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''.
Early life
Gallagher was raised in
Jeannette, Pennsylvania
Jeannette is a city in Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 8,780 at the 2020 census. Jeannette was founded in 1888 and named after Jeannette Hartupee McKee, the wife of one of the city's founders, H. Sellers McKe ...
. At the age of 16 he won the grand prize twice on the
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 ...
quiz show, ''
Dream League''.
Career
Early career
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
The United States Basketball League (USBL) was a professional men's spring basketball league. The league was formed in 1985 and ceased operations in 2008. The USBL started in 1985 as one of the first basketball leagues to play a late-spring to ...
's New Hampshire Thunder Loons. 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
O'Shea Jackson Sr. (born June 15, 1969), known professionally as Ice Cube, is an American rapper, songwriter, actor, and film producer. His lyrics on N.W.A's 1989 album '' Straight Outta Compton'' contributed to gangsta rap's widespread popu ...
. As a television writer and producer he has sold, developed, and run various shows including creating "Shaq vs."
''Andy Roddick Beat Me with a Frying Pan''
''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), 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
Andrew Stephen Roddick (born August 30, 1982) is an American former professional tennis player. He was ranked as the world No. 1 in men's singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) for 13 weeks, including as the year-end No. 1 in ...
,
Maurice Greene, and the NHL's
Washington Capitals
The Washington Capitals (colloquially known as the Caps) are a professional ice hockey team based in Washington, D.C. The Capitals compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Metropolitan Division in the Eastern Conference (NH ...
, 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."
Playground Challenge
His "Phelps Challenge," where he challenged
Michael Phelps
Michael Fred Phelps II (born June 30, 1985) 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 me ...
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.
God Only Knows
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.
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gallagher, Todd
American male writers
Living people
Year of birth missing (living people)
People from Greensburg, Pennsylvania