''CBS Sports Spectacular'' is a sports

anthology In book publishing, an anthology is a collection of literary works chosen by the compiler; it may be a collection of plays, poems, short stories, songs, or related fiction/non-fiction excerpts by different authors. There are also thematic and g ...

television program produced by

CBS Sports CBS Sports is the American sports programming division of Paramount Global that is responsible for sports broadcasts carried by its broadcast network CBS and streaming service Paramount+, as well as the operator of its cable channel CBS Sports N ...

, the sports division of the

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS (an abbreviation of its original name, Columbia Broadcasting System), is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainme ...

television network in the United States. The series began on January 3, 1960, as ''The CBS Sports Spectacular'', and has been known under many different names, including ''CBS Sports Saturday'', ''CBS Sports Sunday'', ''Eye on Sports'' and ''The CBS Sports Show''. The program continues to air on an irregular basis on weekend afternoons, especially during the late spring and summer months. Normally it airs pre-recorded "

time-buy Brokered programming (also known as time-buy and blocktime) is a form of broadcast content in which the show's producer pays a radio or television station for air time, rather than exchanging programming for pay or the opportunity to play spot com ...

" sports events produced by outside companies, such as

supercross The AMA Supercross Championship (commercially known as Monster Energy AMA Supercross) is an American motorcycle racing series. Founded by the American Motorcyclist Association (AMA) in 1974, the AMA Supercross Championship races are held from ...

skiing Skiing is the use of skis to glide on snow for basic transport, a recreational activity, or a competitive winter sport. Many types of competitive skiing events are recognized by the International Olympic Committee (IOC), and the International S ...

competitions, or sponsored

documentaries A documentary film (often described simply as a documentary) is a nonfiction motion picture intended to "document reality, primarily for instruction, education or maintaining a historical record". The American author and media analyst Bill ...

Hosts

Hosts of the program have included John "Bud" Palmer,

Jack Whitaker John Francis Whitaker (May 18, 1924 – August 18, 2019) was an American sportscaster who worked for both CBS and ABC. Whitaker was a decorated army veteran of World War II. He fought in the Normandy Campaign and was wounded by an artillery ...

Brent Musburger Brent Woody Musburger (born May 26, 1939) is an American sportscaster, currently the lead broadcaster and managing editor at Vegas Stats and Information Network (VSiN). With CBS Sports from 1973 until 1990, he was the original host of their ...

Pat Summerall George Allen "Pat" Summerall (May 10, 1930 – April 16, 2013) was an American professional American football, football player and television sportscaster who worked for CBS Sports, CBS, Fox Sports (USA), Fox, and ESPN Sunday Night Football, ESP ...

Jim Kelly James Edward Kelly (born February 14, 1960) is an American former professional football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 11 seasons with the Buffalo Bills. He also spent two seasons with the Houston Gamblers o ...

Dick Stockton Richard Edward Stokvis (born November 22, 1942), known professionally as Dick Stockton, is an American retired sportscaster. Stockton began his career in Philadelphia, then moved to Pittsburgh, where he worked as the sports director for KDKA-T ...

, Tim Brant,

John Tesh John Frank Tesh Jr. (born July 9, 1952) is an American musician and radio and television presenter. He wrote the '' NBA on NBC'' basketball theme " Roundball Rock", and hosts the ''Intelligence for Your Life'' radio show. In addition, since 20 ...

Jim Nantz James William Nantz III (born May 17, 1959) is an American sportscaster who has worked on telecasts of the National Football League (NFL), NCAA Division I men's basketball, the NBA, and the PGA Tour for CBS Sports since the 1980s. He has ancho ...

Greg Gumbel Gregory Girard Gumbel (May 3, 1946 – December 27, 2024) was an American television sportscaster. He was best known for his various assignments for CBS Sports (most notably, the National Football League and NCAA basketball). He became the firs ...

, Pat O'Brien,

Andrea Joyce Andrea Joyce Kuslits (born August 17, 1954), better known as Andrea Joyce, is an American sportscaster who works for NBC Sports after working 10 years with CBS Sports. Education Joyce graduated from the University of Michigan in 1976. Care ...

, and

Michele Tafoya Michele Tafoya (born 1964/1965) is an American reporter and retired sports broadcaster for CBS and NBC. Most notably, from 2011 to 2022, she worked primarily as a sideline reporter for ''NBC Sunday Night Football''. Over the course of her career ...

. Under its current format, the program does not have a regular host.

