For 25 consecutive years Greg Gumbel was a part of college basketball fans’ annual march to madness.
As CBS Sports’ studio host of the Men’s NCAA Basketball Tournament each spring, I dare say he was as much a part of the action as the players and coaches themselves. His cool and steady hand navigating the studio team and – during his early years – handling the cutaway coverage of fantastic finishes that inevitably popped up.
Gumbel missed the 2024 Tournament when he was away for what was described as “family health issues.”
He died on December 27, 2024 at 78-years-old from pancreatic cancer.
The past two NCAA Tournaments were the first he was not a part of since taking the reins of the studio in 1998, a remarkable 25-year stretch.
In later years, CBS and Turner Sports have teamed to televise the tournament and Ernie Johnson (a cancer survivor himself), Charles Barkley, Clark Kellogg, and Kenny Smith paid tribute to Gumbel at the beginning of the 2025 NCAA Tournament.
The field of 68 will be revealed later today and, no doubt, some teams will be missing.
There will be something else missing as well:-(
Just to review, The Fan Teaser was the creation of former Ann Arbor News Sports Editor Geoff Larcom. Longtime friend and fellow Ann Arbor News alum, Pat Schutte, took it to heights previously unknown. We aim to keep it alive here at The Sports Fan Project. The cropped photo and the accompanying clue give you an idea as to who or what the image is of. We invite you to use the Comment option to take a crack at solving the Teaser and, if you’re so inclined, participate in some good-spirited banter with your fellow sports fans. The Fan Teaser will appear each Friday morning with the reveal coming to you Sunday.
I wasn’t sharp enough to pick up on you hint.