Paul Benedict Sunderland (born March 29, 1952) is an American professional
sportscaster who resides in
Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...
. He worked as the indoor volleyball play-by-play announcer for NBC Olympics’ coverage of the
2016 Summer Olympics
The 2016 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXXI Olympiad () and officially branded as Rio 2016, were an international multi-sport event held from 5 to 21 August 2016 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, with preliminary events i ...
, and has worked for the NBC Sports Group covering the Olympics since the
1992 Summer Olympics
The 1992 Summer Olympics (, ), officially the Games of the XXV Olympiad (, ) and officially branded as Barcelona '92, were an international multi-sport event held from 25 July to 9 August 1992 in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. Beginning in 1994 ...
. He is a former collegiate basketball and volleyball player, and played on the
United States national volleyball team that won a gold medal at the
1984 Summer Olympics
The 1984 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXIII Olympiad and commonly known as Los Angeles 1984) were an international multi-sport event held from July 28 to August 12, 1984, in Los Angeles, California, United States. It marked the ...
.
Early life and athletic career
Sunderland grew up in
Sherman Oaks, in the San Fernando Valley region of
Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...
.
He attended
Notre Dame High School, graduating in 1970. Sunderland played basketball and football at Notre Dame, and was a San Fernando Valley League All-League selection as both a wide receiver in football and as a forward in basketball.
[ He started playing volleyball on the beach during his high school years, and states he had an immediate love for the game. He was recruited to the ]University of Oregon
The University of Oregon (UO, U of O or Oregon) is a Public university, public research university in Eugene, Oregon, United States. Founded in 1876, the university is organized into nine colleges and schools and offers 420 undergraduate and gra ...
on a basketball scholarship. Between his freshman and sophomore college seasons, he began playing a great deal of beach volleyball, and he joined the University of Oregon's USVBA club team during his sophomore year. Sunderland states he set a goal to play on the United States national volleyball team. Following his sophomore year, he transferred to Loyola Marymount
Loyola Marymount University (LMU) is a private Jesuit and Marymount research university in Los Angeles, California. LMU enrolls over 10,000 undergraduate and graduate students, making it the largest Catholic university on the west coast of the ...
so he could play basketball and volleyball.[ Sunderland developed into one of Loyola's top volleyball players, earning All-America honors.]
Sunderland was invited to try out for the United States national team in 1975, and he made the cut for the developmental squad.[ Sunderland moved up to the "A" squad, after the United States team failed to qualify for the ]1976 Summer Olympics
The 1976 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XXI Olympiad () and officially branded as Montreal 1976 (), were an international multi-sport event held from July 17 to August 1, 1976, in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Montreal ...
.[ He won U.S. Player of the Year awards in 1977, 1979 and 1982, at the USVBA national tournament.][ The United States failed to qualify for the ]1980 Summer Olympics
The 1980 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XXII Olympiad () and officially branded as Moscow 1980 (), were an international multi-sport event held from 19 July to 3 August 1980 in Moscow, Soviet Union, in present-day Russ ...
, held in Moscow
Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...
, of the Soviet Union. The United States boycotted the games, making the failure to qualify a moot point. It was clear that the teams that the United States put together following the USVBA nationals were no longer adequate in order to compete on the international level.
The program hired former player Doug Beal as a full-time coach of the United States men's national team in 1977. He became the driving force for establishing a full-time, year-round volleyball training center. The facility was created in Dayton, Ohio
Dayton () is a city in Montgomery County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. It is the List of cities in Ohio, sixth-most populous city in Ohio, with a population of 137,644 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. The Dayton metro ...
, in 1978. California was the then-hotbed of volleyball talent, and many of the nation's top players would not relocate to Dayton in order to participate on the national team. The training center and the national team program were moved to San Diego, California
San Diego ( , ) is a city on the Pacific coast of Southern California, adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a population of over 1.4 million, it is the List of United States cities by population, eighth-most populous city in t ...
, in 1981. Sunderland was now a veteran, and he had developed into a solid all-around player. He was joined on the national team in San Diego by a collection of the top collegiate talent from the California area, including Karch Kiraly, Dusty Dvorak, Steve Timmons, Craig Buck, Steven Salmons, Pat Powers and Doug Partie. The United States squad was among the world's elite teams by 1983. The turnaround culminated with the gold medal at the 1984 Summer Olympics
The 1984 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXIII Olympiad and commonly known as Los Angeles 1984) were an international multi-sport event held from July 28 to August 12, 1984, in Los Angeles, California, United States. It marked the ...
in Los Angeles. Sunderland set winning an Olympic gold medal as a lifetime goal. Teammate Kiraly, said: "It is something that he really wanted, and it was really neat to see that one of the oldest guys on the team was also the most excited."
