Biography of Chris Berman [Age, Height, Wife, Kids, Family, Salary, Award & Net worth ]

Chris Berman has been one of the USA’s most admired and adored sportscasters for around four decades. He is also famous for the nickname ‘boomer.’

He has been the man of SportsCenter on ESPN since October of 1979 – a month after the network’s inception.

Berman has also hosted the Sunday NFL Countdown program since 1985 on the same network.

Besides, he is the six-time awardee of the ‘National Sportscaster of the Year honor from the National Sports Media Association. 

It is hard to imagine NFL Sundays before Berman and his hooking voice.

With his catchy commentary phrases and peculiar mien, he contributed exceptionally to planting ESPN’s popularity during its early ages.

Although he would remain at the company, in January 2017, he was announced to be bowing out of many NFL-associated duties from ESPN.

Quick Facts

Chris Berman: Early Life, Family & Education

Berman was born in Greenwich, Connecticut, on the 10^th of May 1995.

He is the son of Peggy Shevell and James Kleiner Berman. Peggy was a reporter-researcher in Time magazine.

Likewise, James was a corporate executive vice president. He was raised Jewish. Similarly, he spent most of his childhood in the village of Irvington, New York.

He studied at the Hackley School and received his degree in history from Brown University in 1977. He was the sports director of the school’s radio station.

During those times, he developed an immense interest in sports and built impressive presentation skills.

Chris Berman: Career

Early days

At the beginning of his career, Berman’s coverage of sports news on a radio station in Waterbury.

Later he worked as a weekend sports anchor at Hartford’s WVIT-TV. It was marked significant in his sportscaster career.

Eventually, ESPN was aware of his unique style of presentation. Accordingly, the network hired him in October 1979, when he was 24.

His first assignment was as a daily sports news presenter.

Only Berman and few people would believe back then that he would remain at the network for four decades.

The man was to become one of their longest-tenured personnel. The only working SportsCenter anchor from 1979 besides him is Bob Ley.

SportsCenter

Berman regularly hosted SportsCenter until 1990 (for 11 years). During the network’s early four years, he worked the overnight shift.

He was made the host of ESPN’s NFL Gameday in 1986. It was after a year of the show’s initiation. The pregame show was later renamed Sunday NFL Countdown.

Baseball Commentaries

In 1990, he marked his first appearance on ESPN’s MLB All-Star Games and Home Run Derby coverage. He has remained in the position for 31 years. He did the job for 30 years.

Furthermore, he served as a play-by-play commentator for Major League Baseball games and host of Baseball Tonight on ESPN from 1990.

National Football League coverage

Berman was the host of Monday Night Football. He was also the leading man for live coverage of three Super Bowls for ABC Sports during 1995-2006.

Then ESPN got the broadcasting rights. Accordingly, he continued the program with the network.

During 2006-2015, he presented NFL highlights during the 7 pm edition of SportsCenter with three other presenters.

Notably, he hosted NFL PrimeTime every Sunday night during the 1987-2005 fall.

Tom Jackson was his partner there. According to ESPN, the program still detains the record as cable television’s highest-rated sports studio show.

Interviews

In his career, Berman had the privilege of conducting final interviews with the presidential candidates.

Notably, he interviewed then-presidential candidates Barack Obama and John McCain in 2008.

Also, he interrogated President Barack Obama and candidate Mitt Romney in 2012. The latter was during the Monday Night Football halftimes on election eve.

In 2009, he hosted ESPN’s two-hour documentary The Greatest Game Ever Played. It demonstrated the legendary 1958 NFL Championship game between the Colts and Giants.

Berman was a nightly show host of US Open golf from 1986 until 2014. He added a play-by-play role in the service in 2003.

He has been a Master of Ceremonies for the Pro Football Hall of Fame induction events since 1999.

The rebirth of NFL Primetime in 2019 presented Berman and Jackson as hosts on ESPN+. He has reduced his duties at ESPN since 2017 but still serves there.

Associations

During his career, he has been a season ticket holder for Hartford Whalers. He is found citing the team by singing its theme song.

Lately, he has been “Bills Booster,” an admirer and supporter of Buffalo Bills.

Furthermore, he has taken part in many events involving the Bills. It includes the presentation of the club owner Ralph Wilson in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

Chris Berman: Peculiarities

Berman is renowned for humor and vitality, with detailed reporting as a host, anchor, and commentator.

Perhaps his trademark phrase is his prediction of a touchdown run: ’’He could..go..all..the..way!’’. It also was one of the first he endorsed.

Also, he is well known for using nicknames during his voices in Major League Baseball highlights.

He has received numerous praises from his fellows, the media, viewers, and players all over the nation. The veteran is loved for his cheery and amusing style of delivery.

HE IS OUR MOST IMPORTANT PERSON. HE IS THE FACE OF ESPN.

Berman makes predictions on the Sunday NFL Countdown using him alter ego ‘The Swami.’

However, his prediction of a Super Bowl between the San Francisco 49ers and the Buffalo Bills is a fun fact.

One or the other has never come true for seven consecutive years as neither of them made it.

