In our opinion at ImaSportsphile….ESPN SportsCenter was the “gold standard” for sports news from the day it came on air in 1979…..and continued to carry that standard for well into the end of the 20th century. Since we have been unable to find any reference information about ESPN Sportscaster David Sullivan….seen in this video herewith….we gave come to an educated guess that this video clip is from 1989….cuz to our research….that was the only time in the 1980’s that John McEnroe played Ivan Lendl at the Australian Open in tennis.
The SportsCenter format was changed from focusing on individual sports or leagues to a “newspaper-style” structure….thus prioritizing stories by importance rather than by sport….as the program’s title sequence during its early years included various kinds of sports balls flying outward….when set to a rapid-fire electronic music version of “Pulstar” by Vangelis. By 1989, the first of several theme songs to incorporate ESPN’s trademark six-note fanfare went into use. The theme music was originally composed by John Colby….who served as ESPN’s music director from 1984 to 1992….while creating and producing music for various sporting events and programs seen on the network.