TORONTO – The CBC Sports Hall of Fame will induct broadcasting legends Terry Leibel, Alan Clark, Don E. Brown and Fred Sgambati at its fourth annual ceremony which this year is scheduled for November 18.
Terry Leibel became of one of the first women to anchor a network sports program on CBC Sports Weekend and TSN SportsDesk and, in Atlanta in 1996, was the first woman to co-anchor network Olympic Games coverage. She continued in this role for the next five Olympic Games with CBC. Leibel, a member of Canada’s equestrian team from 1975 to 1980, was also highly respected member of CBC’s renowned championship show jumping coverage. In 2003, she became the first woman to win a Gemini award for sports broadcasting.
Alan Clark led CBC Radio Sports and later CBC Television Sports, and was instrumental in the growth and continued success of CBC Sports as a worldwide leader in sports production. Clark successfully negotiated many landmark sports broadcasting agreements for CBC, including the “five Games deal” with the IOC for rights to the Olympic Games from 2000 to 2008. Clark was also one of the driving forces behind such innovative CBC programming including Hockey Day in Canada, which began in 2000, double-header Saturday nights on Hockey Night In Canada.
Don E. Brown was an executive producer and director with CBC whose multi-decade career started in 1967. Brown played a key role in almost every major sporting event covered by CBC during that timeframe, including the 1978 XI Commonwealth Games from Edmonton, the 1994 XV Commonwealth Games from Victoria, the 1999 Pan Am Games from Winnipeg, and countless Olympic Games broadcasts. He also served as executive producer at CBC Vancouver (1981-1991) and CBC Montreal (1973-76 and 1979-81).
Fred Sgambati, or Scooter as he was known, was a mainstay of university football broadcasting on radio and well-known for his work on the CFL. Throughout his 28-year career, he also covered historic events such as the 1972 Canada-Soviet Series, Canada Cup hockey, Olympic Games and Pan-Am Games. Sgambati passed away in 1979, but his legacy continues to be honoured through the Fred Sgambati Award, which is presented each year by Canadian Interuniversity Sport to a member of the news media who has made a major contribution to the development and growth of university sports.
The four new members of the CBC Sports Hall of Fame will join existing members Ernie Afaganis, Gordon Craig, Maggie Davis, Tom Fisk, Foster Hewitt, Danny Gallivan, Geoff Gowan, Dick Irvin, Joan Mead, Howie Meeker, Bob Moir, George Retzlaff, Ted Reynolds, Jim Thompson, Fred Walker and Don Wittman.
