William F. Rasmussen, the visionary who co-founded ESPN, has died at age 93 from Parkinson’s Disease.
In 1978, Rasmussen, a former sports broadcaster and public relations executive, and his son Scott started investigating satellite delivery of television. On a Friday afternoon in August 1978, he and Scott were stuck in traffic on Connecticut’s Interstate 84 while travelling to the New Jersey shore. They were discussing possible programming for their newly acquired satellite transponder from RCA. On a lark, Rasmussen blurted out the idea of creating a network devoted only to sports. Sports fans both, father and son instantly thought they had a great idea.
In time, their idea grew from a service showing Connecticut sports to state residents to a 24-hour national sports network. Bolstered by financial backing from the Getty Oil Co., a contract for programming with the NCAA and an advertising agreement with Anheuser-Busch – then the largest sponsorship deal in cable history – the Entertainment and Sports Programming Network (changed to ESPN, Inc. in 1984) launched in 1.4 million homes at 7 p.m. ET on Sept. 7, 1979.
In July 1979, Rasmussen was named ESPN chairman, succeeded as president by Chet Simmons, formerly president of NBC Sports. In addition to “SportsCenter,” under Rasmussen’s leadership the network introduced around-the-clock sports programming and coverage of the early rounds of the NCAA men’s basketball tournament in the spring of 1980.
From its beginning in Bristol, Conn., with about 80 employees at launch working in one, unfinished building on less than an acre, ESPN has grown to employ more than 5,900 people around the world, providing eight U.S. television networks and the sports programming on ABC.
Rasmussen was predeceased by his wife of 56 years, Lois, in 2011 and is survived by two sons – Scott Rasmussen and his wife Laura and Glenn Rasmussen – his daughter Lynn Van Hollebeke and her husband Louie, seven grandchildren, Andy, P.J., Wil, MaryAnn, Donna, Jessica and Sarah, one great grandson, Otto, and one great granddaughter, Adelaide.
After publicly disclosing his Parkinson’s Disease diagnosis in 2019, Rasmussen became an ambassador for Parkinson’s patients through both the American Parkinson Disease Association and The Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research.
In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to https://www.apdaparkinson.org.
