James Carmen Cefalo (born October 6, 1956) is an American journalist, news broadcaster and sports broadcaster, radio talk show host, Voice of the Miami Dolphins, businessman, wine enthusiast and former professional

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team wi ...

wide receiver and

game show A game show is a genre of broadcast viewing entertainment (radio, television, internet, stage or other) where contestants compete for a reward. These programs can either be participatory or demonstrative and are typically directed by a host, ...

host.

Biography

High school career

Cefalo attended Pittston Area High School in Pittston, Pennsylvania. It was his performance there that led to his inclusion on The Pennsylvania Football News All-Century Team. Listed at 6-foot-1, 185 pounds during his senior year for head coach Bob Barbieri's Patriots, Cefalo was one of the nation's most highly recruited running backs. Cefalo is one of 50-plus people on Pittston's Inspiration Mural, which celebrates prominent figures in the Pittston community and is Pennsylvania's third-largest mural. Cefalo returned to Pittston Area for a football game as recently as September 2015.

Penn State

Cefalo was a standout at Penn State University from 1974 to 1977. He led the Nittany Lions in all-purpose yards his senior season. He was instrumental in Penn State's 41-20 victory over Baylor in the 1975

Cotton Bowl Classic The Cotton Bowl Classic (also known as the Cotton Bowl) is an American college football bowl game that has been held annually in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex since January 1, 1937. The game was originally played at its namesake stadium i ...

. He was named most valuable player of the 1976 Gator Bowl. He earned a

Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four year ...

journalism Journalism is the production and distribution of reports on the interaction of events, facts, ideas, and people that are the " news of the day" and that informs society to at least some degree. The word, a noun, applies to the occupation (pro ...

in 1978.

National Football League

Cefalo was a third round draft choice (#81 overall) of the

Miami Dolphins The Miami Dolphins are a professional American football team based in the Miami metropolitan area. They compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member team of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) East division. The team p ...

in the 1978 NFL Draft. He would play six seasons for the Dolphins, including Super Bowls ( XVII and XIX), earning a reputation as a sure-handed, dependable receiver. In Super Bowl XVII, Cefalo replaced receiver

Nat Moore Nat or NAT may refer to: Computing * Network address translation (NAT), in computer networking Organizations * National Actors Theatre, New York City, U.S. * National AIDS trust, a British charity * National Archives of Thailand * National A ...

out as the result of an ankle injury. He proved to be one of Miami's few bright spots in a 27-17 loss to the

Washington Redskins The Washington Commanders are a professional American football team based in the Washington metropolitan area. The Commanders compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) N ...

. He caught the team's only offensive

touchdown A touchdown (abbreviated as TD) is a scoring play in gridiron football. Whether running, passing, returning a kickoff or punt, or recovering a turnover, a team scores a touchdown by advancing the ball into the opponent's end zone. In Amer ...

and averaged 41 yards per catch. Cefalo's 76-yard touchdown reception from quarterback David Woodley still ranks as the fifth-longest in Super Bowl history. In 1984, Cefalo caught the Dan Marino pass that broke the record for most touchdown passes in a season. The play in itself was unique, as the ball landed in Cefalo's facemask. He played in one of the most famous games in NFL history: the AFC divisional playoff game between the San Diego Chargers and Miami Dolphins on January 2, 1982 at the

Orange Bowl The Orange Bowl is an annual American college football bowl game played in the Miami metropolitan area. It has been played annually since January 1, 1935, making it, along with the Sugar Bowl and the Sun Bowl, the second-oldest bowl game ...

. The

Pro Football Hall of Fame The Pro Football Hall of Fame is the hall of fame for professional American football, located in Canton, Ohio. Opened on September 7, , the Hall of Fame enshrines exceptional figures in the sport of professional football, including players, coa ...

named it the "NFL's Game of the '80s."

NBC

Cefalo was a

color commentator A color commentator or expert commentator is a sports commentator who assists the main ( play-by-play) commentator, typically by filling in when play is not in progress. The phrase "colour commentator" is primarily used in Canadian English and ...

for ''

NFL on NBC The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ma ...

'', partnering with Charlie Jones from

1985 The year 1985 was designated as the International Youth Year by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 ** The Internet's Domain Name System is created. ** Greenland withdraws from the European Economic Community as a result of a ...

1988 File:1988 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The oil platform Piper Alpha explodes and collapses in the North Sea, killing 165 workers; The USS Vincennes (CG-49) mistakenly shoots down Iran Air Flight 655; Australia celebrates its Bicenten ...

, and Jim Donovan in

1989 File:1989 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Cypress structure collapses as a result of the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake, killing motorists below; The proposal document for the World Wide Web is submitted; The Exxon Valdez oil tanker runs ...