Other domains

Apart from the core profession, Berman has made cameos in 14 films and various television shows.

The appearance in Adam Sandler’s comedy The Waterboy (1998) was the most notable.

In  The Longest Yard (2005), he played the role of the play-by-play announcer of the prison football game.

Playing as himself, he made appearances in Necessary Roughness (1991), The Program (1994), Eddie, and Kingpin (1996).

Besides, he appeared in the single ‘Only Wanna Be With You (1995) video by Hootie and the Blowfish.

Also, he was featured in the comedy Grown Ups 2 (2013).

Besides these, he has also appeared in commercials for a weight loss product company Nutrisystem.

He uses some of his signature phrases and nicknames to demonstrate the product’s efficiency on some renowned footballers.

Berman has appeared on three late-night shows – Late Night with David Letterman, The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, and Jimmy Kimmel Live.

Chris Berman: Award and Achievements

Berman’s career as a veteran sportscaster has always been admired by all the related media, players, and viewers.

He was honored by numerous sports institutions during his longest tenure at ESPN.

Berman has been the ‘National Sportscaster of the Year honoree by the National Sportscasters and Sportswriters Association six times.

He also received the honor of the American Sportscasters Association’s ‘Sportscaster of the Year – Studio Host.’ CableACE Awards honored him with ‘Cable’s best sports host’ four times.

Berman was honored by People magazine’s ‘TV’s Most Fascinating Stars 1997’. Furthermore, he achieved Maxwell Football Club’s ‘Reds Bagnell Award 2001’.

Remarkably, Berman is an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree. He received it from Brown University in May 2007.

Moreover,  in 2010 he received his star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

The Hollywood Chamber of Commerce welcomed him there. It was a tribute to his more than 30 years of service in the sports television industry.

Alongside, he was provided with Pete Rozelle Radio-Television Award by the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2010.

Chris Berman Is Very Aware of All the Criticism He Gets

The longtime front of ESPN is well aware of his critics and the multiple studies of his lies.

On the latest SI Media Podcast, Berman was questioned on how he feels about the strong reaction he makes from people who are not fans.

“I don’t poo-poo it, but as long as any of us do the job to the best of our brains.”

“When a critic — and there weren’t very many — said, ‘boy, he’s unprepared.’ Whoa, whoa, whoa, woooaahhh, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.”

“I don’t like the nicknames.’ Fine. ‘He’s too loud.’ Fine. ‘He makes it about himself.’ False, but if you want to write that, okay.”

“But you didn’t see me every night in the ’80s and the ’90s to know that I’m at least true to myself.”

“It’s like if you met me on the street, and probably on the air, it’d sound like we’ve been for the last 40 minutes. So I’m not smart enough to be an actor.”

“But if everyone says, ‘he’s unprepared, he’s out of touch – do you know who I talk to during the week? Don’t be writing that. And there hasn’t been a lot of that. People are smart enough for that.”

Berman further talked about his will to join Twitter. He mentions that he wants to avoid the toxic platforms that drive his focus away from his work and life goals.

He is still not officially on Twitter, but many of his fan accounts exist.

Chris Berman: Age, Height, and Nationality

Born in 1955, Berman is 65 years of age as of 2020. He is Taurus, according to horoscope charts.

He was born and raised, spent his professional career in America, and has the nation’s passport. Berman and his family practice Judaism and live in Chesire, Connecticut.

He is 6 feet and four inches or 195 centimeters. Likewise, he has a chubby body weighing 95 kilograms or 209 pounds.

Chris Berman: Net Worth & Salary

Berman has had around four decades of service in ESPN. Besides, he has made cameos in different shows and movies.

BERMAN IS EXPECTED TO HAVE A NET WORTH OF $20 MILLION AS OF AUGUST 2022.

He currently makes $5 million annually as an anchor of different sports shows. It is pretty much evident because of his plenty of honors and popularity. Henceforth, the 65 years old veteran deserves every penny he makes.

Chris Berman: Wife & Children

Berman was married to Katherine Alexinski in 1983. They have two children: a son Douglas and a daughter Meredith, who lives in Brooklyn. Besides, Douglas is married. Both of his children attended Ivy League institutions.

Katherine died in a car collision in Woodbury on May 9, 2017. It was the day before Chris’s 62^nd birthday. Moreover, she had killed the driver of the other car too. Reports confirm she was driving drunk.

Currently, there are no reports or rumors about Berman in a relationship. It seems he enjoys his profession and success and gets no time for affairs in the late half of his life.

Chris Berman: Social Media Presence

Berman is not quite active on social media. Maybe the man is busy in his profession. Besides, he wants to keep his life private. It seems that Berman has only a Twitter account.

Twitter: 2671 followers (@BoomsFreshTakes)

Chris Berman | Frequently Asked Questions(FAQs)

Did Chris Berman have a stroke?

ESPN legend Chris Berman, who hasn’t made many features on the network in the past couple of years, was at the Super Bowl and had an incredible display.

He either had too much to drink during the game or was experiencing some stroke.