SOURCE SPORTS: Famed Broadcaster Gus Johnson Talks His ‘Back to School with Gus Johnson’ Doc and Empowering the Next Generation through Education
Gus Johnson has long been a staple of college sports. The 55-year-old broadcast icon can be heard every fall Saturday calling the marquee matchups of the college football slate for Fox. This past year, while clueing fans in on what was happening on the gridiron, Johnson took on another grind, going back to school.
Gus Johnson enrolled at Harvard University for a year-long prestigious fellowship program, the Advanced Leadership Initiative (ALI), continuing the legacy of his parents who preached sports and education, fulfilling his own desire to learn and grow, and also empowering the generation to come in understanding their potential has no limits.
“I was nervous about letting people into my life, but I thought if I could show kids through my journey that education is cool, it was worth it,” said Johnson in a statement. “I think this is a really good story and hope that it inspires. I also hope fans enjoy watching some fantastic folks at a great school, and get new insights into sports as well as the pursuit of lifelong learning.”
The entire journey is chronicled in Back to School with Gus Johnson, a documentary that highlights Gus Johnson’s childhood in Detroit, the growth of his broadcasting career, and his recent return to academia at Harvard to uncover the man behind the microphone.
Speaking with The Source, Gus Johnson reflects on the journey to Harvard and speaks about his bond with his parents and how it impacts him today, empowering the youth and more. You can learn more about Gus Johnson here.
The SOURCE: You’re not a stranger to the camera, but for the documentary style, you probably have more cameras around you than you’re used to. How was it adjusting to telling your story and having that camera presence always around you?
Gus Johnson: It was kind of weird. Almost like Real Housewives of Atlanta [laughs]. The camera is there but after a while, you don’t really notice it because you have an objective to tell the story. I had a great producer, a man by the name of Chris Weber, not a basketball player. He walked me through and guided me through a lot of this and gave me inspiration and terrific direction. But it was kind of weird having cameras so close to you filming the things that you say and your actions and seeing your motivations. I’m from Detroit, man. We were very private people. And to let everybody, as my mama would say, in my business, was interesting, to say the least.
There’s this balance between sportscaster and student and I know there’s a level of studying that goes into both. How were you able to balance and bounce between those areas?
Well, I played college baseball, so I was used to being a student-athlete. It wasn’t hard because it was something I looked forward to. I would get my assignments and I would run with it. I would see that Harvard logo on the corner of my readings, and I just said, man, look at this. I can’t believe this is my life. I can’t believe that I’m getting educated up here. I mean, Howard is one thing, incredible, but at this stage in my life, to be able to still learn and have a chance to learn at a place like this. A legendary place, symbolic, Harvard. um mm-hmm. I was just proud. I was proud of having a chance to go there and do those studies. I thought about my mother and how she would’ve been so proud, and she would’ve said, ‘of course, that’s for you. Of course, you’re there. Of course, you earned the right to study there, so get the most out of it.’ And in terms of sportscasting, I mean, man, I’ve been doing this for 30 years. I know how to do this. I would work during the week a little bit between my studies at Harvard, watching films and looking up the guys, reading some articles, and then on Thursday, when I got on the plane, it was full on a sportscaster. It was exciting to go to class Monday through Wednesday, then call a game on Saturday. It was like I was a student-athlete again.
I got a chuckle out of you because I could see the excitement. You finished calling Michigan and Ohio State and said, now I gotta go write a paper. But it wasn’t like a chore. It was excitement., and I’m not trying to age you at all, but know I can examine it my age returning to school. So how did you know that this program at Harvard was one that specifically was going to stimulate your mind?
I was scared. I was nervous, man. I mean, it’s Harvard. But once I got in there, man, they wrapped their arms around you. That’s one thing I can say. The students at Harvard get so much support from the faculty and the administrators there. They want you to do well. They want you to win, and they give you support. I saved all my papers, so I have ’em on my computer and I look forward to one day down the road going back and reading them to see where I was at that time, what I was thinking, and what I was learning.
You mentioned a phrase for your mom of people being all up in your business and you pulled back the curtains a lot. You mentioned how your parents always pushed youth sports and education. How does it feel to still be an embodiment of both of those visions?
You know, I was so blessed to have great parents. We didn’t have a whole lot, but we did have a lot of love and the sacrifices that my mother and my father made for me, their only child. When I think about it, man, this is like the unselfishness of my two parents, who didn’t reap any rewards or benefits. They did it because they thought that’s what you’re supposed to do. My fam, both my parents come from the south. Mississippi, my mama, and Kentucky, my daddy, and they grew up during the time it was hard for black people with segregation in the South, Jim Crow, all those things. And they just wanted to give me a chance. As my daddy would always say, son, the number one universal law is self-preservation. You gotta figure out how to survive. And they gave me the tools for survival in this world, which is not a fair world for black people. That’s why I want to help those kids.
I always say my dad was the head coach and defensive coordinator. My mom was the assistant head coach and offensive coordinator. Dad taught me how to not get in trouble. Mommy taught me how to go out and make some stuff happen by being curious and interested in the world and involving myself. I played ice hockey. Her kid plays ice hockey growing up in Detroit. That’s black, not very many did that. And rhetorical contests, very active in my church. And now, as a 55-year-old man, I look back on it and I just say, wow, thank you.
Seeing you with those children was powerful. Especially bringing them the backpacks with the Harvard branding and the Harvard utensils, and letting a thought into their mind that they can do anything within their educational features. How did it feel seeing those students embrace those Harvard letters and putting into that ambition they already have what’s needed to enhance their futures?
Man, I don’t know about you, but that scene, that whole day, being in my hometown and seeing all those beautiful faces, young faces looking up at you with hope and with dreams and aspirations, looking for guidance. And I, I know that project wasn’t a big project, but I think it was important just to instill that kind of thought into their minds that nothing is impossible. You think of Harvard, you think impossible for most of us, you know, mere mortals. But for those kids, 85 of them, I bet you one of ’em goes to Harvard, and if not Harvard, then Howard, Morehouse, Spelman, Michigan, Ohio State, Yale, Princeton, USC, Penn State. Education is the transference of knowledge. And in order to win the game, man, you have to understand the game. And that’s what I was trying to help them do. Understand that all the stuff that your teachers are teaching, that you’re learning, it pays off. So that was one of the great moments of my life, man. Seeing those kids do what they do, how happy they were, how beautiful they looked in that Crimson man. Harvard, I gotta give ’em a lot of love, man. They don’t do that kind of stuff. They don’t really let you use their brand. And they understood what was going on, and they agreed with it.
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