. He has also been a

correspondent A correspondent or on-the-scene reporter is usually a journalist or commentator for a magazine, or an agent who contributes reports to a newspaper, or radio or television news, or another type of company, from a remote, often distant, locati ...

for

NBC News NBC News is the news division of the American broadcast television network NBC. The division operates under NBCUniversal Television and Streaming, a division of NBCUniversal, which is, in turn, a subsidiary of Comcast. The news division's var ...

on ''

The Today Show ''Today'' (also called ''The Today Show'' or informally, ''NBC News Today'') is an American news and talk morning television show that airs weekdays from 7:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. on NBC. The program debuted on January 14, 1952. It ...

'', sports anchor for ''

NBC News at Sunrise ''NBC News at Sunrise'' is an American early morning television news program that aired on NBC from August 1, 1983 to September 6, 1999. The program featured the top news headlines of the morning, sports and weather reports, and business segment ...

'' and co-host of the

1988 Summer Olympics The 1988 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XXIV Olympiad () and commonly known as Seoul 1988 ( ko, 서울 1988, Seoul Cheon gubaek palsip-pal), was an international multi-sport event held from 17 September to 2 October ...

Seoul, South Korea Seoul (; ; ), officially known as the Seoul Special City, is the capital and largest metropolis of South Korea.Before 1972, Seoul was the ''de jure'' capital of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea) as stated iArticle 103 o ...

. Cefalo hosted

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, its headquarters are l ...

's pregame coverage for Game 4 of the

1987 National League Championship Series The 1987 National League Championship Series took place between October 6 and 14 at Busch Memorial Stadium (Games 1, 2, 6, and 7) and Candlestick Park (Games 3, 4, and 5). It matched the East division champion St. Louis Cardinals (95–67) agai ...

, as

Marv Albert Marv Albert (born Marvin Philip Aufrichtig; June 12, 1941) is an American retired sportscaster. Honored for his work as a member of the Basketball Hall of Fame, he was commonly referred to as "the voice of basketball". From 1967 to 2004, he wa ...

was away on a

boxing Boxing (also known as "Western boxing" or "pugilism") is a combat sport in which two people, usually wearing protective gloves and other protective equipment such as hand wraps and mouthguards, throw punches at each other for a predetermine ...

assignment for NBC. Cefalo also hosted NBC's pregame show for Game 4 of the

1989 American League Championship Series The 1989 American League Championship Series was played between the Oakland Athletics and the Toronto Blue Jays from October 3 to 8. A dominant Oakland team took the Series four games to one, en route to a sweep of their cross-bay rivals, the Sa ...

as Marv Albert was away on an NFL assignment for NBC.

Radio and television

Cefalo is currently the play-by-play man and "Voice of the Miami Dolphins" radio broadcast team and the host of South Florida's First News Program for

WIOD WIOD (610 AM) is a commercial news/ talk radio station licensed to Miami, Florida, serving the Miami metropolitan area and much of surrounding South Florida. Owned by iHeartMedia, WIOD serves as the Miami affiliate for ABC News Radio, ''The Glen ...

. In March 2012, Cefalo's International launched their new food, wine, and travel radio show called - ''Cefalo's - Eat This Drink That Go!'', which also airs on Clear Channel Communications at WIOD 610 AM and 100.3 FM in South Florida as well as nationally streamed on www.WIOD.com and IHeartRadio. He also does regular sports analysis for the

NFL Network NFL Network (occasionally abbreviated on-air as NFLN) is an American sports-oriented pay television network owned by the National Football League (NFL) and is part of NFL Media, which also includes NFL.com, NFL Films, NFL Mobile, NFL Now and NF ...

and WIOD's sister station WINZ, the Sports Animal, which also carries the Miami Dolphins broadcast. In 1988, Cefalo won an Emmy for his writing on the 24th Olympic Games. The National Sportscasters and Sportswriters Association named him Florida Sportscaster of the Year five times (1998, 2001–2004). Cefalo co-hosted ''

PM Magazine ''PM/Evening Magazine'' is a television series with a news and entertainment format. It was syndicated to stations throughout the United States. In most areas, ''Evening/PM Magazine'' was broadcast from the late 1970s into the late 1980s. Origi ...

'' and '' AM South Florida''. In 1990, he received the hosting duties for ''

Trump Card ''Trump Card'' is an American syndicated game show that aired from September 10, 1990, to May 24, 1991, hosted by Jimmy Cefalo. Debi Massey served as hostess and Chuck Riley was the announcer. The show was produced by Telepictures Productions, ...

'', (beating out

Richard Dawson Richard Dawson (born Colin Lionel Emm; 20 November 1932 – 2 June 2012) was a British-born American actor, comedian, game-show host and panelist in the United States. Dawson was well known for playing Corporal Peter Newkirk in ''Hogan's Heroe ...

