Brent Musburger

Brent Woody Musburger was born in Portland, OR, though he was raised in Billings, MT. Musburger was an occasional troublemaker as a kid; at 12 years old, he and his brother stole his family cleaning lady's car. Shortly after, Musburger attended Shattuck Military Academy in Fairbault, MN. He continued his education at Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism. Musburger served as a minor league baseball umpire in the 1950s, but his professional career truly started at the Chicago American newspaper. In 1968, Musburger started a long-term association with CBS, first with WBBM radio and later for WBBM-TV. His television career with CBS took off from there, and Musburger started NFL play-by-play coverage for CBS Sports in 1973. In 1975 Musburger began hosting the network's pro football studio show, "The NFL Today." During his tenure, "The NFL Today" was consistently the top-rated pregame show. In 1979 Musburger played a reporter in "Rocky II." Off screen, he made headlines on occasion as well. On Oct. 27, 1980, he was caught in a bar fight with the betting analyst for "The NFL Today," Jimmy "The Greek" Snyder. The two played it off on-air the following week, wearing boxing gloves as they broadcast. The popular CBS host and personality was the top sportscaster at the network by the late 1980s. Beyond calling the major sporting events of the time, Musburger also hosted a New Year's Eve countdown for the station during the period. But Musburger's days at CBS came to an end on April 1, 1990, when the network underwent a managerial change. He would not be out of work for long. Musburger chose ABC, whose merger with ESPN offered plenty of opportunities. He served as the main in-studio host for the 1998 and 2006 World Cups. Musburger has called everything from the Little League World Series to horseraces. 1998 also brought Musburger back to the big screen in "The Waterboy." However, in between the World Cups, Musburger found himself in some legal trouble. On Sept. 17, 2005, Musburger was cited for having an open alcohol container in a motor vehicle. Musburger's other most famous newsworthy incident did occur on the airwaves. On Jan. 7, 2013, Musburger was calling the BCS National Championship between Alabama and Notre Dame for ESPN. When the camera panned to Alabama quarterback A.J. McCarron's girlfriend, model Katherine Webb, Musburger now famously commented, "Wow! I'm telling you, quarterbacks get all the good-looking women. What a beautiful woman. Wow!" This created a media firestorm, though Musburger steadfastly denied any inappropriateness in his comments. Being in the era of the viral video and social media, the off-the-cuff remark took on a life of its own.