Bob Costas Biography
Bob Costas (born Robert Quinlan Costas) is an American Emmy Award-winning Host, Commentator, Sports Journalist, and Author working for MLB Network as a host and play-by-play announcer. He is also known for having worked for NBC Sports and hosting NBC’s NFL and NBA coverages.
Bob Costas Age
Costas was born on March 22, 1952, in New York City, United States. He is therefore 71 years old as of 2023. He celebrates his birthday on the 22nd of March every year.
Bob Costas Height
Costas stands at an approximate height of 5 feet and 7 inches.
Bob Costas Family
Costas was born to John George Costas (father) and Jayne Quinlan (mother). His dad is Greek and his mom is Irish. He grew up in Commack, New York, and St. Louis, MO alongside his sister, Valerie Costas.
Bob Costas Wife
Costas is a married man and his spouse is Jill Sutton. They tied the knot on March 12, 2004, and they live in New York. The couple has no biological kids.
Bob Costas Ex-Wife
Costas was married to Carole “Randy” Randall Krummenacher (AKA Carole Krumenacher) from 1983 to 2001. Their marriage ended in a divorce but the reason for the divorce is yet to be known.
Bob Costas Children
Costas and his ex-wife, Carole “Randy” Randall Krummenacher, were blessed with Keith Michael Kirby Costas (son – firstborn) and Taylor Costas (daughter). Keith is 37 years old as of 2023 having been born in the year 1986. Taylor is 34 years old as of 2023 having been born in the year 1989.
Keith and Taylor both got Sports Emmy awards. Taylor got one Emmy as an associate producer on NBC’s report of the Summer Olympics of the year 2012. Keith got 2 Emmys for working as an associate producer on the program “MLB Tonight”.
One time Costas made a joking promise to Kirby Puckett, a player for the Minnesota Twins, saying that if Kirby was batting more than .350 when his 1st kid was born, he would call him Kirby. Kirby was hitting really well, but Costas’s son didn’t get the name Kirby at first. After Puckett reminded Costas about the deal, they changed the birth certificate to say “Keith Michael Kirby Costas.”
Bob Costas Net Worth
Costas has an estimated net worth of between $1 Million-$5 Million which he has earned through his successful career as a Host, Commentator, and Sports Journalist.
Bob Costas Salary
As an MLB play-by-play announcer and host, Costas earns an annual salary ranging from $ 45,000 – $ 110,500.
Bob Costas Education
Costas is a proud alumnus of Syracuse University’s S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications. While there, he didn’t finish his studies, he left school in the year 1974. He started his broadcasting career during his time at the university as a freshman, where he served at WAER, a radio station run by students. In the ’80s, he made the Robert Costas Scholarship at the Newhouse School. Costas had his high school studies at Commack High School South.
Bob Costas Career
Bob Costas MLB Network
Costas serves at MLB Network as a studio host of the network’s special event coverage and programming, as well as a play-by-play announcer of the MLB Network Showcase series. Since June 2020, Costas has been co-hosting the show called “The Sounds of Baseball,” which airs on MLB Network. This show is a way to honor the famous voices in baseball. Costas is known as among the best interviewers on TV. He’s talked to many big names in baseball, like Mike Trout and Clayton Kershaw, as well as Hall of Famers. He’s also spoken with Ernie Harwell (a famous broadcaster) and had a conversation with Pres. Obama during the All-Star Game of the year 2009.
In the year 2011, Costas worked together with Tom Verducci on a special series for MLB Network called “MLB’s 20 Greatest Games.” They listed the top 20 games from around 5 decades. There they talked to important people like managers, players, and broadcasters who were part of those games. Costas also helps report on breaking news for MLB Network during the year. In January 2010, Costas had the 1st TV interview with Mark McGwire after he admitted to using steroids during his baseball career. He also got the 1st interview with Selena Roberts, the writer from Sports Illustrated, after she told everyone in February 2009 about Alex Rodriguez using performance-enhancing drugs.
