Bob Costas Biography
Bob Costas is an American sportscaster who is famous for his long time with NBC Sports, from 1980 through 2019. He has earned 28 Emmy awards for his service and was the prime-time host of 11 Olympic Games from 1992 until 2016.
Costas graduated from Commack High School South and then majored at Syracuse University in communications. While attending Syracuse University he served as an announcer for the Syracuse Blazers hockey team for the Eastern Hockey League and North American Hockey League thus starting his broadcasting career.
He next went to KMOX and began calling play-by-play for the American Basketball Association‘s Spirits of St. Louis. He also co-hosted KMOX’s Open Line call-in service and called for the Missouri Tigers basketball.
Costas was employed by CBS Sports as an NFL and NBA announcer from 1976 to 1979. He did play-by-play for the WGN-TV coverage of the Chicago Bulls as well.
In 1994, in the film The Scout, Costas appeared as the World Series play-by-play announcer (working alongside Tim McCarver). He starred as himself in the film Basketball in 1998, along with his rival/counterpart Al Michaels (who now works for NBC) from ABC. In the movies Cars (2006) and Cars 3, Costas voiced an animated car version of his own, Bob Cutlass (2017). In the 2001 film Pootie Tang, where he remarks that he saw “the longest damn clip ever” he even appeared as himself.
Costas’ voice appeared in the 2011 documentary film Legendary: When Baseball Came to the Bluegrass, which detailed the humble beginnings of the Lexington Legends, a minor league baseball team located in Lexington, Kentucky.
Bob Costas Age
How old is Bob Costas? Bob is 71 years old as of 2023. He was born Robert Quinlan Costas on March 22, 1952, in Queens, New York, United States. In addition, Costa celebrates his birthday on March 22nd every year.
Bob Costas Wife
Costas was married to Carole “Randy” Randall Krummenacher from 1983 to 2001. They had two daughters, Keith’s son (b. 1986) and Taylor’s daughter (born 1989). Costas once jokingly told Minnesota Twins center fielder Kirby Puckett that he would call the baby Kirby if he was hitting over .350 by the time his child was born. Kirby hit better than .350, but Bob’s son was initially not given Kirby’s first (or second) name. “The birth certificate was changed to “Keith Michael Kirby Costas” after Puckett reminded Costas of the agreement.
Costas married his second wife, Jill Sutton, on March 12th, 2004. Today, Costas and his wife are mostly based in New York, but he has also said that he thinks of St. Louis as his hometown.
Sports Emmys were also won by the children of Costas; Keith won two as an associate producer on MLB Network’s MLB Tonight, and Taylor as an associate producer on NBC’s 2012 Summer Olympics coverage.
Bob Costas’s Height
Costa stands at an approximate height of 5 feet 5 inches.
Bob Costas Awards
Costas has received the National Sportscasters and Sportswriters Association’s eight National Sportscaster of the Year awards. In 2012, he was inducted into the Hall of Fame of that organization. He has also received four American Sportscasters Association Sportscaster of the Year awards and well over twenty Sports Emmy Awards for announcing. He is the only person in TV history who has received the Sports, News (Sandusky interview), and Entertainment Emmys (Later).
On the St. Louis Walk of Fame, Costas earned a star in 1995. In 1999, he was the recipient of the Basketball Hall of Fame Curt Gowdy Media Award, which is awarded to electronic and print media members for exceptional contributions to the sport. He received a TV Guide Award for Favorite Sportscaster in the year 2000. In 2001, for Excellence in Sports Broadcasting, Syracuse University awarded Costas with the George Arents Award, SU’s highest alumni distinction. He was named the 2004 winner of the Dick Schaap Award for Outstanding Journalism.
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Moreover, he was awarded an honorary doctorate of humane letters from Maryland’s Loyola College in 2006. In 2012, Costas was awarded the Walter Cronkite Award for Excellence in Journalism. In 2013, the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications honored him with the first Marty Glickman Award for Leadership in Sports Media
On December 13, 2017, it was announced that Costas would receive the Ford C. Frick Award from the National Baseball Hall of Fame on July 28, 2018. In August 2018, the Sports Broadcasting Hall of Fame announced that Costas would be inducted to its body at a ceremony on December 11, 2018, honoring ten other sports figures including Dick Vitale, Jim Nantz, and Bud Greenspan.
Costas is an honorary trustee of Webster University, a private college located in Webster Groves, Missouri. He is a frequent supporter of the school and has been in numerous radio commercials for them. He is also an honorary board member of the Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation.
Bob Awards
- 29-time Emmy Award winner
- Eight-time NSMA National Sportscaster of the Year
- Four-time American Sportscasters Association Sportscaster of the Year
- Star on the St. Louis Walk of Fame.
- 1999 Curt Gowdy Media Award – Basketball Hall of Fame
- 2000 TV Guide Award for Favorite Sportscaster.
- 2001 George Arents Award from Syracuse University (Excellence in Sports Broadcasting)
- 2004 Dick Schaap Award for Outstanding Journalism
- NSMA Hall of Fame inductee (class of 2012).
- 2012 Walter Cronkite Award for Excellence in Journalism
- 2013 S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications Marty Glickman Award for Leadership in Sports Media
- 2017 Ford C. Frick Award – National Baseball Hall of Fame.
- Sports Broadcasting Hall of Fame inductee (class of 2018)
Bob Costas Net Worth
Costas has an estimated net worth of around $45 million. His income is mainly attributed to his successful career as a sportscaster.
Bob Costas Salary
Costas receives an estimated annual salary of around $7 million from his career.
Bob Career Timeline
- 1974–1976: Spirits of St. Louis Play-by-play, KMOX radio
- 1976–1981: Missouri Tigers men’s basketball Play-by-play, KMOX radio
- 1976–1979: NFL on CBS Play-by-play
- 1979–1980: Chicago Bulls Play-by-play, WGN-TV
- 1980–2018: NBC Sports Play-by-play & studio host
- 1980–1983: NFL on NBC Play-by-play
- 1983–1989: MLB on NBC #2 play-by-play
- 1984–1992, 2006–2016: NFL on NBC Studio Host
- 1988–1994: Later Host
- 1990–1997, 2002: NBA on NBC Studio Host
- 1992–2016: Summer Olympics Primetime Host
- 1993: Notre Dame Football on NBC Alternate play-by-play
- 1994–2000: MLB on NBC Lead play-by-play
- 1997–2000: NBA on NBC Lead play-by-play
- 2001–2018: Thoroughbred Racing on NBC Lead host
- 2001–2009: On the Record with Bob Costas and Costas Now Host
- 2002–2014: Winter Olympics Primetime Host
- 2002–2008: Inside the NFL Host
- 2003–2014: U.S. Open host, NBC Sports
- 2008–2012: NHL Winter Classic Host
- 2009–present: MLB Network Studio 42 with Bob Costas Host (2009-2014), Thursday Night Baseball Play-by-play
- 2016: NBC/NFL Network Host, Thursday Night Football
- 2017–present: MLB Network play-by-play, MLB Postseason
- 2020–present: CNN Sports contributor
- 2021–present: TBS baseball studio host, 2021 NLCS