Todd Gallagher | |
---|---|
Born | Todd John Gallagher |
Occupation(s) | director, author, producer |
Todd Gallagher is an American comedy writer, performance artist, and director. He has worked with ESPN and is known for his book, Andy Roddick Beat Me With a Frying Pan: Taking the Field with Pro Athletes and Olympic Legends to Answer Sports' Fans Burning Questions.
Gallagher was raised in Jeannette, Pennsylvania. At the age of 16 he won the grand prize twice on the ESPN quiz show, Dream League .
At age 21 he became the youngest coach and Director of Player Personnel in the history of pro basketball for the United States Basketball League's New Hampshire Thunder Loons. [1] His basketball experience led to a series of writing assignments in Australia. He then returned to the United States where he wrote for ESPN, conducting interviews with people throughout the sports and entertainment world, including Ice Cube. As a television writer and producer he has sold, developed, and run various shows including creating "Shaq vs." [2]
Andy Roddick Beat Me with a Frying Pan: Taking the Field with Pro Athletes and Olympic Legends to Answer Sports Fans' Burning Questions (Random House, 2007), [3] Gallagher's first book humorously answers some outlandish questions about sports, such as "Could a morbidly obese goalie shut out an NHL team?" (Chapter 1). A number of professional athletes including Andy Roddick, [4] Maurice Greene, [5] and the NHL's Washington Capitals, [6] participated in live events for the project. The book was described by the New York Times as "a weird amalgam of serious inside-the-ropes research germane to the games and of ludicrous just-outside-the-asylum performance art." [7]
His "Phelps Challenge," [8] where he challenged Michael Phelps on ESPN radio to a $50,000 bet that he could beat him in any event outside of the pool, was turned into the "Playground Challenge" by ESPN. In it, he takes on pro and Olympic athletes in playground events.
In 2009 Gallagher enrolled in a Pittsburgh high school as a student for a feature film. He took classes and trained with the school's soccer team. The film about his experience entitled "God Only Knows" features Taylor Swift. [9]
Mark Andrew Spitz is an American former competitive swimmer and nine-time Olympic champion. He was the most successful athlete at the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich, winning seven gold medals, each in world-record time. This achievement set a record that lasted for 36 years, until it was surpassed by fellow American Michael Phelps, who won eight golds at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, though Phelps, like Spitz, set seven world records.
Maurice Greene is an American former track and field sprinter who competed in the 60 meters, 100 meters, and 200 meters. He is a former 100 m world record holder with a time of 9.79 seconds. During the height of his career (1997–2004) he won four Olympic medals and was a five-time World Champion. This included three golds at the 1999 World Championships, a feat which had previously only been achieved by Carl Lewis and Michael Johnson and has since been equaled by three others.
James Riley Blake is an American former professional tennis player. He won 10 titles on the ATP Tour, reaching a career-high singles ranking of world No. 4. His career highlights included reaching the final of the 2006 Tennis Masters Cup, the semifinals of the 2008 Beijing Olympics, the quarterfinals of the 2008 Australian Open and 2005 and 2006 US Opens, two titles at the Hopman Cup and being the American No. 1 in men's singles. Blake was also a key performer for the victorious United States 2007 Davis Cup team, winning both his matches in the championship tie against Russia.
Andrew Stephen Roddick is an American former professional tennis player. He is a major champion, having won the 2003 US Open. Roddick reached four other major finals, losing to rival Roger Federer each time. Roddick was ranked in the year-end top 10 for nine consecutive years (2002–2010), first reaching the world No. 1 spot in 2003, while also winning five Masters titles in that period. He was also a crucial player in the U.S. Davis Cup team's successful run to the title in 2007. Roddick retired from professional tennis following the 2012 US Open to focus on his work at the Andy Roddick Foundation. In retirement, Roddick played for the Austin Aces in World Team Tennis in 2015. He was also the 2015 and 2017 champion of the QQQ Champions Series. In 2017, Roddick was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame. He is married to Brooklyn Decker, a swimwear model and actress.
Christian Donald Laettner is an American former professional basketball player. His college career for the Duke Blue Devils is widely regarded as one of the best in National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) history. He was the star player on the back-to-back Duke National Championship teams of 1991 and 1992, and the NCAA player of the year in his senior year. He is particularly famous for his game-winning shot against Kentucky in the 1992 tournament and for the hatred he received from opposing fans.