Costas has also served as a host of many important baseball events. He talked about the American League Championship Series for several years (around the ’80s, ’90s, and the year 2000). He also reported on the NLCS in the year 1999 and announced the World Series games in the years 1999, 1997, and 1995, along with the 2000 All-Star Game. Between 1982 and 1989, Costas was the one who announced the games on NBC’s Baseball Game of the Week broadcasts.
Costas is working at MLB Network alongside other famous MLB analysts, hosts, and commentators such as;
- Yonder Alonso
- Greg Amsinger
- Rubén Amaro Jr.
- A.J. Andrews
- Alex Avila
- Ron Darling
- Bob Costas
Bob Costas Early Career | Talk Show Hosting
In the year 1974, Costas started his career in broadcasting in radio at WSYR in Syracuse. There he reported on many sports stories such as the Syracuse Blazers, a minor league hockey team in the Eastern Hockey League. After he finished school, he went to work for KMOX radio in St. Louis. At KMOX, he talked about basketball games for the Missouri Tigers and also helped host a call-in show called Open Line. He also did the talking part during the Chicago Bulls’ games on WGN-TV for the 1979-1980 NBA season.
Costas started a famous sports radio show called “Costas Coast-to-Coast” that was broadcast across the country every Sunday night. He has also had his own TV show on NBC called “Later,” which won an Emmy Award. For 5 years (from 1976 to 1981), Costas worked for CBS Sports. There he covered regional NBA and NFL events while also being the radio announcer for University of Missouri basketball.
Bob Costas NBC Sports
Costas was the main host for NBC’s coverage of the Olympics for a record 11 times, starting from 1992 and including the 2012 London Games, which became the most-watched TV event in the United States with 217 M viewers. He passed the hosting duties to Mike Tirico in February 2017. From 2006 to 2016, Costas was the host of “Football Night in America”. He also hosted “Football Night,” which was the pregame show for NBC’s Thursday Night Football in its 1st season in the year 2016. In addition, Costas has hosted NBC’s coverage of the Belmont Stakes and Preakness Stakes horse races, as well as the U.S. Open and Ryder Cup. He also contributed to news on CNN.
Bob Costas HBO Sports
For 4 years (between 2005 and 2009), Costas was the host of “Costas Now” on HBO, a show about sports that came out every 3 months and lasted for an hour. Also, for 4 years (from 2001 to 2005), he hosted “On The Record” on HBO, which was a weekly program where he talked to people in interviews. Costas also hosted “Inside the NFL” on HBO for 6 years (from 2002 to 2008), and he did it with Cris Collinsworth, plus 2 former NFL stars, Cris Carter and Dan Marino. This show aired every week during the NFL season. However, in February 2009, Costas left HBO and joined MLB Network. But on April 23, 2021, it was revealed that he would come back to HBO to host a show called “Back on the Record,” which would be released every three months and have interviews.
Bob Costas NBA
Costas was in charge of the NBA Showtime, a show that came before NBA games on NBC, from 1991 to 1996. He was also NBC’s main person for talking about the action during NBA games on NBC from 1997 to 2000. People still remember Costas for his exciting description of Michael Jordan’s game-winning shot in the 1998 NBA Finals, which is thought to be among the most memorable moments in sports commentary nowadays.
Bob Costas Awards and Honors
Over the years of his career, he has won many awards and honors for his outstanding work. He is an accomplished figure in the world of television, boasting a remarkable 29 Emmy Awards. Notably, he holds the distinction of being the sole individual in television history to have received Emmys in the categories of news, sports, and entertainment. His prowess as a sportscaster has garnered him numerous accolades, including 4 American Sportscasters Association Sportscaster of the Year awards and 8 NSMA National Sportscaster of the Year titles.
Costas’s contributions to sports broadcasting have earned him the prestigious 1999 Curt Gowdy Media Award and a star on the St. Louis Walk of Fame from the Basketball Hall of Fame. He’s also been honored with the 2001 George Arents Award and the 2000 TV Guide Award for Favorite Sportscaster from Syracuse University, recognizing his excellence in sports broadcasting.
In the year 2004, he received the Dick Schaap Award for Outstanding Journalism. Costas’s impressive career led to his induction into the NSMA Hall of Fame in the year 2012, and he was the recipient of the 2012 Walter Cronkite Award for Excellence in Journalism. He continued to be recognized for his leadership in sports media with the 2013 S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications Marty Glickman Award.
