From the gridiron to the television production truck, football has been the predominant passion of Bob Goodrich's life. The 15-time Emmy Award-winning producer is best known for his landmark work with ABC's Monday Night Football, Wide World of Sports and the network's first Super Bowl telecast in 1985, though folks in Dallas, Texas, may beg to differ. Goodrich first became a local and national name as a sure-handed, play-making split end at Dallas' Woodrow Wilson High School - the alma mater of Heisman Trophy winners Davey O'Brien and Tim Brown. A high school All-American and All-State player in football, Goodrich was elected to the Texas High School Football Hall of Fame earlier this year.
He went on to the collegiate level to star at Southern Methodist University as a tight end.
When Goodrich decided to pursue medical school rather than a National Football League career, psychiatry eventually lost out to the glamour of another profession. When the telecast of his father's Sunday sermons showed him the light, Goodrich turned his love of football and sports into a prestigious 40-year career that's still in progress.
Today, Goodrich and his wife, Annie, provide media training to commentators as well as athletes and coaches through their company, Sportscast Stars Training. He has helped a wide range of athletes, schools and even professional leagues, such as the WNBA, make the best of their media coverage.
Bob Goodrich
I always loved football when I was growing up. We started playing tackle football at Lakewood Elementary School in the sixth grade. I was excited when I got to start playing.
It's a team sport. Everyone depends on everyone else, yet individuals can make a difference. Football is a nice combination of everything that I love about sports.
And it also started teaching me things about life. You can't accomplish everything yourself. That may be a cliché, but it's true. I played football for 12 years of my life and football taught me so much.
My first heroes were college football players. I remember Don Meredith playing at SMU and other Mustangs players. I made a habit of watching or following the Mustangs every chance I could. I identified with football more than anything else.
Cotton Miles was my high school coach, but he also taught me something about life. Early in my sophomore year, we suffered a tough loss and I just thought the world was about to come to an end. He came over to me on the bus and he said, "I know it was a tough loss, but you can't worry about it now. What we have to do this week is start working harder to overcome this loss and figure out what it will take to win next week." And we did win the next week. I have always remembered that because it taught me how to respond when things don't go your way,rather than feel sorry for yourself for a long period of time.
I loved playing for Coach Miles and made friends at Woodrow that are still friends today.
I was recruited by 50 schools across the country, but to me, football was all about Texas. I figured I was always going to live in Dallas, so I was interested in Texas schools. But I chose SMU because I had lived in Dallas all my life and because of Coach Hayden Fry. I liked his attitude and his offense. He said he was going to win a Southwest Conference championship at SMU and guess what, we did. If I would have gone to Texas, I would not have won a championship, so I was lucky I made the right choice.
While preparing to graduate from SMU, I did not consider a professional football career because as a psychiatry major, there was nothing on my mind other than going to medical school. Why did I love psychiatry? Subconsciously, because I was able to play for coaches who were part philosopher, motivator and psychiatrist. I wanted to be a psychiatrist who helped people solve their problems, and that is what coaches do.
Two months before I was to enroll in medical school, that plan changed. I found another love.
I began working for ABC Sports as a gofer, following the crews around the country at my own expense. About a year and a half later, I was hired and have never looked back. I was lucky to be with ABC Sports for so long and to have television, sports and football be a part of my life for so many years.
Now my wife and I go to teams and universities to instruct players and coaches on dealing with the media. One of the first things we tell them is something I learned in my years of producing football games: dealing with the media is just like dealing with life. When you're done playing football, what are you going to do? You need to take the lessons you've learned from football and apply them to your life away from sports.
Football taught me to give 110 percent to my job in television. When I produce a telecast, I have a team of people working around me. It's a team effort, but I always want to win. I always want my broadcasts to be the best. I still want to be the best producer. I learned all of those principles from loving and playing the game of football.