Michael James Hall is an American sports broadcaster who works for the Big Ten Network. He can also be found as a sideline reporter for National Football League (NFL) games on Fox. Hall is a graduate of the University of Missouri where he majored in journalism.
ESPNU is an American multinational digital cable and satellite sports television channel owned by ESPN Inc., a joint venture between The Walt Disney Company and the Hearst Communications. The channel is primarily dedicated to coverage of college athletics, and is also used as an additional outlet for general ESPN programming. ESPNU is based alongside its sister networks at ESPN's headquarters in Bristol, Connecticut.
Freddy Schuman, better known as Freddy Sez or Freddy "Sez", was an American superfan of the New York Yankees. He was known for his activities in promoting the team and encouraging fan participation.
Ann Meyers Drysdale is an American retired pro basketball player and a sportscaster. She was a standout player in high school, college, the Olympic Games, international tournaments, and at professional levels.
Earl Manigault was an American street basketball player who was nicknamed "the Goat" or "the Lip". He is widely regarded as one of the greatest basketball players never to have played in the National Basketball Association (NBA).
The 2007 Pan American Games, officially known as the XV Pan American Games, were a major continental multi-sport event that took place in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, from July 13 to 29, 2007. A total of 5,633 athletes from 42 National Olympic Committees (NOCs) competed in 332 events in 34 sports and in 47 disciplines. During the Games, 95 new Pan American records were set; 2,196 medals were awarded; 1,262 doping control tests were performed and about 15,000 volunteers participated in the organization of the event, which served as an Olympic qualification occasion for 13 International Federations (IFs).
The MountainWest Sports Network, also known as The Mtn., was an American college sports television channel. Launched on September 1, 2006, it was dedicated to the Mountain West Conference (MWC), including studio programs following the conference, live events, and documentary-style programs profiling the conference's members. It was the first such network of its kind in the United States. The network was a joint venture between the conference's two rightsholders, CBS Corporation and NBCUniversal.
Keith Raymond Erickson is an American former basketball and volleyball player.
The Best Male Athlete ESPY Award, known alternatively as the Outstanding Male Athlete ESPY Award, is an annual award honoring the achievements of individual men from the world of sports. It has been presented annually at the ESPY Awards since 1993 to the male voted irrespective of nationality or sport contested, adjudged to be the best athlete in a given calendar year. The Best Male Athlete ESPY Award trophy, designed by sculptor Lawrence Nowlan, is presented to the recipient at an annual ceremony in Los Angeles. Since 2004, the winner has been chosen by online balloting through three to five choices selected by the ESPN Select Nominating Committee. Before that, determination of the winners was made by an panel of experts. Through the 2001 iteration of the ESPY Awards, ceremonies were conducted in February of each year to honor achievements over the previous calendar year; awards presented thereafter are conferred in July and reflect performance from the June previous.
James "Fly" Williams is an American former professional basketball player. He played in the American Basketball Association (ABA) for the Spirits of St. Louis and for multiple teams in the Continental Basketball Association (CBA). A street basketball player from New York, he once scored 100 points in an IS8 League game in 1978.
Michael Fred Phelps II is an American former competitive swimmer. He is the most successful and most decorated Olympian of all time with a total of 28 medals. Phelps also holds the all-time records for Olympic gold medals (23), Olympic gold medals in individual events (13), and Olympic medals in individual events (16). At the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, Phelps tied the record of eight medals of any color at a single Games, held by gymnast Alexander Dityatin, by winning six gold and two bronze medals. Four years later, when he won eight gold medals at the 2008 Beijing Games, he broke fellow American swimmer Mark Spitz's 1972 record of seven first-place finishes at any single Olympic Games. At the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, Phelps won four gold and two silver medals, and at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, he won five gold medals and one silver. This made him the most successful athlete of the Games for the fourth Olympics in a row.
Shaq Vs. is an American reality television series produced for ABC by Dick Clark Productions and Media Rights Capital starring American basketball star Shaquille O'Neal. It began airing on August 18, 2009.
The 2013 ESPY Awards were announced from the Nokia Theatre on the 17th of July 2013, and were live on ESPN. ESPY Award is an abbreviation for Excellence in Sports Performance.
The Players' Tribune is a new media platform that produces daily sports conversation and publishes first-person stories from professional athletes. The platform was founded by former professional Major League Baseball player Derek Jeter in 2014. Content ranges from videos to podcasts to written pieces.
Charlotte Lewis was an American basketball player who competed on the 1976 United States Olympic team.