In the year 2015, he became a part of the WAER Hall of Fame. Costas’s legacy reached new heights in the year 2017 when he received the Ford C. Frick Award from the National Baseball Hall of Fame. His excellence in sports broadcasting was further acknowledged in the year 2018 when he was inducted into the Sports Broadcasting Hall of Fame. Finally, in the year 2019, he earned a place in the Suffolk Sports Hall of Fame.
Bob Costas Films and Songs
Besides appearing on TV as an announcer in sports, he has also appeared in several movies and has been alluded to in a number of songs. In the year 1994, Costas acted as a sports announcer in the movie “The Scout,” where he talked about the World Series, and he was with Tim McCarver. In the year 1998, he played himself in the movie “BASEketball” along with his rival, Al Michaels from ABC. Costas used his voice for a car character named Bob Cutlass in the movies “Cars” in 2006 and “Cars 3” in the year 2017. He also showed up as himself in the 2001 movie “Pootie Tang,” where he said he watched a really long video clip.
His voice was heard in the 2011 documentary film called “Legendary: When Baseball Came to the Bluegrass.” This documentary tells the story of how the minor league baseball team, Lexington Legends in Kentucky, started. Also, in the year 2021, Costas acted as himself in a movie called “Here Today”.
Costas has been mentioned in popular songs a few times. Some songs like “We Major” by Domo Genesis, “Mafioso” by Mac Dre, and “The Last Huzzah” by Mr. Muthafuckin’ eXquire make reference to him. He also got a mention in a Ludacris song after he talked about the rapper on the late-night show, Last Call with Carson Daly. In June 2013, Costas even lent his voice to play the role of God in the Monty Python musical called Spamalot at The Muny Repertory in St. Louis, MO.
Bob Costas Controversies
Costas has had several controversies over the years in his career. In a part of the Sunday Night Football halftime show on December 2, 2012, Costas shared the ideas of Jason Whitlock, a writer from Fox Sports. They were talking about the tragic event involving Jovan Belcher, who had killed his girlfriend and then himself the day before. Costas mentioned that the culture of guns in the US was leading to more deadly arguments at home. He suggested that if Belcher didn’t have a gun, the sad incident might not have happened, and both he and his girlfriend might still be alive.
While reporting on the 2014 Winter Olympics, some people who have conservative views, like Glenn Beck and Michelle Malkin, didn’t like what Costas said. They thought he was praising Vladimir Putin (the Russian President), for helping with problems in Iran and Syria. On the other hand, some conservative media folks, such as Bernard Goldberg and Bill O’Reilly, said that what Costas said was true. They also mentioned that Costas had said negative things about Russia and Putin while he was in Sochi.
In November 2017, when Costas visited the University of Maryland, he talked about football. He was worried about players getting hurt in the head, called concussions, and how it affects their brains. He said he wouldn’t let his son, who’s good at sports, play football. Even though he was supposed to host the Super Bowl for the 8th time, NBC decided to have Liam McHugh instead. At first, Costas said it wasn’t because of what he said, but later he admitted that it had something to do with him leaving NBC after being there for 4 decades.
Bob Costas Pink Eye / Illness
In around mid-2021, Costas appeared on TV with a “pink eye” and his fans wondered a lot about what had happened to him. “Pink eye” is a way to talk about a kind of eye problem. It happens when the white part of the eyes gets affected by things like bacteria, allergies, or, in Costas’ situation, a virus. In July 2021, he said in an interview that he had viral conjunctivitis when he was hosting the Winter Olympics.
Bob Costas Book
Besides working on TV, Costas is also an author. His book is called “Fair Ball: A Fan’s Case for Baseball”. The book got great reviews and became a best-seller in the year 2002, according to The New York Times. The money made from the book was given to the Baseball Assistance Team (B.A.T.), which helps people in the baseball community who need financial help.
Bob Costas Social Media Platforms
He is active on his social media accounts and often posts on his Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter. He has over 1.2K followers on Instagram.