All those choices where you get the phone call, and it\u2019s that decision in that moment to say, \u2018yes,\u2019 or, \u2018no.\u2019 I\u2019ve always been inclined to say, \u2018yes,\u2019 and then get excited about it.<\/p><\/div><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
\u201cGo do it,\u201d Valvano told him. \u201cWithin 25 seconds, he made a choice for me,\u201d Gannon says. \u201cThat\u2019s how I got into TV.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Some 35 years later, Gannon is one of the most versatile sports broadcasters in television, a play-by-play analyst and host for NBC Sports and the Golf Channel. He has covered some of the world\u2019s biggest sporting events, even though they have nothing to do with layups and three-point shots. In February, he\u2019ll be on center stage again with two other larger-than-life personalities \u2014 champion figure skaters Tara Lipinski and Johnny Weir \u2014 to call the figure skating competition at the Winter Olympic Games in Beijing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The trio \u2014 featuring Lipinski\u2019s and Weir\u2019s glitzy outfits and big personalities next to Gannon\u2019s dark suits and buttoned-up, but fun-loving dad persona \u2014 will be an essential part of NBC\u2019s coverage. They\u2019ll likely spark the kind of social media fodder that had actress and comedian (and self-proclaimed Gannon fan) Leslie Jones mock Gannon\u2019s shoe choice of \u201cBuster Browns\u201d when he was broadcasting the U.S. Olympics gymnastics team trials in June. \u201cI hear ya @Lesdoggg,\u201d Gannon tweeted. \u201cBuster Browns retired!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In the early days of his broadcast career, some wondered why he would waste his time on anything other than basketball. But Gannon followed Valvano\u2019s advice at every turn, shaping his career by saying, \u201cyes,\u201d to assignments like figure skating or team handball or the Tour de France, and then scrambling to learn everything he could about the sport.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cAll those choices where you get the phone call,\u201d Gannon says, \u201cand it\u2019s that decision in that moment to say, \u2018yes,\u2019 or, \u2018no.\u2019 I\u2019ve always been inclined to say, \u2018yes,\u2019 and then get excited about it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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Assignment: Roving Reporter<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Gannon\u2019s rise wasn\u2019t meteoric. For several years, he cobbled together a variety of broadcasting gigs, including reporting features for Valvano\u2019s coach\u2019s show, filling in for Valvano on his radio show, Valvano\u2019s Viewpoints, and ACC basketball coverage. He eventually caught the eye of ABC executives, and the network sent him to cover the Goodwill Games in St. Petersburg in 1993 as a roving reporter. There, he covered everything from sailing to judo and turned in a few entertainment and history pieces about the Russian city.<\/p>\n\n\n\n When he returned, ABC Sports offered him a contract for about $150,000. After scrambling so long to get work, \u201cI thought I was the richest guy in the world,\u201d he says. Gannon signed the contract and continued to rove, leading to a phone call from ABC executives asking if he could cover a figure skating event in Tokyo on short notice. Gannon told them he had heard of gold medalist skater Peggy Fleming, but that he knew nothing else about figure skating.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cAnd they say, \u2018Well, we think you can do it.\u2019 And you say \u2018OK, let\u2019s do it,\u2019\u201d Gannon says. \u201cThen the next question is, \u2018Well, they wear tuxedos. You own a tux, right?\u2019 And, you lie and say, \u2018Oh sure, sure.\u2019 And then, the next moment, you\u2019re renting a tux for Tokyo the next week. And that\u2019s how it happened all along the way.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n When ABC asked him on a Monday to do play-by-play that Saturday for an ACC football game, also unfamiliar territory, he said yes \u2014 and then called every football play-by-play guy he knew to get advice. With each assignment, he developed a system to build his knowledge about a new sport. He focuses first on the basics and the terminology. He dives into videos to see how past competitions were called. And then he researches the athletes. \u201cEvery sport, no matter what it is, whether it\u2019s a new sport or not, I do a whole research sheet for every event, so I have that in front of me,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Gannon\u2019s goal is to explain to viewers what\u2019s happening and not turn off a sport’s biggest fans with the wrong phrases or descriptions. Lipinski is one of those fans, and, she says, his process has more than paid off. \u201cThe figure skating world really respects him,\u201d Lipinski says. \u201cTerry just adapted so easily, picked up so much about the sport. And, I think, more importantly, liked figure skating and understood figure skating and had a passion for figure skating. And, at the end of the day, that\u2019s all that really matters.