A Great American Entrepreneurial Success Story, ESPN Founder Bill Rasmussen to Speak at Calvin College Thursday, January 23rd
Grand Rapids,
Michigan – January 22, 2014 -- ESPN
Founder Bill Rasmussen, the legendary entrepreneur who founded ESPN,
is the latest distinguished speaker in the 27th Annual Calvin College January Speaker
Series, at Calvin College in Grand Rapids..
Rasmussen’s presentation, “Channeling Sports: A Conversation with ESPN Founder Bill
Rasmussen,” is scheduled from 12:30 p.m. Eastern Time to 1:30 p.m. Eastern
Time at the Covenant Fine Arts Center on the Calvin College campus. Admission is free of charge.
In
addition, there will be a live webcast of the presentation available at http://www.calvin.edu/january/2014/Rasmussen.htm.
During
Rasmussen’s presentation, he will
tell the story of the birth of ESPN and the creation of a global sports enterprise. He will also speak about leadership and the
skills necessary to create such a successful global brand icon. It’s 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.
For
over 25 years, the January Series of Calvin College has been the leading
lecture/cultural arts series in the country.
Rasmussen is among a number
of distinguished speakers this month, which also includes Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Isabel Wilkerson;
John M. Perkins, a leading evangelical voice of the American civil rights
movement; and Olympia Snowe, a former U.S.
senator and the only woman to serve in both houses at the state and federal
level. In 2013, nearly 40,000 people attended the lectures at the on-campus and
remote sites. Additional information
about the January Series of Calvin College is available at http://www.calvin.edu/january/2014/.
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 network, born out of adversity, has become the Worldwide Leader in
Sports, ESPN. A former radio and television sports
broadcaster, Rasmussen had been the
Whalers Communications Director, but when the Whalers didn’t make the 1978 WHA
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, including the creation of ESPN,
the concepts 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.
Rasmussen
is
the author of the best-selling book, “Sports
Junkies Rejoice! The Birth of ESPN,” which was recently published in a brand-new paperback edition, and is
also available in a Kindle edition at ESPNFounder.com and at Amazon.com. He is a gifted raconteur and a popular public
speaker discussing American entrepreneurship, innovation, and the birth of ESPN, and a frequent guest on radio and
television shows. His recent appearances
include nationally-syndicated radio shows “Sports
Byline USA with Ron Barr”, “The
Dennis Miller Show” and the FOX News Channel’s “Red Eye with Greg Gutfeld.”
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.
In October 2012, another chapter in Rasmussen’s illustrious career began
when he was named Executive in Residence
at The Robert C. McDermond Center for Management & Entrepreneurship at
DePauw University. In his new role, Rasmussen met with students on the
DePauw campus, particularly with the Management Fellows Program and the Media
Fellows Program. He also delivered a
lecture at DePauw University as part of the college’s 175th anniversary
Distinguished Alumni Lecture Series, received the Distinguished Alumni
Achievement Award for Media and was inducted into the Media Wall of Fame at the
Pulliam Center for Contemporary Media at DePauw University.
Rasmussen’s current
speaking tour has included private and corporate events, as well as public
engagements at The Wharton School of the
University of Pennsylvania, Rutgers University, University of South Carolina,
University of Kansas, 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,
Auburn University, Arizona State University, Union College, University of Texas
at Arlington and The Center for
Sports Leadership at Virginia Commonwealth University, among others.
For more information, visit http://www.ESPNFounder.com and follow Rasmussen
on Facebook and on Twitter.