National Football League

Sportscaster Jim Simpson dies at 88; worked for NBC, ESPN

Updated Mar. 4, 2020 4:13 p.m. ET

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BRISTOL, Conn. (AP) Sportscaster Jim Simpson has died. He was 88.

ESPN says he died Wednesday in Scottsdale, Arizona, after a short illness. Simpson worked for NBC, ABC, CBS and TNT, and when he joined ESPN in 1979, he gave the fledgling cable sports network instant credibility.

In 1998, Simpson received the Lifetime Achievement Award at the Sports Emmy Awards. ESPN founder Bill Rasmussen calls him ''a television legend.''

Simpson called 14 Olympics, 16 Major League Baseball All-Star games, six Super Bowls and six World Series for TV or radio. He worked for NBC from 1964-79, handling AFL and later NFL broadcasts.

His television career started in 1949, when he left a Maryland radio station for a job at the new Channel 9 in Washington.

He is survived by his wife, Ann Crowley Jones, a son, four daughters, 18 grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.