Bill Rasmussen, who co-founded ESPN after getting fired and betting his credit limit on satellite time, died Tuesday at his home in Land O' Lakes, Florida, from the effects of Parkinson's disease. He was 93, and had lived with the diagnosis since 2014. [2][1]
The origin story sounds fabricated because it should be. In 1978, Rasmussen lost his public relations job with the World Hockey Association's New England Whalers when the entire front office was dismissed. He started brainstorming with his son Scott, seeded by a $9,000 credit card advance. The original idea was modest — a cable channel for Connecticut sports. Cable operators were skeptical, so someone suggested buying transponder space and going national instead. Getty Oil's backing and an NCAA rights deal landed on the same day. On September 7, 1979, George Grande welcomed America to the first SportsCenter before the network's first live event: a slow-pitch softball game between the Kentucky Bourbons and the Milwaukee Schlitz. [2]
"There was a whole lot of chutzpah and a whole lot of vision, and they're maxed out on their credit cards," Bob Ley, one of the original anchors, once said. "It's the American dream." [2]
The dream fired its dreamers quickly. Getty Oil, holding 85 percent, forced out both Rasmussens within about a year; Texaco inherited the stake and sold it to ABC in 1984, and the founder stayed estranged from his creation until executives invited him back for ESPN's 20th anniversary in 1999. The reconciliation held. Chris Berman, who joined three weeks after launch, settled the ledger this week in four words: "Bill was our George Washington." Current chairman Jimmy Pitaro credited Rasmussen's passion and entrepreneurial grit as traits "that still carry on to this day." [2]
Rasmussen spent his last decades being discovered all over again — a 2019 fortieth-anniversary tour, induction into the Sports Broadcasting Hall of Fame last year. Asked once what title he preferred, he answered with the only word that mattered: "How about settling for founder?" [1]
He is survived by sons Scott and Glenn, daughter Lynn Van Hollebeke, seven grandchildren, and two great-grandchildren; his wife of 56 years, Lois, died in 2011. [2] Every highlight reel, every debate show, every phone held sideways at a Little League game descends from the idea he refused to drop after a bad week in Hartford. Rest easy, founder. The worldwide leader is still on the air. [1]
-- AMARA OKONKWO, Lagos