Grey

Jim Grey

NBC sports reporter Jim Gray ('81) finds time anywhere he can. He returns calls from an airport, fresh from a long day working an NFL game while waiting to be whisked away to baseball's National League Championship Series opener in Atlanta.

But no matter how far his job takes him or how many times he interviews a great athlete, he never forgets the people who helped him along the way. Gray, 37, said that's because he realizes he more or less stumbled into the highly competitive field of sports broadcasting, and that helps keep his status from going to his head.

"It's been great; I have a great job. It just kind of happened," he said. "I was a big sports fan when I was a kid, and when I was exposed to it I thought it was something I would like to do."

His career path began to take shape in 1977 shortly after he graduated from Thomas Jefferson High School in Denver.

"I drove by the TV station and thought that would be a nice place to work," Gray said, referring to Denver's KBTV, now KUSA. "I was just looking for a summer job at the time."

He applied, but didn't get the job. When Gray came to the CU campus as a freshman, he encountered KBTV comptroller Cecil Walker. Gray had met Walker, now president and CEO of Gannett Broadcasting, while applying for the summer job.

"I ran into him on campus, and I guess he remembered me," Gray said. "He told me about an internship and asked if I was still interested."

He was, and took the television internship even though his emphasis was advertising.

"I have no idea why I was an advertising major, but I must have been fairly serious about it because I graduated with honors. But when I got the internship, things just kind of fell into place."

At KBTV, Gray started as a videotape editor. He was hired by news director Roger Ogden, now president and general manager of the station, and worked with sportscaster Mike Nolan. He said Nolan was a willing and wise mentor, more influential than anyone else he encountered on the road to NBC.

"Nolan was patient and wonderful," Gray said. "Had he not been like that, I might have gotten turned off. I could have been a banker or answering phones somewhere, who knows.

"A good guy made it fun. We all need someone willing to give of themselves if we are to succeed.

"If I were in that position like Mike, I would model myself after him. It was a great inclusion. He could have been selfish, but he was just the opposite."

Gray used that internship to jump-start his career. After graduating in 1981, he was offered a job in sports at KBTV.

From there, Gray went to Philadelphia where he covered the 76ers and Phillies, then to sports broadcast giant ESPN before landing at NBC in 1986. His leaps in the industry have come in chunks, but Gray won't let that get to his head.

"I'm not goal-oriented," he said. "I don't say 'I want to get X by doing Y.' I just want to be better tomorrow than I was yesterday. I never wanted to have this job or hold that position, I just want to get better."

During his career, Gray has covered some of the world's biggest sporting events. He recently worked the Ryder Cup golfing competition in Spain, and in 1997 he also covered the World Series and the Super Bowl.

"I really don't have a favorite; I enjoy whatever is in season," he said. "There are some moments where it hits you, and you say 'Wow.' But once the game starts you are so busy that you really don't have time to just enjoy the game."

Gray has interviewed some of the most influential people in the world, including six presidents and former presidents.

He interviewed Richard Nixon in his Yorba Linda, Calif., law office, Gerald Ford and George Bush on the golf course, Ronald Reagan at the White House, Bill Clinton at an Arkansas basketball game and Jimmy Carter at a baseball game.

Some of his more notable interviews include Muhammad Ali and a schoolboy golfing legend in Southern California named Tiger Woods.

"I interviewed Tiger Woods when he was 8 years old and then after he became the youngest golfer to win the Masters," Gray said. "He remembered me and said that he watched that tape a thousand times."

Gray lives with his family in Atlanta, but "wanders around" Denver, where his parents still live, and returns to Boulder every few years. But those trips must be squeezed into nearly constant travel for NBC.

"That's the tough part of the job," he said. "It's hard to leave my wife, Frann, behind. She tries to come with me when she can. The travel is the only downside, but I like going places, I like restaurants and I like hotels. Once you get there it's great."