Sports featured

The earliest surviving telecast may be of the Twin 100 qualifying races before the second

Daytona 500 The Daytona 500 is a NASCAR Cup Series motor race held annually at Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Florida. It is the first of two Cup races held every year at Daytona, the second being the Coke Zero Sugar 400, and one of three ...

Daytona International Speedway Daytona International Speedway is a race track in Daytona Beach, Florida, Daytona Beach, Florida, United States, about north of Orlando, Florida, Orlando. Since opening in 1959, it has been the home of the Daytona 500, the most prestigious race ...

in 1960.

NASCAR The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing, LLC (NASCAR) is an American auto racing sanctioning and operating company that is best known for stock car racing. It is considered to be one of the top ranked motorsports organizations in ...

has a

kinescope Kinescope , shortened to kine , also known as telerecording in Britain, is a recording of a television program on motion picture film directly through a lens focused on the screen of a video monitor. The process was pioneered during the 1940s ...

of it. In 1994, CBS had a new series of

boxing Boxing is a combat sport and martial art. Taking place in a boxing ring, it involves two people – usually wearing protective equipment, such as boxing glove, protective gloves, hand wraps, and mouthguards – throwing Punch (combat), punch ...

bouts on Saturday or Sundays under the ''Eye on Sports'' banner. Tim Ryan (blow-by-blow) and

Gil Clancy Gilbert Thomas Clancy (May 30, 1922 – March 31, 2011) was a Hall of Fame boxing trainer and one of the most noted television boxing commentators of the 1980s and 1990s. Clancy became famous as a trainer for world champion Emile Griffith, an ...

(color) were the commentators during this period. CBS continued airing boxing on a somewhat regular basis until 1998, by which time they had the

NFL The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league in the United States. Composed of 32 teams, it is divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The N ...

(after acquiring the

American Football Conference The American Football Conference (AFC) is one of the two conferences of the National Football League (NFL), the highest level of professional American football in the United States. The AFC and its counterpart, the National Football Conference ...

package from

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. It is one of NBCUniversal's ...

) and

college football College football is gridiron football that is played by teams of amateur Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. It was through collegiate competition that gridiron football American football in the United States, firs ...

back on their slate. As of early 2020, the series airs mainly on the

CBS Sports Network CBS Sports Network (a.k.a. CBSSN) is an American digital cable and satellite television network owned by the CBS Entertainment Group unit of Paramount Global. When it launched in 2002 as the National College Sports Network (later College Sports ...

. Currently, the most frequent sports that have been featured are the PBR Bull Riding series, the

Lucas Oil Lucas Oil Products, Inc. is an American manufacturer and distributor of automotive oil, additives, and lubricants founded in 1989. History Lucas Oil was founded by trucker Forrest Lucas and his wife Charlotte in 1989. The company is a m ...

Off-Road Racing Series and

Major League Fishing Major League Fishing (MLF) is a professional bass fishing league and sports television show that airs on Outdoor Channel, World Fishing Network and Discovery Channel. The league's headquarters are located in Tulsa, Oklahoma. The MLF was establish ...

. Other events include the Deer Valley Celebrity Skifest, the Arete Awards for Courage in Sports, Year in Review shows and various documentaries. In 2018, it carried the first and only edition of the Gamers' Choice Awards. By 2008, this was a partial list of the events that were featured: *

Tennis Tennis is a List of racket sports, racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent (singles (tennis), singles) or between two teams of two players each (doubles (tennis), doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket st ...

Sony Ericsson Open The Miami Open (also known as the Miami Masters and as the Miami Open presented by Itaú for sponsorship reasons) is an annual professional tennis tournament held in Miami Gardens, Florida, United States. It is played on outdoor hardcourts a ...

*Tennis:

Cincinnati Masters The Cincinnati Open (also known as the Cincinnati Masters) is an annual professional tennis event held in Cincinnati, United States. Due to previous sponsorship, it has also been known as: the Thriftway ATP Championships, the Great American I ...

*Tennis: Penn Pilot Open *Snowboarding: Jeep 48Straight Championships *Freestyle Skiing: Jeep 48Straight Championships *Track & Field: Reebok Grand Prix (from New York) * Action Sports World Championships

Memorable moments

1960 Monaco Grand Prix The 1960 Monaco Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held at Monaco on 29 May 1960. It was race 2 of 10 in the 1960 World Championship of Drivers and race 2 of 9 in the 1960 International Cup for Formula One Manufacturers. The race was won ...

