Courtesy Indiana Gazette

(May 20, 2010) It is safe to assume life is good for John Buccigross. He works for one of the best-known broadcasting companies in the world. He is seen by millions of viewers, and his work on what would become his signature program was good enough to warrant an Emmy nomination.

And yet Buccigross has not forgotten his roots. A pupil at East Pike Elementary School during his boyhood, Buccigross has been known to intertwine Indiana while narrating highlights on ESPN''s ``SportsCenter.'' His choice of college after he graduated from Steubenville, Ohio, Catholic Central resembled what he felt Indiana University of Pennsylvania would offer had his family stayed in Indiana. And even where he and his family of four are currently settled bears a delicious parallel to the coziness of Indiana.

``Everything about the town is great memories,'' said Buccigross, who will be inducted Sunday into the Indiana County Sports Hall of Fame.

Buccigross is best known for his work on ``NHL 2Night'' the expanded daytime ``SportsCenter'' and ``Baseball Tonight.'' He has made a career of mixing his enthusiasm for three of his chief loves - sports, music and, occasionally, Indiana - into one unique sportscasting career.

Pat Boyle, a former co-worker of Buccigross in the early 2000s, learned of Buccigross' lifelong affinity for the town somewhat by accident. While off the air, Boyle informed him that he was going to Indiana to visit in-laws.

``We've shared some stories about Indiana,'' said Boyle, who is married to Indiana native Stephanie Mill. ``He told me about the grade school he went to.

``We'd share stories about Indiana. It's one of those common bonds. It's a nice thing to have when you work at a place like ESPN.''

Buccigross' keen observational skills make it easy for him to say, for instance, ``what Eddie Vedder is to Pearl Jam, LeBron James is to the Cavaliers.''

``It's just basically how one man's importance is to a band and one man to a team,'' he said. ``It really goes back to my love of music.''

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Buccigross, one of the few remaining original anchors from ``ESPN News,'' was born on Jan. 27, 1966, in Pittsburgh to Edward and Mary Buccigross. Edward was a native New Englander who managed Sears stores. According to Buccigross, Sears managers worked at a certain store for several years at a time.

When Edward was promoted to manager of the Sears store on Philadelphia Street next to the original county courthouse, the family left Pittsburgh and moved east.

Sports were a big part of his life even during his formative years. Young John Buccigross spent his summers playing Wiffleball as well as Minor League and Little League baseball. And his father played in slow-pitch softball leagues.

It didn't take long for John to decide what he'd like to do when he would grow up

``I grew up with Bob Prince, listening to Pirate games on KDKA, hanging around my dad,'' he said. ``He was also a big Boston Bruins hockey fan. So he'd listen to a lot of the Bruins games on WBZ, which came in clear as a bell in Indiana in the early '70s. I listened to radio play-by-play announcers (and heard them) paint the picture.

``I always got a kick out of the announcers and the broadcasts, the pageantry and theater of sports, the opening music they used. I always paid attention to that stuff.''

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In a town whose most famous son starred in ``It's a Wonderful Life,'' Buccigross enjoyed a fairly sweet life - with apologies to pop singer Paul Davis - of his own during his early boyhood. Then in 1977, Sears reassigned Edward Buccigross to the Sears store at Fort Steuben Mall in Ohio, near Steubenville.

``My dad got a promotion, so with his line of work every seven years he basically got a promotion, That's how he first got to Indiana,'' Buccigross recalled. ``I took that move pretty hard. I really loved Indiana. I loved riding my bike all around town with my friends, having a lot of friends close by, being near the Little League field. It was like a little piece of heaven to me.''

From a piece of heaven the Buccigrosses moved to Steubenville, a mill town that is also known as the home of oddsmaker Jimmy ``The Greek'' Snyder, Rat Pack crooner Dean Martin and the one-hit funk band Wild Cherry.

Buccigross adjusted.

``It was tough at first,'' he said. ``But over time I've come to appreciate it and really enjoy going back there.''

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At the age of 12, Buccigross got a tape recorder. Like any aspiring sportscaster, he turned the sound down on the TV and did his own play-by-play. Once he received another tape recorder, he started doing his own disc jockey programs, using one to pipe in music.

The lengthy baseball players' strike in 1981 might have turned off many fans, but it did not diminish Buccigross' enthusiasm. He spoke of having used his recorders to re-create a nine-inning game, complete with narratives, sound effects and theme music.

And by the time he became a teenager, ESPN and MTV were making inroads into cable television. They're a part of almost everyone's expanded cable package now. But in the early 1980s, anyone who had either attained instant peer popularity.

``At first, my buddy across town had ESPN in Wintersville, Ohio, we didn't have it in Steubenville,'' Buccigross said. ``I couldn't believe how jealous I was. I would actually sleep over at his house on weekends just to watch ESPN and MTV.''

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Buccigross graduated from Catholic Central High School, where he lettered in baseball, basketball and golf. The basketball team made the Sweet 16 in the Ohio state playoffs his senior year, and the Heidelberg coach contacted Buccigross about trying out for the basketball team.

When it came time for him to choose a college, he settled on Heidelberg, a small liberal arts institution in Tiffin, Ohio, about a three-hour drove from Steubenville.

``Tiffin is a very similar to Indiana,'' Buccigross said. ``I think that's what drew me there. It's a small college town. ... It was the only place I visited.''

