Jimmy Roberts (born 1957) is a sportscaster for NBC Sports. Roberts joined NBC in May 2000 after working as a sports reporter for nearly 12 years at ESPN and ABC Sports, winning several Emmy awards throughout his career.
Early life and career
Roberts grew up in White Plains, New York. His mother, Betty, taught first grade at the Ridgeway School in White Plains.
Roberts went on to study at the University of Maryland, College Park.
ABC, ESPN and NBC Sports
Roberts' career has substantially been with NBC as a sports presenter. He began with the network briefly as a production assistant at the 1980 Lake Placid games.
He has remained with the network ever since, hosting golf coverage on NBC and its Golf Channel. Other NBC assignments over the years for Roberts include hosting the halftime show for Notre Dame football, being one of the main anchors for NBC's weekend sports updates, anchoring the network's coverage of the French Open, and worked as a field reporter for NBC's coverage of the 2000 American League Championship Series. He has also reported on horse racing for NBC.
In presenting the 2024 Summer Olympics from Paris for NBC, Roberts had covered 20 Olympic Games over his broadcasting career.
Other work
In April 2009, Roberts published his first book, Breaking the Slump, which detailed the struggles of many famous golfers, including Jack Nicklaus, Arnold Palmer, George Herbert Walker Bush, and others and how they found their way through the inevitable challenges that plague anyone who plays the game. In 2022, Roberts co-authored “No One Wins Alone” with NHL hall of famer Mark Messier. The book was a memoir about Messier’s career which focused on leadership.
Personal life
Roberts's father, Ralph, had been a US soldier, serving in the regiment which liberated the French town of Farébersviller.
Roberts' sister-in-law, Debbie Mayer, worked in the south tower on the 56th floor at New York City's World Trade Center. Immediately after American Airlines Flight 11 (the first aircraft of the September 11, 2001, attacks) struck the north tower, Mayer began going downstairs to leave the building. She had gotten to the 29th floor when the second aircraft struck, hitting the building she worked in. However, Mayer escaped safely before the towers collapsed.
Roberts told of the ordeal to USA Today:
<blockquote>We had a couple of very anxious hours. My wife couldn't get through to Debbie. Finally, she went to her Manhattan apartment to wait for her. And she found her there. Turns out when the first explosion occurred in Building 1, Debbie started down the stairs. She had made it to the 29th floor when the building was shaken when the second plane hit. She was terrified but made it out.</blockquote>