitano, Terry Gannon, and legendary skating director Doug Wilson. My March Madness partners, Verne Lundquist and Bill Raftery, are two of the most entertaining people on the planet, along with producer Mark Wolff. Thanks to Barry Frank and Sandy Montag, who’ve been with me for thirty years, and equal thanks to American Sportscasters Association president Lou Schwartz, who’s been watching over our industry for four decades. I was blessed to cover games with Frank Gifford, go horseback riding with Emmitt Smith, go bowling with Jerome Bettis, and go to a carnival with Wesley Walls. I listened to Chris Doleman play the saxophone by moonlight and golfed badly with Marshall Faulk. I once went to an art gallery with Curtis Martin. Producer Ritchie Zyontz and director Artie Kempner let me keep my luggage in the FOX truck when CBS sent me to one of their NFC playoff games. I thank them, for that and for the hot chocolate, too. Thanks to Tom Ryan, former CEO of CVS, for being a blast at the Final Four. Extra thanks to the Buonicontis, for fighting the fight, and to Dr. Barth Green and the Safie family for helping everywhere they can.
New York Giants founder Wellington Mara had a Mass said for me when I shattered my hip in Central Park in the early 1990s—his son John, the gentleman son of a gentleman and now president of the Giants, lived next door to me at Boston College. I have appreciation for Joe Gibbs, Al Davis, Denny Green, Tom Coughlin, Mike Holmgren, Andy Reid, Lovie Smith, and Tony Dungy, the “Chief” Art Rooney and his late son Dan—plus Lawrence Taylor, Reggie White, Steve Young, Jim McMahon, Harry Carson, and Brett Favre for being especially kind when it mattered. And thanks to Jimmy Johnson, Jason Taylor, Troy Aikman, Michael Irvin, Emmitt Smith, Charles Haley, Nate Newton, Big E, and the Jerry Jones family for being so great to me when they ruled the league. Also to Rudy Martzke, Larry Stewart, Dusty Saunders, Steve Lapa, Tom Hoffarth, Len Shapiro, Chad Finn, and John Ourand for noticing my work. Thanks to the women who are so good at their jobs, Kim Jones, Pam Oliver, and Michele Tafoya. My deepest thanks to Patriots owner Robert Kraft and Hall of Famer Eddie DeBartolo, both whom I first interviewed in 1976.
In Ireland with Dan Rooney, late owner of the Pittsburgh Steelers
With legendary coach of the Dallas Cowboys, Jimmy Johnson
There are plenty of radio people to thank for always having me on, beginning with those three fools on stools in Miami—Jeff DeForrest, Paulie-Man, and Dave Gergely, and thanks to their producer Mike Lubitz. Tony Kornheiser and Mike Wilbon have always been smart and funny, as are South Florida giants Footy, Mike Marino, and Hank Goldberg. Mike Francesa always treated me like the little sister he had to take to the park, but still put me on. The WEEI guys from Boston are wonderful, as are Kelly Whiteside, Mike Freeman, and Dave Goren. Suzyn Waldman has been a friend for decades, as have Andrea Kremer and Amy Trask. David Berson, Tyler Hale, Harold Bryant, and Emilie Deutsch came up with the idea for an all-female network sports talk show, produced by Julie Keryc and Amy Samalson. We Need To Talk has some of the greatest talent, including Tracy Wolfson, Swin Cash, Lisa Leslie, and Allie LaForce. Dana Jacobson and Katrina Adams are gems. Don’t test Laila Ali about boxing or go swimming with either Dara Torres or Summer Sanders. If you haven’t heard “The Fabulous Sports Babe” in Tampa, you should find her, and she’s been much nicer to me than Don Imus, who once wrote me a letter that said, “Lesley, this is to officially inform you I am no longer in love with you; in fact, you bore me.”
After three hip replacements and two spine operations, I’ve earned the broken bones I’ve acquired running everywhere from Lyon, France, to the hills of San Francisco, to the well-worn paths of Hyde Park in London, to the flat beaches in Florida. Doctors Nicholas, Cohen, Garami, Wittels, Callari, Brissett, Garcia, and Kannell and their staffs, especially Elizabeth, Ralph, Bettina, Naomi, Carmen, and Mal McHugh, have made me practically whole and ready to tackle the next assignment. Many thanks to them. I also thank every public relations guy (they were all guys back then) who took my calls and didn’t tell me to go away, especially Jeff Blumb, Rich Dalyrmple, Scott Berchtold, Roger Valdisierri, Pat Hanlon, Stacey James, Kevin Byrne, Dan Edwards, Bill Keenist, Jim Saccomano, Kenny Klein, Frank Ramos, Kirk Reynolds, Chad Steele, and Ed Croke. And thanks to all the cameramen for being so patient, especially Dave A. and Andy K.
