Jim Simpson

James Shores Simpson (December 20, 1927 – January 13, 2016) was an American sportscaster, known for his smooth delivery as a play-by-play man and his versatility in covering many different sports. In 1997, he won the Sports Lifetime Achievement Award, and in 2000 he was inducted into the National Sportscasters and Sportswriters Association Hall of Fame.

Career Jim Simpson was born in Washington, D.C., and grew up in nearby Chevy Chase, Maryland. He began his broadcasting career with a short-lived radio show, Hunting and Fishing with Jimmy Simpson, when he was 15. The CBC would follow suit the following year.

On January 15, 1967, Simpson (along with former quarterback George Ratterman) called Super Bowl I for NBC radio. He also called three other Super Bowls and several World Series for NBC radio, as well as numerous Orange Bowl games, the 1966 FIFA World Cup Final (via tape delay), and several Olympic Games for NBC television.

ESPN In 1979, after Week 2 of the NFL season, the fledgling ESPN cable sports network brought Simpson on board to provide some needed credibility with sports fans. Simpson broadcast the first NCAA basketball game the network televised, with flamboyant Dick Vitale as the color man. Vitale Simpson with helping him develop as a sportscaster. Simpson also called USFL, NBA, college football, and College World Series games for ESPN, in 1988 called the Baltimore Orioles' local telecasts on WMAR-TV (the NBC affiliate at the time), and called figure skating at the 1992 and 1994 Winter Olympics for TNT.

After his sportscasting days Simpson retired to St. Croix, Virgin Islands. Among other firsts he was the initial U.S. sportscaster to appear live via satellite from Asia, and he was involved in the first American sportscast using instant replay technology. In 2005, ESPN brought Simpson back from retirement to do play-by-play for a series of college basketball games in a "turn back the clock" format on the ESPN Classic network. He died on January 13, 2016, in Scottsdale, Arizona at the age of 88.