Sandy Grossman to receive 2026 Pete Rozelle Radio-Television Award
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Longtime fixture at CBS & Fox won eight Emmy Awards, directed championships across multiple pro sports
Sandy Grossman, an eight-time Emmy Award-winning director of sports programming, has been selected to receive the 2026 Pete Rozelle Radio-Television Award from the Pro Football Hall of Fame.Grossman led network coverage of 10 Super Bowls, 18 NBA Finals, five Stanley Cup Finals and multiple Olympic Games’ opening and closing ceremonies. He becomes the first winner of the Hall’s Rozelle Award whose primary duties came as the director of TV sports event coverage.
“The Hall of Fame each year recognizes the contributions and impact of an individual to professional football through television and radio, and Sandy Grossman set the standard for broadcast directors,” said Jim Porter, president & CEO of the Hall of Fame. “This award reflects Sandy’s indisputable legacy on television, his passion for sports broadcasting and the innovations he brought to telecasts – many that remain fixtures to this day. With today’s media landscape, it seems unlikely anyone will surpass his 10 Super Bowls as director.”
Grossman will be honored during the 2026 Enshrinees’ Gold Jacket Dinner presented by Haggar in downtown Canton on Friday, Aug. 7. The dinner is part of Pro Football Hall of Fame Enshrinement Week presented by Novartis that includes the enshrinement of the Class of 2026.
Porter delivered the news to Grossman’s son, Dean, during a phone conversation Dean later called “the greatest call I could have received.”
“Thank you to the Pro Football Hall of Fame for recognizing my father and his contributions to the NFL,” Grossman continued. “This is such an incredible honor, and to know that my father’s name and legacy will be remembered forever in the most prestigious place among the legends of the game would have meant the world to him, as it does our family.
“This is not just for my father,” Grossman said, “but also for all the people he worked with along the way to create the best telecasts for viewers around the world.”
In 1981, Grossman began working with John Madden and Pat Summerall at CBS, whom he directed for the next 21 seasons (ending with Fox). In an era when rushing the passer became a premier skill, Grossman worked with Madden to adapt his broadcasts to give fans the best possible viewing experience.
Madden credited Grossman as the first director to widen the standard camera shot to include the outside linebackers, an example of his foresight and dedication to improving the product.
“Listening is key in this profession, and Sandy was a great listener,” said Richie Zyontz, a 43-year veteran of television sports coverage who said he “cut my teeth” under Grossman. “No one was better at capturing the emotion of sporting events. He got you inside the helmet. He was a master of the close-up shots (who could) make a bead of sweat tell a story.”
Beginning as an usher at the Ed Sullivan Theater in Manhattan in 1957, Grossman worked his way into CBS in public affairs and later CBS Sports. In the early 1970s, he became the lead director of NBA broadcasts, where he developed the use of playing music during game breaks – still the norm in sports broadcasting. He later became the network’s top NFL director.
“Technically, Sandy was one of the best in our business,” said Neal Pilson, a former president of CBS Sports. “He is widely acknowledged to have revolutionized network coverage of pro football with his use of coaches’ films to help guide his direction of main game and isolation cameras and to anticipate Pat’s and John’s commentary. “In fact, John acknowledged on several occasions to me and to others that Sandy was the true quarterback of their production team.”
In 1994, Fox obtained the rights to broadcast NFL games from CBS. Grossman joined Madden and Summerall in moving to the new network, a testament to his value to their broadcasts. The trio – along with producer Bob Stenner – would work together for 21 years, a record only recently surpassed by 2020 Rozelle Award winner Joe Buck and partner Troy Aikman.
Grossman retired in 2012 and passed away in 2014 in Boca Raton, Florida, at the age of 78.
Winners of the Pete Rozelle Radio-Television Award
2026 – Sandy Grossman2025 – Brent Musburger
2024 – Merrill Reese
2023 – Fred Gaudelli
2022 – Howard Katz
2021 – John Facenda
2020 – Joe Buck
2019 – Dick Ebersol
2018 – Andrea Kremer
2017 – David Hill
2016 – James Brown
2015 – Tom Jackson
2014 – Bob Trumpy
2013 – Al Michaels
2012 – Len Dawson
2011 – Jim Nantz
2010 – Chris Berman
2009 – Irv Cross
2008 – Dan Dierdorf
2007 – Don Meredith
2006 – Lesley Visser
2005 – Myron Cope
2004 – Van Miller
2003 – Don Criqui
2002 – John Madden
2001 – Roone Arledge
2000 – Ray Scott
1999 – Dick Enberg
1998 – Val Pinchbeck
1997 – Charlie Jones
1996 – Jack Buck
1995 – Frank Gifford
1994 – Pat Summerall
1993 – Curt Gowdy
1992 – Chris Schenkel
1991 – Ed Sabol
1990 – Lindsey Nelson
1989 – Bill MacPhail