Bryant Gumbel Biography

Bryant Gumbel is an American television journalist and sportscaster. He is mainly known as the co-host of NBC’s The Today Show. He hosted the show for 15 years.

EARLY YEARS 

Bryant was born on September 29, 1948, in New Orleans, Louisiana, United States. Her birth name is Bryant Charles Gumbel. He was born to Rhea Alice and Richard Dunbar Gumbel. Rhea is a city clerk and Richard is a judge. 

He attended the De La Salle Institute and graduated from there. In 1970, he graduated from Bates College. He started working at Black Sports Magazine as an editor in 1971. In October 1972, he began his television career. He later became a sportscaster for KNBC-TV.

BROADCASTING CAREER

In the fall of 1975, he was hired by NBC Sports. He started working in National Football League pre-game show GrandStand with Jack Buck. He has hosted events like major League Baseball, college basketball and the National Football League for NBC from 1975 until January 1982. In 1990, he covered the 1988 Summer Olympics from Seoul. In 1982, he covered the NFL playoff game between the San Diego Chargers and Miami Dolphins.

He began working as the program’s chief sports reporter of the program which includes Sportsman of the Week with Today. In August 1981, he served as a substitute for Today co-anchor Jane Pauley. He then became a top contender for the Today anchor position as he impressed other NBC executives and executive producer Steve Friedman. NBC decided to make Gumbel as the program’s anchor and Wallace as the Washington-based anchor. On January 4, 1982, he replaced Tom Brokaw for the Today anchor position. On September 27, 1982, he was made principal anchor of Today and Jane Pauley as his co-anchor. Gumbel and Jane Pauley had a challenging moment to find a rhythm as a team for two years as Today anchors. 

During the summer of 1983, Good Morning America won over Today in the ratings. Pauley left Today and in February 1984 Pauley returned and began working together as a team. He went to the Soviet Union for an unparalleled series of live broadcasts from Moscow. For his performance, he won plaudits in Moscow. Throughout 1985, Today began to regain its rating and dominating Good Morning America. The NBC program was top in the ratings in 1986. During this period the rating of Today dropped to second place. In December 1995, the program gained the position of first place in the ratings. He won several Emmy Awards for working on Today. He became the third longest serving co-host of Today. On January 3, 1997, he stepped down from the show.

He moved to CBS and started working as the host of the prime-time news magazine Public Eye with Bryant Gumbel. In 1988, the episode The Reckoning won a Peabody Award. On November 1, 1999, he co-hosted the network’s morning show The Early Show. In May 2002, he left The Early Show. He served as special guest moderator of ABC’s The View in the summer of 2010. 

PERSONAL LIFE & OTHER APPEARANCE

He is married to June. The couple together is blessed with two children. He then got married to Hilary Quinlan in 2001. As of 2016, Bryant Gumbel’s net worth is $18 million dollars.

He worked for HBO’s series Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel as the host. In 2012 the series won a Peabody Award. He made a cameo appearance in the film The Weather Man with Michael Caine and Nicolas Cage. He co-hosted a morning show Hello America in the film.

• american
• Sportscaster
• television journalist