American sports journalist
Ryan Burr
(born March 17, 1972,
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
) is a
sports television
journalist
. Burr worked for the
NBC Sports Group
from 2012 to 2021, with his duties mainly consisting of hosting all programs on Golf Channel and college basketball coverage. For college basketball, he mainly works as a play-by-play announcer on East Coast telecasts airing on the
NBC Sports Network
. Before joining the NBC Sports Group, Burr was previously a studio host and Sports Center anchor for
ESPN
. Burr is the founder of the Notah Begay Junior Golf National Championship which is broadcast on Golf Channel. In 2022 6 thousand junior golfers paid $300 to play in the event.
Early life and career
[
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Burr grew up in
Pittsburgh
and graduated in 1994 from the
Newhouse School of Public Communications
at
Syracuse University
, earning a
bachelor's degree
in
Broadcast Journalism
. While a student at Syracuse, Burr regularly worked as a television play-by-play announcer, studio host, and
radio personality
for several media outlets.
[1]
Career
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In 1994, Burr began working as a
play-by-play
announcer and studio host for
Time Warner
in
Clearwater, Florida
.
Prior to joining ESPN, Burr worked at
Fox Sports Net
in Pittsburgh, (serving the pre-game host for the
Pirates
and
Penguins
telecasts) and
ABC
owned and operated station
WTVG-TV
in
Toledo, Ohio
.
[2]
Previously he was sports director
WKTV-TV
in
Utica, New York
where he received a local AP Broadcaster-of-the-Year award, and at Channel 9 in
Tampa, Florida
.
At ESPN
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Burr left FSN in Pittsburgh in August 2005 for
Bristol, Connecticut
. He began working for
ESPNews
. In April 2007 he was named a host of
NASCAR Now
, ESPN's first daily program dedicated solely to NASCAR news and information. In November 2008 Burr moved to the college basketball studios where he was named host of the ESPN program
Midnight Madness
(now
College Basketball Final
). Burr worked on SportsCenter and anchored the 6pm SportsCenter every Saturday and Sunday. In addition he hosted
college football
and
college basketball
for ESPN, as a host for College Football Live & College Basketball Final.
On March 13, 2012, Burr created controversy by sending out a message on his Twitter account to Nerlens Noel, the #1 player in 2012 high school class, that he should come to
Syracuse
(Burr's alma mater) to replace
Fab Melo
, who earlier in the day was ruled academically ineligible and is expected to enter the upcoming NBA Draft.
[3]
On July 2, 2012, he announced he would leaving ESPN for
NBC Sports
and the
Golf Channel
.
[4]
In 2021, Burr called men's and women's tennis events in the
2020 Tokyo Olympics
.
[1]
In 2022, Burr went back to ESPN to cover the PGA Tours.
Works
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Burr published his first novel in 2014 titled "The Fix" a nonfiction tale about a college football player who gets caught up in gambling.
References
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External links
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]