(which took place on May 29) is broadcast on June 11. This was first broadcast of the Monaco Grand Prix in the United States. * 1973 Tennis –

Bobby Riggs Robert Larimore Riggs (February 25, 1918 – October 25, 1995) was an American tennis champion who was the world No. 1 amateur in 1939 and world No. 1 professional in 1946 and 1947. He played his first professional tennis match on December ...

defeats

Margaret Court Margaret Court (''née'' Smith; born 16 July 1942), also known as Margaret Smith Court, is an Australian former world number 1 tennis player and a Christian minister. Her 24 women's singles major titles and total of 64 major titles (includi ...

6–2, 6–1 on

Mother's Day Mother's Day is a celebration honoring the mother of the family or individual, as well as motherhood, maternal bonds, and the influence of mothers in society. It is celebrated on different days in many parts of the world, most commonly in Mar ...

in first Battle of the Sexes match. * 1977

World's Strongest Man The World's Strongest Man is an international strongman competition held every year. Organized by American event management company IMG, a subsidiary of Endeavor, it is broadcast in the US during summers and in the UK around the end of Decemb ...

– The inaugural event featured the likes of

Bruce Wilhelm Bruce Wilhelm (born July 13, 1945) is a former weightlifter and strongman from the United States. He is a two-time winner of the World's Strongest Man competition in 1977 and 1978 and the author of numerous strength-related articles and books. H ...

Lou Ferrigno Louis Jude Ferrigno Sr. (; born November 9, 1951) is an American actor and retired professional bodybuilder. He won an IFBB Mr. America title and two consecutive IFBB Mr. Universe titles, and appeared in the documentary film '' Pumping Iron'' ...

and

Ken Patera Kenneth Wayne Patera (born November 6, 1942) is an American retired professional wrestler, Olympic weightlifter, and strongman competitor. He was well known in the World Wrestling Federation from 1976 to 1981, 1984 to 1985 and 1987 to 1988 a ...

* 1978

Belmont Stakes The Belmont Stakes is an American Graded stakes race, Grade I stakes Thoroughbred racing, race for three-year-old Thoroughbreds run at Belmont Park in Elmont, New York. It is run over the worldwide classic distance of . Colt (horseracing), Colt ...

–

Affirmed Affirmed (February 21, 1975 – January 12, 2001) was a champion American Thoroughbred horse racing, racehorse who is the eleventh winner of the Triple Crown of Thoroughbred Racing (United States), American Triple Crown. Affirmed was well known ...

defeated

Alydar Alydar (March 23, 1975 – November 15, 1990) was an American Thoroughbred horse racing, race horse and sire. A chestnut colt, he was most famous for finishing a close second to Affirmed in all three races of the 1978 Triple Crown of Thoro ...

to become the final

horse racing Horse racing is an equestrian performance activity, typically involving two or more horses ridden by jockeys (or sometimes driven without riders) over a set distance for competition. It is one of the most ancient of all sports, as its bas ...

Triple Crown winner until

American Pharoah American Pharoah (foaled February 2, 2012) is a Thoroughbred racehorse who won the American Triple Crown and the Breeders' Cup Classic in 2015. He was the 12th Triple Crown winner in history, and in winning all four races, became the first ...

in 2015. *

1979 Daytona 500 The 1979 Daytona 500, the 21st annual running of the event, was the second race of the 1979 NASCAR Winston Cup Series season. It was held on February 18, 1979 at Daytona International Speedway, in Daytona Beach, Florida. It has been called the ...

– The first 500-mile race to be broadcast in its entirety live on national television in the United States. * Game 6 of the

1980 Stanley Cup Finals The 1980 Stanley Cup Finals was the championship series of the National Hockey League's (NHL) 1979–80 season, and the culmination of the 1980 Stanley Cup playoffs. It was contested by the New York Islanders in their first-ever Finals appearan ...

