Born Bryant Charles Gumbel
September 29, 1948 (1948-09-29) (age 61)
New Orleans, Louisiana, United States
Occupation Television personality
Sportscaster
Spouse(s) 1) June Baranco
2) Hilary Quinlan (m. February 2002-present)
Children 1 son and 1 daughter
Years active 1972–present
Early life
Gumbel was born in New Orleans, the son of Rhea Alice (née LeCesne), a city clerk, and Richard Dunbar Gumbel, a judge. He graduated from Bates College in 1970. Gumbel began his television career in October 1972, when he was made a sportscaster for KNBC-TV out of Los Angeles.
Professional career
NBC Sports
Gumbel was hired by NBC Sports in the fall of 1975 as co-host of its National Football League pre-game show GrandStand with Jack Buck. From 1975 until January 1982 (when he left to do The Today Show) Gumbel hosted numerous sporting events for NBC including Major League Baseball, college basketball and the National Football League. Gumbel returned to sportscasting for NBC when he hosted the prime time coverage of the 1988 Summer Olympics from Seoul and the PGA Tour in 1990.
One of Gumbel's more memorable moments during his time at NBC Sports occurred in 1982, when he was on-site for the now legendary "Epic in Miami" NFL playoff game between the San Diego Chargers and Miami Dolphins. At the end of the game, Gumbel told the viewing audience "If you didn't like this football game then you didn't like football!"
Today
Gumbel began his affiliation with Today as the program's chief sports reporter contributing twice-weekly features to the program, including a regular series entitled "Sportsman of the Week," featuring up-and-coming athletes. In June 1981, NBC announced that Tom Brokaw would depart Today to anchor the NBC Nightly News with Roger Mudd beginning in the spring of 1982. The search for Brokaw's replacement was on, and the initial candidates were all NBC News correspondents, including John Palmer, Chris Wallace, Bob Kur, Bob Jamieson, and Jessica Savitch. The candidates auditioned for Brokaw's job throughout the summer of 1981 when Brokaw was on vacation. Gumbel became a candidate for the job just by chance when he served as a last-minute substitute for Today co-anchor Jane Pauley in August 1981. Gumbel so impressed executive producer Steve Friedman and other NBC executives that he quickly became a top contender for the Today anchor position.
While Friedman and other NBC executives favored Gumbel as Brokaw's replacement, another contingent within the NBC News division felt strongly that Brokaw should be replaced by a fellow news correspondent, not a sports reporter. Chris Wallace was the favored candidate of then-NBC News president Bill Small. NBC News decided to split the difference, selecting Gumbel as the program's anchor and Wallace as the Washington-based anchor. Jane Pauley would remain co-anchor in New York. Brokaw signed off of Today on December 18, 1981, and Gumbel replaced Brokaw on January 4, 1982.
The Gumbel-Pauley-Wallace arrangement, known internally as the "Mod Squad," lasted only nine months. It was an arrangement that proved intriguing on paper but unwieldy on television. Gumbel served as the show's traffic cop, opening and closing the program and conducting New York-based interviews, but Pauley and Wallace handled newsreading duties, and Wallace conducted all Washington-based hard news interviews. With ABC's Good Morning America in first place and expanding its lead, NBC News made Gumbel the principal anchor of Today beginning September 27, 1982, with Jane Pauley as his co-anchor. Wallace became chief White House correspondent covering President Reagan, and John Palmer, previously a White House correspondent, became Today's New York-based news anchor.
Gumbel and Pauley had a challenging first two years together as Today anchors as they sought to find a rhythm as a team. Good Morning America solidified its lead over Today in the ratings during the summer of 1983, and Pauley's departure for maternity leave sent Today into a ratings tailspin. But when Pauley returned in February 1984, she and Gumbel began to work well together as a team. NBC took Today on the road in the fall of '84, sending Gumbel to the Soviet Union for an unprecedented series of live broadcasts from Moscow. Gumbel won plaudits for his performance in Moscow, erasing any doubts about his hard-news capabilities. That Moscow trip began a whirlwind period of travel for Today. Remote broadcasts from Vietnam, Vatican City, Europe, South America, and much of the United States followed between 1984 and 1989. Today began to regain its old ratings dominance against Good Morning America throughout 1985, and by early 1986, the NBC program was once again atop the ratings.
In 1989, Gumbel, who was already known for his strong management style as Today anchor, wrote a memo to Today executive producer Marty Ryan, on Ryan's request, critiquing the program and identifying its shortcomings. Many of Gumbel's criticisms were directed at fellow Today staffers. This memo was leaked to the press. In the memo, Gumbel commented that Willard Scott, "holds the show hostage to his assortment of whims, wishes, birthdays and bad taste...This guy is killing us and no one's even trying to rein him in". He commented that Gene Shalit's movie reviews "are often late and his interviews aren't very good."
There was enough negative backlash in regard to Gumbel's comments toward Scott, that Gumbel was shown making up with Scott on Today.
Following Jane Pauley's departure from Today in December 1989, Gumbel was joined by Deborah Norville in a short-lived partnership that lasted just over a year. Today dropped to second place in the ratings during this period as a result of intensely negative publicity surrounding Norville's replacement of Pauley, and Gumbel's feud with Scott. Norville was replaced by Katie Couric in April 1991, and the Gumbel-Couric team helped refocus Today as the morning news program of choice during the 1992 presidential campaign. The program returned to first place in the ratings in December 1995.
Gumbel's work on Today earned him several Emmys and a large group of fans. He is the second longest serving co-host of Today, serving 2 months less than Couric. Gumbel stepped down from the show on January 3, 1997 after 15 years.
