Bob Costas '74

Bob Costas, a household name, is an acclaimed sportscaster whose career has spanned more than four decades across NBC Sports, MLB Network, and HBO. He is known for his coverage of the Olympic Games, the NFL, Major League Baseball, and a wide range of studio and interview programs that earned him 29 Emmy Awards and the Ford C. Frick Award from the Baseball Hall of Fame.

While studying communications at Syracuse University’s Newhouse School, Costas began his professional career in 1973 at WSYR-TV (now WSTM-TV) and WSYR-FM radio, calling games for the minor league Syracuse Blazers. After leaving school in 1974, he joined KMOX radio in St. Louis, covering ABA basketball, Missouri Tigers basketball, and co-hosting the call-in program Open Line. He also did play-by-play for the Chicago Bulls on WGN-TV during the 1979–1980 NBA season.

Costas got his first radio experience as a freshman at WAER. In the mid-1980s, he established the Robert Costas Scholarship at the Newhouse School, of which the first recipient was Mike Tirico in 1987.