– The

New York Islanders The New York Islanders (colloquially known as the Isles) are a professional ice hockey team based in Elmont, New York. The Islanders compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Metropolitan Division in the Eastern Conference (N ...

would defeat the

Philadelphia Flyers The Philadelphia Flyers are a professional ice hockey team based in Philadelphia. The Flyers compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Metropolitan Division in the Eastern Conference (NHL), Eastern Conference. The team play ...

in overtime, 5–4, to win their first ever

Stanley Cup The Stanley Cup () is the championship trophy awarded annually to the National Hockey League (NHL) playoff champion. It is the oldest existing trophy to be awarded to a professional sports franchise in North America, and the International Ic ...

championship. This would be the first

National Hockey League The National Hockey League (NHL; , ''LNH'') is a professional ice hockey league in North America composed of 32 teams25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. The NHL is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Cana ...

playoff game to air on American broadcast network television since 1975, and the last NHL game on American broadcast network television until the 1990 All-Star Game aired on

. * 2008 Reebok Grand Prix –

Usain Bolt Usain St. Leo Bolt (; born 21 August 1986) is a Jamaican retired sprinter who is widely regarded as the greatest sprinter of all time. He is an eight-time Olympic gold medalist and the world record holder in the 100 metres, 200 metres, ...

breaks the men's

100m The 100 metres, or 100-meter dash, is a sprint race in track and field competitions. The shortest common outdoor running distance, the dash is one of the most popular and prestigious events in the sport of athletics. It has been contested at ...

world record for the first time with a sprint of 9.72 seconds.

Theme music

An original composition by

Edd Kalehoff Edward Woodley Kalehoff Jr. (born September 1, 1945) is an American television composer who specializes in compositions for television, known for his work on the Moog synthesizer. Kalehoff composed the musical themes to the game shows '' The Pr ...

featuring scat vocals was used as the theme for ''The CBS Sports Spectacular'' beginning in 1970. From

1976 Events January * January 2 – The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights enters into force. * January 5 – The Pol Pot regime proclaims a new constitution for Democratic Kampuchea. * January 18 – Full diplomatic ...

1978 Events January * January 1 – Air India Flight 855, a Boeing 747 passenger jet, crashes off the coast of Bombay, killing 213. * January 5 – Bülent Ecevit, of Republican People's Party, CHP, forms the new government of Turkey (42nd ...

, the

Electric Light Orchestra The Electric Light Orchestra (ELO) are an English rock band formed in Birmingham in 1970 by multi-instrumentalists Jeff Lynne and Roy Wood and drummer Bev Bevan. Their music is characterised by a fusion of pop and classical arrangement ...

's " Fire on High" was used as the theme for the program (when it was known as ''The CBS Sports Special''). In 1979, the program switched to an "in-house" version of American composer

Aaron Copland Aaron Copland (, ; November 14, 1900December 2, 1990) was an American composer, critic, writer, teacher, pianist, and conductor of his own and other American music. Copland was referred to by his peers and critics as the "Dean of American Compos ...

's symphonic instrumental "

Fanfare for the Common Man ''Fanfare for the Common Man'' is a musical work by the American composer Aaron Copland. It was written in 1942 for the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra under conductor Eugene Goossens and was inspired in part by a speech made earlier that yea ...

", which was used until 1980. The CBS version of "Fanfare" – clocking in at 1 minute and eight seconds – was styled after the 9 minute, 40 second version recorded by UK progressive rock group

Emerson, Lake & Palmer Emerson, Lake & Palmer (informally known as ELP) were an English progressive rock Supergroup (music), supergroup formed in London in 1970. The band consisted of Keith Emerson (keyboards) of The Nice, Greg Lake (vocals, bass, guitars, producer) ...

on its 1977 LP, ''

Works Volume 1 ''Works Volume 1'' is the fifth studio album by English progressive rock band Emerson, Lake & Palmer, released as a double album on 25 March 1977 on Atlantic Records. Following their world tour supporting '' Brain Salad Surgery'' (1973), the ...

''. For

Super Bowl XVI Super Bowl XVI was an American football game between the National Football Conference (NFC) champion San Francisco 49ers and the American Football Conference (AFC) champion Cincinnati Bengals to decide the National Football League (NFL) champion ...

coverage at the end of the

1981 NFL season The 1981 NFL season was the 62nd regular season of the National Football League. The season ended with Super Bowl XVI when the San Francisco 49ers defeated the Cincinnati Bengals 26–21 at the Pontiac Silverdome in Michigan. Draft The 1981 ...

, CBS' theme music would eventually become the theme for ''CBS Sports Saturday/Sunday''. The music itself could be considered a hybrid of the theme used at the time for ''

The NFL Today ''The NFL Today'' is an American football television program on CBS that serves as the pre-game show for the network's National Football League (NFL) game telecasts under the '' NFL on CBS'' brand. The program features commentary on the latest ...

'' and their original

college basketball College basketball is basketball that is played by teams of Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. In the Higher education in the United States, United States, colleges and universities are governed by collegiate athle ...

theme.

References

External links