), a game show filmed in Atlantic City at Trump Castle. Three years later, Cefalo was signed to host Sports Snapshot, a game show that merged home shopping with sports trivia. Cefalo became the

play-by-play In sports broadcasting, a sports commentator (also known as sports announcer or sportscaster) provides a real-time commentary of a game or event, usually during a live broadcast, traditionally delivered in the historical present tense. Radio was ...

man on the

radio broadcast team on Dolphins flagship station

WQAM WQAM (560 AM, "AM 560 Sports") is a radio station in Miami, Florida. Owned by Audacy, Inc., it broadcasts a sports talk format carrying a mixture of local and CBS Sports Radio programming. Its studios are located in Audacy's Miami office on No ...

in 2005. He was partnered with former Dolphins Joe Rose and the late Jim "Mad Dog" Mandich. He now works with Rose and Bob Griese For thirteen years, Cefalo was the Sports Director at

WPLG-TV WPLG (channel 10) is a television station in Miami, Florida, United States, affiliated with ABC. The station is owned by Berkshire Hathaway as its sole broadcast property. WPLG's studios are located on West Hallandale Beach Boulevard in Pembrok ...

in Miami. In addition to his sports anchor duties, he created and hosted WPLG's ''Sports Jam Live'' program.

Personal life

He currently resides in Miami Beach, Florida, with his wife Janice. The couple has three daughters: Mia, and twins Ava and Katie. Cefalo is a well-known oenophile, with over 1,200 bottles in his personal

wine cellar A wine cellar is a storage room for wine in bottles or barrels, or more rarely in carboys, amphorae, or plastic containers. In an ''active'' wine cellar, important factors such as temperature and humidity are maintained by a climate control system ...

. His family has been in the wine business for several generations. The Cefalo family has been involved in the making and selling of wine for the past 150 years. Jimmy's great grandfather was a wine maker and inn keeper in Central Italy. His grandfather came to this country in 1908. Michael Cefalo became a coal miner, land owner, and wine maker in Northeastern Pennsylvania. One of his 7 sons, Charlie, continued the tradition with a bonded Pennsylvania winery producing Italian varietals until his passing. Cefalo's Wine Cellar began in 2002 with a 3400-square foot retail/liquor store located in South Miami. The store specialized in hard-to-find, highly allocated wines. In 2005, Jimmy Cefalo and Brenda Bassett formed their company, Cefalo's International, which continues to grow with the launch of their new food wine and travel show, Cefalo's - Eat This Drink That Go!, as well as serving as the Wine Ambassador for Martini & Rossi, owned by Bacardi. Until it closed in October 2008, Cefalo's Wine Cellar was a 7,000-square foot facility that included several components - a historic bar (The Taurus, built in 1911), a retail wine store (Cefalo's Wine Cellar) with tasting room and a private membership wine cave serving 99 members, with their private lockers (Cefalo's Cave Club). For Cefalo's Cave Club, a ridge was found under the aquifer where 36 feet was dug to create a two-story wine cave. In 2007, Cefalo received an Honorary Doctor of Business Administration in Food and Beverage Management from

Johnson & Wales University Johnson & Wales University (JWU) is a private university with its main campus in Providence, Rhode Island. Founded as a business school in 1914 by Gertrude I. Johnson and Mary T. Wales, JWU enrolled 7,357 students across its campuses in the fa ...

. In 2008, Jimmy Cefalo and Cefalo's International became the Wine Ambassador for Martini & Rossi, the wine/vermouth portfolio for

Bacardi Bacardi Limited (; ) is one of the largest privately held, family-owned spirits companies in the world. Originally known for its Bacardi brand of white rum, it now has a portfolio of more than 200 brands and labels. Founded in Cuba in 1862 an ...

. In March 2012, Jimmy Cefalo and Brenda Bassett launched ''Cefalo's - Eat This Drink That Go!'', a radio show dedicated to food, wine and travel on Clear Channel's WIOD-AM, covering South Florida from Palm Beach down to the Florida Keys, and also streamed nationally through IHeartRadio and their websites, www.WIOD.com and www.EatThisDrinkThatGo.com and www.JimmyCefalo.com.

References

External links

Pro Football Reference Profile
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Cefalo, Jimmy 1956 births Living people American drink industry businesspeople American football wide receivers American game show hosts American television reporters and correspondents American television sports announcers American sports radio personalities Miami Dolphins players Penn State Nittany Lions football players Sports Emmy Award winners Major League Baseball broadcasters National Football League announcers College football announcers Miami Dolphins announcers Wine merchants People from Pittston, Pennsylvania Players of American football from Pennsylvania