Colorado University Athletics
ESPN's Fowler Ready For Full Time In Booth
August 25, 2015 | Football, Alumni C Club, Neill Woelk
BOULDER — Twenty-five years ago, a young ESPN broadcaster walked onto the set of a nondescript, half-hour college football studio show for the first time, a show that was struggling to gain an audience and one that network officials frankly weren't sure would survive.
A quarter century later, Chris Fowler is stepping away from ESPN's GameDay, now a behemoth in the broadcast world, a show that has not only set the standard for the industry, but one that has established a wildly popular format that is unmatched on any other network.
Today, when GameDay shows up on a college campus, it's an event unto itself — some might argue bigger than the actual game itself. In his 25 years on the set, Fowler became synonymous with the show, planning, organizing and building it into a product that has won five Emmys and countless other awards within the industry.
But, 25 years — even 25 years of unmatched success — is enough. When the show makes its season debut in September, Fowler won't be the GameDay host. Rece Davis will take over those responsibilities.
Instead, Fowler will now have the luxury of concentrating on his first love: calling events from the booth.
“The booth is why I got into the business,” Fowler said. “I've had the opportunity to do a wide variety of things at ESPN, from SportsCenter to GameDay to play-by-play. I've enjoyed every opportunity.
“But what I have coming up is a dream come true.”
What Fowler has coming up is a play-by-play bucket list, an opportunity to establish himself as the authoritative “voice” of a generation in not just one, but two sports.
For starters, he'll call the first nine College Football Playoff national championships.
Fowler made history last season by calling the Oregon-Florida State semifinal — the first FBS playoff game ever — then added the Oregon-Ohio State championship game to his resume. Thanks to a nine-year contract extension he signed in March 2014, he's now slated to call one semifinal and the championship game for the next eight seasons.
But along with football, he will also have the chance to continue offering play-by-play for tennis grand slams — another sport in which he's leaving an indelible mark.
In early September, Fowler will be at Flushing Meadows, N.Y., where he'll call the men's and women's finals of the U.S. Open. That will give him six Grand Slam finals this year — he was also at the Australian Open and Wimbledon — which will be more than any other broadcaster has called in one year in the history of the sport.
“I'm proud to be a principal voice of one of my favorite sports,” Fowler said. “To have that opportunity, and still be able to call marquee college games every week — again, that's why I got into the business.”
Fowler entered “the business” in the early 1980s, when he was a student at CU. He worked for CU Sports Information Director David Plati, and also found time to work as an intern at KMGH-TV, host a weekly magazine program on the Boulder Cable Television System, serve as the sports director at CU's KAIR and cover high school sports for the Rocky Mountain News.
“In my time here, we've easily had 250-plus students works for us as undergraduate assistants,” Plati said. “Almost all work out in some capacity, but you can tell who is going to rise to the top quickly. It's a combination of desire and work ethic. Those who have been most successful here have the desire to learn, and not worry about the hours they're putting in. I did that as a student, and you do sacrifice some of the traditional college life to do it, but you're gaining experience that is invaluable.
“Chris easily fit into that category. I'd hate to have to list a top five or 10 of all my students, but he'd be in there for certain. He had his hands in a lot of pies, but did everything well. His resume´ a year out of college was better than most people's five or 10 years out.”
Fowler graduated from CU in 1985. Two years later, he joined ESPN as the network's first host/reporter for Scholastic Sports America, and several years later, he found his way to the GameDay set.
“It was really a happy accident,” Fowler said. “I fell into it when it was on life support and then had the opportunity to grow with it — and there's been unbelievable growth.”
Unbelievable is not an exaggeration.
“It's amazing how it's been accepted,” Fowler said. “It's won five Emmys and gone from a half hour to a three-hour show. It's crazy how it's grown and evolved. The fact that it now travels from campus to campus is amazing because it's something that had never been done before.”
Along with GameDay, Fowler had plenty of other responsibilities through the years. He's hosted SportsCenter, coverage of horse racing's Triple Crown races, college basketball (including on-site Final Four coverage), the X Games and the Heisman Trophy presentation. He also served as the play-by-play voice for ESPN's Thursday night college football games for four seasons before moving to the booth last season for ABC's Saturday night games.
That, Fowler said, proved to be the ultimate travel test in terms of logistics. Last season, he traveled from the GameDay set to a different city for a game — the same day — nine times.
“The host role of GameDay is really labor-intensive,” Fowler said. “It was unbelievably gratifying, but it's also a huge responsibility and it requires a great deal of coordination and preparation.
“Plus, the challenge of the travel is significant. When I was offered the choice to do the Saturday night game and the playoffs and championship game — I couldn't say no to that.”
Early September will offer a great snapshot of Fowler's new schedule.
On Sept. 5, he'll be in Arlington, Texas, for the Alabama-Wisconsin game. Two nights later, he'll call the Virginia Tech-Ohio State matchup in Blacksburg, Va. Then he'll be off to Flushing Meadows for the U.S. Open, before heading back to the college football scene a week later.
As for being the generational “voice” of a sport? Fowler isn't exactly comfortable with the thought. As he's quick to mention, “There's only one Keith Jackson.”
“I'm just proud to be in the booth for these games and proud to be calling Grand Slams for a sport I love,” he said. “The other stuff — that's never been a goal or a concern. My love has always been in the booth, to be there and document an event.”
But, as Plati pointed out, Fowler's schedule over the next eight years — one national semifinal and the championship game every year — puts Fowler in position to become this generation's college football “authority.”
“I think we all agree there's only one Keith Jackson, but like it or not, there's an order of succession,” Plati said. “Keith followed Chris Schenkel; but after Keith, with the TV contracts fracturing off in several directions, there are more people calling games. Some are familiar to fans like Brent Musburger and Verne Lundquist, and others who did it for a while but left for other sports like Mike Tirico and Brad Nessler.
“But Chris has been calling the biggest games in the sport for the past few years and will for the foreseeable future.”
Contact: Neill.Woelk@Colorado.edu