There he could play sports (he played four seasons on the college golf team, which became a full-fledged Division III varsity program his junior year) and learn his craft by working on the campus television station, radio station and school newspaper.

Even though he will be the first to admit there was a limited audience for those media, Buccigross said the experience gave him ``plenty of reps, plenty of opportunities that you wouldn't get at a school like Syracuse.''The Buccigross family had moved to Boston when John graduated (with a degree in communications and theater arts). The family moved to Plymouth, Mass., late in 1988.

Buccigross took a series of jobs before joining the staff at Cape 11 News in August 1989. He worked as a nighttime news photographer and, as a bonus to Buccigross, he handled sports duties whenever the chief sports anchor was off. Buccigross was promoted to full-time status a year later. He also supplemented his income by doing morning sports reports on a local radio station.

Buccigross then joined WPRI-TV in Providence, R.I., the nation's 44th largest broadcast market, in 1994 as a weekend sports anchor and subsequently became the station's chief anchor.

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The creation of ESPN News proved to be the biggest break of Buccigross' career. Providence's relative proximity to ESPN's Bristol, Conn., headquarters made it easy for Buccigross to make the needed connections. Also, because ESPN's fledgling 24-hour sports news network needed air talent, pronto, Buccigross was able to make the move without seriously disrupting his family. He was hired on Oct. 26, 1996, and ESPN News started on Nov. 1 that year.

``They needed 12 to 15 people right away,'' he said. ``I was in the original class of ESPN News anchors.''

Buccigross, Michael Kim and Mike Greenberg are the only three original ESPN News anchors still employed by ESPN. For many, ESPN News has provided a training ground for would-be ``SportsCenter'' anchors like Buccigross.

Although the duties of ``SportsCenter'' require the anchors to have a broad knowledge of all sports, Buccigross is still readily associated with a program that ESPN has not carried since 2004. Buccigross hosted ``NHL 2Night'' for several years. During that time, he blended his enthusiasm for hockey with music analogies, his excellent rapport with such hockey notables as Barry Melrose, Ray Ferraro and Keith Jones and, every so often, references to his beloved Indiana.

``It was a great niche for me at the time,'' said Buccigross, who became host of ``NHL 2Night'' in 1998 and went on to receive an Emmy nomination for his work on the program. Buccigross continues to stay in touch with the game by writing a hockey column on the network's website.

``It's a testament to him,'' said Boyle, who occasionally filled in for Buccigross on ``NHL 2Night'' in his four-stint before moving on to Comcast Sports Net in Chicago. ``Anybody who follows the game of hockey tends to gravitate toward people who have a passion for it. John certainly has a passion for hockey and the NHL. He was a fixture on that show and kind of had a cult following.''

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Buccigross' association with Jones proved to be productive for both. A publisher from Philadelphia caught their act and urged Buccigross to write a book.

Buccigross co-authored ``Jonesy: Put Your Head Down and Skate. The Improbable NHL Career of Keith Jones,'' which covered the journeyman forward's time with several NHL teams. And when ESPN and the NHL parted ways in 2004, Jones was able to secure a position on ``Hockey Central,'' the NHL scores and highlights show presented by the NHL's current U.S. cable partner, Versus.

``And to walk through Barnes and Noble even now and see the book there is a great feeling,'' Buccigross said, ``because I've always thought of myself as a writer first. I've always enjoyed the writing aspect of sports.''A few months after ESPN developed a live three-hour afternoon ``SportsCenter'' to replace the continuous loop of ``SportsCenter'' programs from the night before, Buccigross was named to replace Robert Flores as one of the co-anchors.

``I think it's really a testament to him as a broadcaster that once the NHL left ESPN, John's star continued to rise,'' said Boyle.

Now Buccigross is on between noon and 3 p.m. and is often back at his home in South Windsor, Conn., before nightfall. And, with the exception of the occasional college hockey telecast during NCAA regionals, he gets weekends off.

Well deserved, at that. Buccigross sees unique challenges in the three-hour daytime program, which is three times longer than the nighttime version most people know.

``So it requires stamina, energy and three hours of focus,'' he said. ``It's probably the most difficult shift in the building because of its length and because we have breaking news all the time.

``I like that because I like to flex those muscles where I don't need a script in front of me, I can just go, `Hey, talk about this now.'''

Buccigross reports for work at about 9 a.m., although his work begins the night before when he watches the key games. He combines what he observes with information from the notes package that ESPN's research provides for him each morning.

The main thing, he said, is to watch the game. Those who don't lack the passionate connection required to put the event in its proper perspective.``If you want to be a good radio host or you want to be a good television anchor, your job is to watch the games,'' he said. ``You can't get any kind of context or understanding unless you watch the game. It's what we have to do.''

JOHN BUCCIGROSS:: At a glance...

Age: 44

Family: Wife Melissa; and children Brett, Malorie and Jack

Residence: South Windsor, Conn.

Education: Heidelberg College (1988)

Occupation: Anchor, ESPN

Career highlights: Buccigross has earned critical praise for his work on ESPN, particularly with his coverage of hockey. He is also a published author, co-writing ``Jonesy: Put Your Head Down and Skate. The Improbable NHL Career of Keith Jones'' with former NHL forward Keith Jones.

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