I owe a great debt to the league commissioners, particularly when they hadn’t seen a woman around press row before. Pete Rozelle and David Stern opened the locker rooms, and were followed by equally great men, Paul Tagliabue and Adam Silver. Greg Aiello was wonderful throughout the many years, and thanks to Roger Goodell. Dave Gavitt at the Big East was decades ahead of his time, and the next commissioner, Mike Tranghese, was just as honorable. Also deserved thanks to Dave Baker, Steve Schott, and all the people at the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Thanks to NYU’s Arthur Miller, Art Kaplan, Bob Costas, and the social work we’re trying to do. And the same to the Muhammad Ali Foundation in Louisville, which is trying to spread his generous principles of life. Two charities have had an enormous impact on me: St. Jude’s, helped by Cheryl DeLeonardis, Kaye Burkhardt, and Cheri and Pat Summerall; and the V Foundation for Cancer Research, now led by George Bodenheimer, Steve Bornstein, Pam Valvano, and Susan Braun. As a board member for more than twenty years, I have thanked Bobby Lloyd, Pam Valvano, John Leshney, Harry Rhoads, Geoff Mason, Larry Probst, Becky Bumgardner, Julie and Jim Allegro, Mike McDonald, Bob Valvano, Rosa Gatti, and the brilliant doctors many, many times.
Now living in Florida, I get to hang with my husband Bob, whom I thank every day, along with pals Jersey Kyle, Connie Coopersmith, Fudge Browne, Mary Fanizzi, Jennifer, Judith, Jennifer Kronenberg, Jelitza Ortiz, Mike and Alice, Dan and Grace, Judith, Carolyn and Adam Hasid, Charlie Brown, Mike and Alicia Piazza, Pete Sandore, Mike Gdovic, Sean Reilly, Eddie, Lori, and Bradley Saltzman, Carl, the Sultan, Sardy and Foxy, the Bruders, Billy and Christie Evans, Jack Shelley, Harvey and Cathy Greene, the Bistro and Emilios, especially JC, Emily Peterson, Ferdie, Mustang Sally, Bob Farmer and Tommy Winston, Steve Alaimo, Michael and Kathleen O’Neil, Doc Pratt, Haresh and Tanuja, Mike Shehadi and his talented daughter Lauren, Mike Mailey, Dopey O’Donnell, Judy Dalail, Jack Freedman, and Billy Campbell—all of whom make living in Miami a blast.
With former CEO of ESPN and fellow board member of the V Foundation for Cancer Research George Bodenheimer
And not to be forgotten over the many miles and smiles (and a few tears at night) are a few more friends and colleagues: Gayle Barden, Peg Carson, the secretary who kept the Globe sports department together, the late Dick Bresciani of the Red Sox, and Mike Shalin, still writing after all these years. My deep thanks go to Robin Brendle, Dan Sabreen, and especially Jen Sabatelle of the CBS communications department, and always to Rick and Janet Odioso, who make every year on Radio Row at the Super Bowl another long day to remember. And also to lifelong friends Kris Kellem and Tom Jernstedt of CBS and the NCAA. I have appreciation for the people who cover our business, Ken Fang, Neil Best, Barry Jackson, Chad Finn, Richard Deitsch, and Phil Mushnick (who, every time he criticized me was right), and I miss calling people like Lee Remmel of the Packers, Ron Howard and Derek Boyko of the Eagles, Brett Daniels of the Cowboys, Craig Kelley of the Colts, and even crazy Al LoCasale of the Raiders. Certainly, I don’t want to forget thanking Gary Wright, my two Charlies—Taylor and Dayton—and, of course, Rick Smith of the Rams. A special hug to the fans, without whom none of us would have jobs! Red Roses to all.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Lesley Visser is the most highly acclaimed female sportscaster of all time. She is the first and only woman in the Pro Football Hall of Fame; the only female sportscaster to have carried the Olympic torch; the only woman to have presented the championship Lombardi Trophy at the Super B
owl; and the first woman on the network broadcasts of the Final Four, the Super Bowl, the NBA Finals, and the World Series. She was voted the Outstanding Female Sportscaster of All Time by the National Sportscasting Association, was also elected to the Sportswriters Hall of Fame for her work at the Boston Globe, national magazines, and CBS.com, and was recently elected to the Sports Broadcasting Hall of Fame. Visser was the first and only woman to win the Billie Jean King Outstanding Journalist award, was named a Sports Business Journal Champion, and was also elected to the Sports Museum of Boston. A graduate of Boston College, which awarded her an honorary doctorate in 2007, she has been on the board of the V Foundation for Cancer Research for more than twenty years, while also serving on the board of NYU’s Sports and Society. Visser has mentored young women for decades, while speaking at colleges and businesses around the world. A sportscaster at CBS for more than twenty-five years, she also spent nearly ten years at ABC sports, where she became the first woman on Monday Night Football, while also covering the World Series, World Figure Skating, the World Skiing Championships, and the Triple Crown. She has been voted one of the “Women We Love” by Esquire magazine and one of the “Five Ideal Dinner Guests” by GQ. Most recently, she was honored by the Muhammad Ali Center as a “Daughter of Greatness,” in recognition of her leadership and dedication to activism and pursuit of justice. She and her husband, Bob Kanuth, a former captain of Harvard basketball, live in Bay Harbor Islands, Florida.
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