Chris Fowler

College Football, Tennis and World Cup Host & Commentator

Chris Fowler, one of the most respected hosts and play-by-play commentators in television, joined ESPN in July 1986.  He has anchored College GameDay, the network's Emmy-winning Saturday morning college football preview show, since 1990. He became the play-by-play voice of ESPN’s signature Thursday College Football Primetime series in 2006.  Fowler has hosted ESPN’s Heisman Trophy Presentation since the network began its coverage of the event in 1994, and ESPN’s The Home Depot College Football Awards show since its inception in 1993. 

Fowler has been the primary host of ESPN’s Grand Slam tennis coverage since 2003, which starting in 2009 will include all four majors, something no network has done before. He also calls select tennis matches. 

Beginning in 2010, Fowler will serve as a host for ESPN’s on-site studio coverage of the FIFA World Cup from South Africa (June 11 - July 11, 2010), where he will anchor pre-, halftime and post-match shows and SportsCenter at the FIFA World Cup segments.

He has also served as a host of ESPN’s NCAA Final Four coverage from 1992 to 2005. Fowler was a host on select editions of ESPN’s college basketball version of the inaugural season of the popular College GameDay show in 2005. He added horse racing to his resume, serving as an on-site host for ESPN & ESPN2’s extensive Triple Crown coverage (Kentucky Derby, Preakness, Belmont Stakes) from 1998 to 2007. Fowler served as the host of SportsCenter’s on-site coverage of top auto racing events, including the Daytona 500, from 2006 to 2007. In the past, Fowler has anchored SportsCenter and served as co-host of the X Games from its inception in 1995 through 2000, as well as the Winter X Games (1998-2000).  Fowler also served as host and narrator of ESPN Classic’s SportsCentury, the network’s signature series.

Fowler is most recognized for his work as one of the nation’s best studio hosts for college sports, particularly for his role as the anchor for College GameDay – college football’s most comprehensive and authoritative studio show. In January 2004, Sporting News magazine ranked Fowler and fellow GameDay personalities Lee Corso and Kirk Herbstreit as 2003’s “Most Powerful Media Personalities in Sports.” Fowler has received two Sports Emmy Awards for his work on SportsCentury.

Fowler joined ESPN in July 1986 as the host/reporter of Scholastic Sports America. In 1988, he began serving as a college football sideline reporter. While on the college football beat Fowler conducted an exclusive interview with former star Oklahoma quarterback Charles Thompson, who was in prison on drug charges.

Before joining ESPN, Fowler spent nearly two years at KCNC-TV, the NBC affiliate in Denver, as a production assistant, a producer/writer and as a sports reporter. In 1984, he worked for several months at Denver’s CBS affiliate KMGH-TV as an intern in the sports department.

Fowler received a bachelor of science degree in radio/television news from the University of Colorado in 1985.  While an undergraduate, Fowler, a Denver-area native, served from 1983-85 as a producer and co-host for a weekly magazine program on the Boulder (Colo.) Cable Television System. He also was sports director at KAIR-AM, the university’s radio station, for two years. From 1982-84, he covered high school sports for the Rocky Mountain News.

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