Jim Simpson | |
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 Simpson in 1969 | |
| Born | James Shores Simpson (1927-12-20)December 20, 1927 Washington, D.C., U.S. |
| Died | January 13, 2016(2016-01-13) (aged 88) Scottsdale, Arizona, U.S. |
| Occupation | sportscaster |
| Years active | 1960s–1990s? |
| Awards | Sports Lifetime Achievement Award (1997) NSSA Hall of Fame (2000) |
James Shores Simpson[1] (December 20, 1927 – January 13, 2016) was an Americansportscaster, known for his smooth delivery as aplay-by-play man and his versatility in covering many different sports. In1997, he won theSports Lifetime Achievement Award, and in2000 he was inducted into theNational Sportscasters and Sportswriters AssociationHall of Fame.
Jim Simpson was born inWashington, D.C., and grew up in nearbyChevy Chase,Maryland. He began his broadcasting career with a short-lived radio show,Hunting and Fishing with Jimmy Simpson, when he was 15.[1] He attendedGeorge Washington University and served in theCoast Guard andNavy Reserve. After several jobs in radio, he began working in television in Washington in 1949.
In the early 1950s, he shared a half-hour news program at Washington'sWTOP-TV with another TV newcomer,Walter Cronkite,[1] the future anchor of theCBS Evening News. He joined NBC'sowned-and-operated Washington station,WRC-TV, in 1955. Simpson broadcastAtlantic Coast Conferencebasketball games in the early 1960s and worked as a sports reporter at WRC-TV.
Eventually Simpson would broadcast many sports atNBC, includingfootball,basketball,baseball,tennis, andgolf. For much of the 1960s and 1970s he was generally considered the network's number two play-by-play announcer, behind onlyCurt Gowdy. He was inNew Haven, Connecticut on November 22, 1963, preparing to call the annualHarvard-Yale football game withLindsey Nelson andTerry Brennan, when word came of theassassination of John F. Kennedy. Simpson was quoted as saying to Nelson as they walked through the tunnel of theYale Bowl, "We will remember this walk and this moment for a long, long, time." His work onAmerican Football League (and laterAmerican Football Conference) telecasts for NBC is perhaps what he is best remembered for.
In 1966, Simpson andBill Cullen (who at the time, along with Simpson hosted a sportsanthology series calledNBC Sports in Action), were the between-periods co-hosts forNBC'sStanley Cup Finals broadcasts. It marked the first time that the Stanley Cup Finals were broadcast on American network television. It was also the first time that hockey games were broadcast on network television incolor.[2] TheCBC would follow suit the following year.
On January 15, 1967, Simpson (along with former quarterbackGeorge Ratterman) calledSuper Bowl I forNBC Radio. He also called severalWorld Series forNBC Radio, as well as numerousOrange Bowl games, the1966 FIFA World Cup Final (via tape delay), and severalOlympic Games for NBC television.
In1979, after Week 2 of theNFL season, the fledglingESPN cable sports network brought Simpson on board to provide some needed credibility with sports fans. Simpson broadcast thefirst NCAA basketball game the network televised, with flamboyantDick Vitale[3] as thecolor man. Vitalecredits Simpson with helping him develop as a sportscaster. Simpson also calledUSFL,NBA,college football, andCollege World Series games for ESPN, in1988 called theBaltimore Orioles' local telecasts onWMAR-TV (the NBC affiliate at the time), and calledfigure skating at the1992 and1994Winter Olympics forTNT.
After his sportscasting days Simpson retired toSt. Croix,Virgin Islands. Among other firsts he was the initial U.S. sportscaster to appear live via satellite fromAsia, and he was involved in the first American sportscast usinginstant replay technology. In2005, ESPN brought Simpson back from retirement to do play-by-play for a series of college basketball games in a "turn back the clock" format on theESPN Classic network. He died on January 13, 2016, inScottsdale,Arizona at the age of 88.[4]
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