Broadcasting career
Following the completion of his playing career, Sunderland pursued a career in broadcasting. Sunderland's athletic career formed the base for a broadcast career, initially working as a volleyball commentator.[ He was paired with former teammate Chris Marlowe. Sunderland's hiring was a morale boost to Marlowe, who had been doing broadcast work for a number of years, usually paired with personnel with little or no volleyball experience.] Said Marlowe, "Early on I was working with broadcasters who may not have known a volleyball from a pineapple. When Paul moved into the color spot – that really clicked. We were old friends, played together on the national team for years, and our chemistry was fantastic."[ Sunderland's first assignment was in 1985 working with Marlowe at the NCAA Men's Volleyball West Regional match between San Diego State and Pepperdine.] Said Marlowe: "I can ask Paul anything on the air, at any time, and he always has an answer."[
From the color commentator spot, Sunderland moved on to do ]play-by-play
In Broadcasting of sports events, sports broadcasting, a sports commentator (also known as a sports announcer or sportscaster) provides a real time (media), real-time live commentary of a game or event, traditionally delivered in the present t ...
, and extended into basketball and other sports. He soon took on work with the Clippers and Dodgers for Fox Sports Net.[ Starting in 1993, Sunderland covered Pac-10 basketball for ]ESPN
ESPN (an initialism of their original name, which was the Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by the Walt Disney Company (80% and operational control) and Hearst Commu ...
. He subsequently was hired by NBC to cover a number of sports, including the NBA, WNBA and a variety of Olympic sports.[ Sunderland later served as an anchor on the Fox Sports Network.
In 1993, Sunderland began doing pre-game hosting for the Lakers.] In 1995, Sunderland was working for Prime, NBC and ESPN.[ In the 2001–2002 season, the Lakers' long time play-by-play announcer, Chick Hearn, had to take time away while he recovered from heart surgery, and then more time was needed when he was injured in a fall and suffered a broken hip.][ Sunderland filled in for Chick Hearn for 56 games during the 2001–02 season. When Hearn died that year, in November 2002, he was announced as the new play-by-play announcer for the ]Los Angeles Lakers
The Los Angeles Lakers are an American professional basketball team based in Los Angeles. The Lakers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Pacific Division (NBA), Pacific Division of the Western Conference (NBA ...
.[ He was only the second announcer ever hired by the team.][ He announced for the Lakers through 2005.] Since 2005, Sunderland has worked as an announcer for NBC and Universal Sports, covering the Pac-12 in the sports of Basketball, Volleyball, Track and Field and Tennis.[
Paul Sunderland served as the indoor volleyball play-by-play announcer for NBC Olympics’ coverage at the 2016 Summer Olympics, teaming with Kevin Barnett as analyst. He has worked doing the NBC Sports Group's summer Olympics coverage since the 1992 Games in ]Barcelona
Barcelona ( ; ; ) is a city on the northeastern coast of Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second-most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within c ...
. Sunderland currently serves as a play-by-play announcer for both volleyball and men's basketball on ESPN.[
]
Awards
Sunderland earned All-America honors while at Loyola Marymount in 1975.[ He won USVBA Player of the Year awards at the national "Open" tournament in 1977, 1979 and 1982.][ In 1986 he was inducted into the USVBA Hall of Fame in ]Wichita, Kansas
Wichita ( ) is the List of cities in Kansas, most populous city in the U.S. state of Kansas and the county seat of Sedgwick County, Kansas, Sedgwick County. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population of the city was 397, ...
.[ That same year he was also inducted into the Loyola Marymount Hall of Fame.]
Sunderland has twice won the Emmy Award
The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the year, each with their own set of rules and award categor ...
for his play-by-play announcing with the Los Angeles Lakers.[
]
Personal life
Sunderland lives in Southern California with his wife, Maud-Ann.[ He met his wife at the 1977 World University Games in Bulgaria. Maud-Ann Tesch was a two-time national fencing champion from Sweden. She and Sunderland were married in Sweden in 1978. They have two children.][
]
References
;Citations
External links
LAKERS: Paul Sunderland Joins Lakers Broadcast Team
Olympics.com Profile: Paul Sunderland
Olympedia Profile: Paul Sunderland
Volleybox.net Profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sunderland, Paul
1952 births
Living people
American television sports anchors
American men's volleyball players
College basketball announcers in the United States
Women's college basketball announcers in the United States
Los Angeles Lakers announcers
Oregon Ducks men's basketball players
Loyola Marymount Lions men's basketball players
Loyola Marymount Lions men's volleyball players
NBA broadcasters
Olympic gold medalists for the United States in volleyball
Television anchors from Los Angeles
Volleyball players at the 1984 Summer Olympics
Olympic Games broadcasters
Women's National Basketball Association announcers
Track and field broadcasters
Volleyball commentators
Medalists at the 1984 Summer Olympics
American men's basketball players
20th-century American sportsmen