Bill Rasmussen, who co-founded ESPN in 1979 after being dismissed from a public relations position with the World Hockey Association, died Tuesday at 93. ESPN historian Mike Soltys said Rasmussen passed away at his Florida home from complications of Parkinson’s disease. Rasmussen announced in 2019 that he had been diagnosed with the degenerative condition in 2014.
"Bill was a remarkable man — a visionary and an innovator who conceived the idea of a network entirely devoted to sports," ESPN chairman Jimmy Pitaro said in a statement. "Quite simply, none of us would be here today if it wasn’t for Bill’s passion and all the hard work and entrepreneurial spirit he put into building ESPN in the late 1970s — key aspects of our company culture that still carry on to this day." Rasmussen and his son Scott came up with the idea of a network carrying sports around the clock, and it would revolutionize Americans’ TV-watching habits. But the pair didn’t stick around long.
They were forced out after only a year by ESPN majority owner Oil. Bill Rasmussen’s original idea was a cable channel covering only Connecticut sports. Many cable operators in the state were skeptical, but someone suggested buying satellite time to reach a national audience.
ESPN was launched on Sept. 7, 1979. George Grande welcomed viewers to the first “SportsCenter” broadcast before the network’s first live event, a slow-pitch softball game between the Kentucky Bourbons and the Milwaukee Schlitz. The investment and the deal with the NCAA occurred on the same day.
I didn’t argue with anybody. I just thought they were wrong and I was right.” When the Rasmussens were forced out of ESPN in 1980, owned 85% of the network. Texaco, which had acquired Getty, sold its interest in ESPN to ABC in 1984.
Bill Rasmussen and ESPN were estranged until 1999, when company executives invited him to the 20th anniversary celebration. Since then, he has been embraced and recognized for his vision of creating an all-sports network. He toured the country in 2019 for the 40th anniversary and gave speeches at Walt Disney Co. and ESPN events.
Extract — continue reading at the source.