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n When Lipinski started broadcasting with Gannon a decade ago, he was a celebrity to her. He had called her own competitions in the 1990s; she won Olympic gold in 1998. Lipinski credits Gannon for some of her success in broadcasting. \u201cHe never got tired of teaching me,\u201d she says, \u201cnever got tired of talking to me.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Gannon\u2019s move to the Golf Channel and NBC in 2010 was a practical one. He was calling a college basketball game in frigid Ames, Iowa, as he considered the opportunity. When he realized the golf crew was in Palm Springs, Calif., he decided covering golf might not be such a bad idea. Now, with NBC, he\u2019s had a front row seat at multiple Olympics, covering rowing and canoeing at the 2012 Summer Olympics, figure skating and short track speed skating at the 2014 Winter Games in Sochi, Russia; golf play-by-play at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio; and figure skating, along with the closing ceremonies, with Lipinski and Weir, at the 2018 Winter Games in Pyeongchang.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It\u2019s the rarest air. There\u2019s nobody else occupying it right now. And it\u2019s got to be a lonely place at times.<\/p><\/div><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n Gannon started covering gymnastics in 2018, and last summer, that sport was his primary focus. Instead of Weir and Lipinski, he was part of a broadcast team with Olympic gymnastics medalists Tim Daggett and Nastia Liukin. The three were front-and-center during the Games\u2019 biggest story, as superstar U.S. gymnast Simone Biles dropped out of the all-around final after a disappointing performance on the vault, citing her mental health. Liukin and Gannon noted the pressure Biles must have been feeling moments before her vault.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIt\u2019s the rarest air,\u201d Gannon said during the broadcast. \u201cThere\u2019s nobody else occupying it right now. And it\u2019s got to be a lonely place at times.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Like millions of others, former teammate Thurl Bailey \u201983, a retired NBA player and current Utah Jazz broadcast analyst, was following it all. \u201cYou can appreciate the fact that as an ex-athlete and not just a broadcaster, there are many things that athletes go through,\u201d Bailey says. \u201cIf he hasn\u2019t gone through it himself, he knows somebody who has. He\u2019s empathetic.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Now, the focus is back on figure skating. This fall, Gannon, Lipinski and Weir, a two-time Olympic figure skater and three-time U.S. National Figure Skating champion, covered the qualifying competitions that led up to the Olympics. Moments before the broadcast begins, the trio gives a quick nod to the skating careers of Lipinski and Weir and to Gannon\u2019s Wolfpack basketball days. As the producer counts down to air, Lipinksi and Weir do a little shimmy and then Gannon joins in as they pretend to make a jump shot. Lipinski calls it \u201cgood luck charm\u201d for the three who have announced figure skating competitions together since 2014.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Gannon says his role is to build a foundation for analysis by Lipinski and Weir. \u201cIt is up to me to provide the basics of what we\u2019re watching, who we\u2019re watching and why, as a fan, sitting on the couch, you should care,\u201d he says. \u201cIf I get the basics down, it allows them the freedom to roam.\u201d That includes what Lipinski and Weir wear for the broadcasts \u2014 sometimes sparkly, fantastical numbers which, of course, isn\u2019t unusual for figure skating. \u201cIt\u2019s a little bit different than other sports where you\u2019re doing these incredible athletic feats, but you\u2019re also wearing a sparkly dress and you\u2019re being judged on artistic merit,\u201d Lipinski says. \u201cJohnny and I approach our shows like that, and it\u2019s just so great that Terry is always game for us to be, like, we need to add a few sparkles to your microphone or we need to match this.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/magazine.ncsu.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/Half_page_art_rgb-scaled-1-1024x720.jpg\")
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\n\n\n\n\u2018Rarest air\u2019<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\nBack On The Ice<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
And the conversation and antics do roam. Behind-the-scenes outtakes shared on social media show Weir and Lipinski dancing and lip syncing, with Gannon getting in on it on occasion. \u201cI got a little Jagger,\u201d he says as he grooves to stadium favorite \u201cTurn Down for What\u201d by DJ Snake and Lil John during the 2018 Olympics in South Korea with Lipinski. \u201cHe\u2019s so game for fun with us,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/magazine.alumni.ncsu.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/quarter_page_art_rgb-1024x969.jpg\")
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