ESPN Founder Bill Rasmussen’s 2011-2012 Speaking Tour Continues This Week with Appearances in Wichita on Thursday and Kansas City on Friday

November 15, 2011 – Fresh on the heels of his speaking engagements to full-houses at Auburn University and in Seattle, ESPN Founder Bill Rasmussen’s 2011-2012 speaking tour continues this week with appearances in Wichita and Kansas City.

On Thursday, November 17th, Rasmussen will speak at the Youth Entrepreneurs Business Breakfast at Wichita State University’s Koch Arena beginning at 7:30 a.m. and continuing through 9 a.m. (Central Standard Time).  Tickets are still available, with individual tickets at $75, alumni tickets at $37.50, and tables at $750 per table, through the Youth Entrepreneurs website at https://yeks.org/events.

On Friday, November 18th, Rasmussen will speak at Kansas City's inaugural Youth Entrepreneurs Business for Breakfast event, at the College Basketball Experience adjacent to Kansas City’s Sprint Center.  Tickets are still available, with individual tickets at $75, alumni tickets at $37.50, and tables at $750 per table, through the Youth Entrepreneurs Kansas website at https://yeks.org/events .

All proceeds from the events in Wichita and Kansas City benefit Youth Entrepreneurs®, which teaches business and entrepreneurial skills in high school classrooms, and offers hands-on experience to help students succeed as business owners or employees. Members of the business community offer support as mentors and all Youth Entrepreneurs graduates are encouraged to pursue higher education. Alumni stay involved with the program through opportunities for continuing education and networking, scholarships, and partnerships with local businesses. During the current school year approximately 1,000 students from 28 local high schools will complete the Youth Entrepreneurs class. 

Rasmussen, the legendary entrepreneur who founded ESPN, as well as the author of “Sports Junkies Rejoice!  The Birth of ESPN,” will give his audiences in both Wichita and Kansas City a rare opportunity to hear and feel the stories of a man who was considered by the three major television networks at the time (ABC, NBC & CBS) a dreamer and all-around “crazy man” to even think that he could compete with them.

Jim Miller, the co-author of the recent best-selling book, “Those Guys Have All The Fun: Inside the World of ESPN,” recently told John Ourand of The Sports Business Journal that “this is a guy whose idea gave birth to, arguably, the most successful media story of our time.”

Try to imagine the world without ESPN and Sports Center, and for many, it is impossible. It is safe to say that Rasmussen changed the face of sports, and the face of television.  His brainstorm for a 24-hour cable sports television station, born out of adversity, has become the Worldwide Leader in Sports, ESPN. 

A former radio and television sports broadcaster, Rasmussen had been the Hartford Whalers Communications Director, but when the Whalers didn’t make the 1978 World Hockey Association playoffs, Rasmussen and others on staff were fired. His idea for an all-sports cable TV network captured his imagination, and he incorporated the fledgling network on July 14, 1978. He had already begun to seek out cable television companies, sponsors, investors and partners. With an idea that was truly ahead of its time, and running out of cash, Rasmussen found one investor who believed in the concept in February, 1979, and by September 7, 1979, ESPN was on the air for the first time, 14 months from Rasmussen’s moment of inspiration.

A life-long entrepreneur and sports fan, Rasmussen’s innovations in advertising, sports and broadcasting are numerous and include not only the creation of ESPN, but also the concept for “Sports Center,” wall-to-wall coverage of NCAA regular-season and “March Madness” college basketball, and coverage of the College World Series.  He broke the advertising barrier to cable television by signing Anheuser Busch to the largest cable TV advertising contract ever. 

Named “The Father of Cable Sports” by USA Today, Rasmussen was named to The Sports 100, honoring the 100 most important people in American sports history.  His place in sports history was further recognized by Sports Illustrated in 1994, when he was honored as one of the “40 for the Ages,” one of 40 individuals who has significantly altered and elevated the world of sport in the last half of the 20th Century.  Rasmussen was named to the 2011 class of “The Champions: Pioneers & Innovators in Sports Business,” an award from the Sports Business Journal and the Sports Business Daily recognizing the architects and builders of sports.   

He frequently returns to Bristol, Conn. for ESPN’s annual anniversary celebrations.  On September 13, 2009, as part of ESPN’s 30th Anniversary celebration, Rasmussen was recognized for his role as the father of ESPN when he threw out the ceremonial first pitch during ESPN’s “Sunday Night Baseball” coverage of the Phillies/Mets contest in Philadelphia’s Citizens Bank Park. 

Rasmussen is a gifted raconteur and a popular public speaker discussing American entrepreneurship, innovation, and the birth of ESPN.  He is also a frequent guest on radio and television shows, including recent appearances on the nationally-syndicated radio shows “Sports Byline USA with Ron Barr” and “The Dennis Miller Show” and the cable television interview show “It’s Your Call.”  In April 2011 he was a featured guest on the FOX News Channel’s “Red Eye with Greg Gutfeld.” 

In late September, Rasmussen spoke to a sold-out theatre at Auburn University, and in October, Rasmussen spoke at two fundraising breakfasts for the Imagine Children’s Museum of Everett, Washington (suburban Seattle).  In April 2011, Rasmussen delivered the keynote address at the 30th annual New England Spring & Metalstamping Association Trade Show in Plantsville, Connecticut. In February 2011, Rasmussen spoke at a special business breakfast and book signing in his honor, hosted by the Philadelphia Business Journal.  Also in February he was guest of honor at "An Evening with ESPN Founder Bill Rasmussen" in Philadelphia sponsored by the Center City Proprietors Association. In January, 2011, Rasmussen delivered the keynote address at the 2011 Kellogg Marketing Conference at Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management.  In October, 2010, Rasmussen delivered the keynote at the 17th Annual CEO Forum at the University of Saint Francis (Fort Wayne, Ind.).  He also was guest of honor for an “Evening with ESPN Founder Bill Rasmussen” at the Fort Wayne Chamber of Commerce.  Rasmussen delivered the keynote at the 2010 Maastricht Institute of Entrepreneurship at Missouri Valley College (Marshall, Missouri) in April, 2010. 

Rasmussen’s recent speaking appearances also include engagements at Villanova University, Bay Path College, Princeton University, Quinnipiac University’s School of Law, the University of Florida School of Law, Azusa Pacific University, Lindenwood University, Saint Xavier University, Indiana Tech, and The Center for Sports Leadership at Virginia Commonwealth University, among others. 

Additional information about Rasmussen is available at http://www.ESPNFounder.com.  Rasmussen has also established a separate website, http://www.espnfounder.com/speaking_tour.htm, where colleges, businesses, groups and corporations can “book” him to speak about the genesis of ESPN, and his integral role in the creation of one of the world’s most powerful properties.

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[Note:  Photo of Bill Rasmussen at Citizens Bank Par k courtesy of Major League Baseball and the Philadelphia Phillies, Heddy Bergman photographer.]

Media Contact:  Jim DeLorenzo, Jim DeLorenzo Public Relations, 215-564-1122, jim@jhdenterprises.com