You may know Rod Gilmore as one of the hosts on College Football Live. You could also know him as a member of the Stanford football team that was involved in “The Play” against Cal in 1982 with the famous call, “The band is on the field!” You could know him as a practicing attorney, or even the Mayor of Alameda’s husband. I got to spend a large part of Tuesday shadowing Rod, watching him prepare for College Football Live, doing multiple SportsCenter hits, and just talking sports and life.
One of the most interesting stories Rod shared with me was about his interview with now Senior VP of ESPN Audio Mo Davenport who hired Rod to work at ESPN. I also spent time with Mo for a separate profile. Rod says when he had his interview, he had a bad flight schedule then flight issues that got him in late. He had about an hour to get showered and get ready to head over to his interview on ESPN’s campus. He hustled over and as soon as he sat down with Mo, the first question he was asked was “Why should we hire you?” Rod is known for being quick as he should be since he is an attorney. He responded, “After all you put me through, why should I want to work here?”
Talk about a solid ice breaker.
The thing you should know about my whirlwind of a day with Rod is everything was turned upside down rather quickly. Rod’s original day was supposed to be a production meeting for College Football Live at 8 a.m. and to start taping College Football Live clips at 2 p.m. ahead of the 2:30 p.m.live show. All that got turned upside down when the Big 12 Commissioner Bob Bowlsby ripped the NCAA and said “cheating pays” in College Football.
Then as we were going over his schedule changes for the day, he got added to the 4:00 p.m.SportsCenter and Outside The Lines. I mentioned some quick prep, and that was probably an understatement. Rod keeps his own liner notes that span back years on each conference and each team in College Football that allows him to review changes to the team and how that will affect their performance for the upcoming season.
Of the many things I talk with Rod about ranged from multiple college football topics, including exactly how he would fix College Football that he was very passionate about, the most impressive thing to hear him talk about was his family. Whether he was beaming about his kids who seem to be just as impressive and well-rounded as he is or his wife who is the real star of the family according to him, you could really tell his family is extremely important to him.
Of all the people I have had the pleasure of meeting during my time at ESPN this week, it will be difficult to find someone who is multi-dimensional as Rod. I really thank him for taking the time to give me a behind-the-scenes look at what is is like to be him, especially on a hectic day.