In February FOX Sports’ Gus Johnson received the 2021 Jake Wade Award for media contributions to college athletics. A Howard University alumna (1990), Johnson’s voice has vivified play everywhere from NCAA hockey to Canadian football. NCAA football and basketball, though, are where he endeared himself to a nation, including this year’s “Heartbreak City” men’s basketball final. Johnson is the first HBCU graduate to win the 63-year-old award and the second African-American. Robin Roberts won in 2002.
Johnson is among the happy few who can’t believe they get paid to do what they do. His love for sport seeps from his pores and comes out in wild excitations during the games. Fans love him. In a viral tweet after a University of Texas touchdown, one admirer wrote: “Still an incredible moment every time. Gus Johnson either becoming possessed by a demon or auditioning for Metallica mid-play.”
His boyish love for the games is matched by profound knowledge of them, and he has an intimate rapport with the players. In short, he’s a natural. In a January interview with radio sports hosts Titus & Tate, Johnson said:
“I just can’t think of a job that would be better for me. My real life has exceeded my dreams.”
A three-sport star in baseball, football and basketball at University of Detroit Jesuit High School and Academy, Johnson learned the games on the field. After Howard, he became collegiate sports’ darling largely through NCAA basketball tournament play. From 1996 to 2011, clips of Johnson’s March Madness calls were used as promotions and later became YouTube smashes. In 2011 he became FOX’s lead football play-by-play announcer and their basketball lead in 2013. With the Jake Wade Award, he’s in lofty company, joining legends such as Jim Nantz, Verne Lundquist and Dick Vitale.