Forty years later, ESPN’s Berman back
Two years out of Brown University and hustling to make a name for himself in sports media, Chris Berman took his microphone to Walter Camp Football Foundation weekend in 1979.
Berman secured interviews for Waterbury radio station WNVR, where he had a gig as a sports talk host.
Later that year, Berman would join a fledgling cable sports network in Bristol. And as he evolved into the face of ESPN, there would be no opportunity to attend the yearly Walter Camp events in New Haven.
The 40-year absence ends Saturday. Berman will receive the Walter Camp Football Foundation’s Distinguished American award, an honor that will bring him to the awards dinner.
Berman has received plenty of awards — sixtime National Sportscaster of the Year, 10 Emmy Award, honored by the Pro Football Hall of Fame — but this is different. For guy who loves history and football, receiving an honor for this particular organization is sublime.
“I’m proud — it’s Walter Camp, Yale, Ivy League, Brown, … its Connecticut,” Berman said . “It’s not a Connecticut award but I kind of represent the state and feel very honored for
that. I represent a company which was a pipe dream that started and is in this state.
“So you got a football a football award in my home state, that’s the oldest AllAmerican team. The company (ESPN) is here, I’ve lived here my whole life … I did not see this coming and I’m really excited about Saturday night.”
The Camp award dinner perennially brings the biggest names in college football to New Haven. And there’s always alumni and award winners with NFL pedigree, turning the weekend into a celebration of football.
It’s just the type of event Berman would seemingly relish. Yet his job as the face of ESPN’s NFL coverage precluded him from being available on the weekend of the NFL conference championships.
“I would have been at all of these were I not doing what I was doing,” Berman said.
Berman was surprised when he learned of his award from Walter Camp President Mario Coppola in September. Coppola explained that Berman would be honored with the Distinguished American award.
“First I said, well you have the wrong number,” Berman said.
As Berman has scanned the list of past winners, he’s been humbled. From George Halas and Red Grange to Bob Hope, Carm Cozza, and the New York City Police, Fire, and Emergency Media Service Personnel in 2001.
“I’m not sure I belong on this list,” Berman said. “But I’m honored. This is a big deal phone call (from Coppola).”
The other important part of the award? It’s in New Haven, at Yale. Berman, a longtime Cheshire resident, feels a deep sense of pride in his home state.
“It’s not just, hey it’s a football award and this foundation is in Ohio or Pennsylvania, which it certainly could be,” Berman said. “But it’s here. There are so many things that I feel connected with and I hope to represent the state, and my company, and those that live here, well.”
Berman, 64, stepped away from his full-time job in 2017, the same year his wife Kathy died in a car accident. He continued to contribute to ESPN, but moved to “semi, semi retirement” this fall when he and Tom Jackson relaunched “NFL Primetime” on ESPN+.
Berman and Jackson teamed on NFL Primetime and later on an NFL highlight show. They relaunched Primetime for ESPN’s streaming service, delivering the show each Sunday night.
“We are having a blast doing this on Sunday nights,” Berman said. “It’s been great, not to reconnect with football because I never left it, but to reconnect with our viewers. This is the most that I’ve done in the three years since I stopped doing it full-time and it’s been so rewarding. So much fun.
“The friendships in the game of football and the friendships in our business. I’m only 64. ESPN is 11 miles from where I live. So it’s been more fun than I expected.”
And just as Berman was pivotal figure in ESPN’s growth as a cable network decades ago, he’s now doing his part to build the company’s streaming service.
“If I can help get something moving in a small way, one more time … This would be really cool on the way out the door,” Berman said. “If ESPN is going to be the great success and continue to compete and (streaming) is the direction they can go ... who knew that an old fart from the 20th Century could help a 21st Century idea. That’s kind of cool.”
The 20th Century face of ESPN is feeling nostalgic these days. As he prepared for this weekend, he reminisced about the young broadcaster interviewing Walter Camp All-American Kellen Winslow back in the infancy of his career. Now, he’s back.
“It’s a 40-year gap for me,” Berman said. “Very cool.”