DOG ASIDE:
During the first decade of ESPN being on-air from 1978 to 1988….three of their anchor analysts and NFL sportscasters were George Grande, Greg Gumble and Chris Berman. George Grande is an American sportscaster who is currently a part-time broadcaster for the Cincinnati Reds of Major League Baseball. Grande is also famous for having hosted the first broadcast of SportsCenter on ESPN in 1979. Grande and Lee Leonard were the first two people to be seen on ESPN upon its launch. After Leonard gave an introduction to viewers concerning what the network was all about…..he tossed to Grande who was sitting at a desk dubbed the “ESPN Sports Center”….which became the name of the fledlging network’s nightly news broadcast….and in the early years of the network…..served as host of the Inside Baseball weekly magazine program that evolved into the current Baseball Tonight program on ESPN. Greg Gumble was an anchor to the show SportsCenter….and mostly did “play-by-play” for early NBA games during the mid-1980’s. And Chris Berman became the mainstay at ESPN along with Bob Ley….who were both there at the beginning….and still are today.
