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Greg Gumbel tribute: CBS broadcast crew provides touching tribute to late studio anchor

FaceProfileby:Thomas Goldkamp•03/20/25
Apr 5, 2021; Indianapolis, IN, USA; CBS announcer Greg Gumbel prior to the national championship game in the Final Four of the 2021 NCAA Tournament between the Gonzaga Bulldogs and the Baylor Bears at Lucas Oil Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports
Apr 5, 2021; Indianapolis, IN, USA; CBS announcer Greg Gumbel prior to the national championship game in the Final Four of the 2021 NCAA Tournament between the Gonzaga Bulldogs and the Baylor Bears at Lucas Oil Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports

The NCAA Tournament coverage officially kicked off on Thursday afternoon, but before it did fans were treated to a tear-jerking opener on CBS. The crew provided a fitting tribute to the late Greg Gumbel.

Gumbel died from pancreatic cancer on Dec. 27. That came several months after he missed covering the NCAA Tournament for the first time in decades.

“We’re on the road to the Final Four with the strings of The Rolling Stones in our New York Studio 43,” said studio host Ernie Johnson, leading into the segment. “And there’s a very good reason for that. Good afternoon, everybody, I’m Ernie Johnson.

“Nobody loved the stones more than Greg Gumbel. And a year ago at this time we were waiting on a friend to return. We knew he was missing March Madness, an event for which his name is synonymous, for personal reasons. Just after Christmas, we learned that cancer had taken his life and we were crushed. A void was left that will never be filled. We wear his pin on our jackets and we carry his memory in our hearts. Here with Charles Barkley and Kenny Smith, Clark Kellogg. It’s heavy in here.”

Johnson struggled to get through his intro, clearly choked up by the gravity of the moment and the absence of Greg Gumbel. Gumbel was a staple in the studio on March Madness coverage for decades.

In many ways, his presence and his voice had become one with the sport. So to begin without him for a second straight year was heart-wrenching.

“Sure is. And it’s sad and surreal that he’s not in that chair,” analyst Clark Kellogg said. “And won’t ever be in that chair again. Because he was so good at what he did. And he was so good to the people he did it with and for: you, the viewers, were who he sought to serve. And in doing that with class, with competence, with consistency, with gentleness and kindness, he lifted all of us who had the privilege of being in the orbit of his colleagueship and friendship.

“And while I’m sad, I’m extremely grateful to have known Greg as a colleague, as a friend, because he made everybody not only better but he made everybody feel good. And that will never change.”

Charles Barkley then chimed in, cameras turning to him. He added levity in the way only Barkley can. A way Greg Gumbel surely would have appreciated.

“Yeah, it is surreal. We had been texting back and forth, he said, ‘I’ll see you guys next year,'” Barkley explained. “Then out of the blue you get a text that he had passed, you’re like, whoa, what just happened, because obviously he wanted to keep his sickness private. Man, it’s just sad.

“I’m going to miss those nerdy dad jokes. I mean he told five to 10 nerd jokes a day and you couldn’t tell if you were laughing. But we always said, ‘Was that funny or was it nerdy?’ It was both.”

Barkley then returned to a more serious tone, offering his reflection on what Gumbel’s life meant to so many. Simply put, he praised Greg Gumbel for doing something not many can.

“But, man, nobody can do what he does as long as he did it unless two things: You’re talented and people like you,” Barkley said. “The ability to do multiple sports, like Ernie’s great at that. Kevin Harlan, Sean McDonough’s great at that. Brian Anderson’s great at that. Greg Gumbel was great at that. There’s so many guys, if I left anybody out, I apologize. To go from sport to sport, that’s got to be incredibly hard. And he did it with such grace for so long.

“And like I said, you have to be talented first and foremost, but people have to like you. And he will be missed. The thing is he always told me, he said, man, because you know I’m an Eagles guy. I love the Eagles. He said, ‘Man, you’ve got to go with me to The Rolling Stones.’ And I’m going to miss that I never got to go with him to The Rolling Stones.”

Kenny Smith was the final member of CBS’ panel to pay tribute to the late Greg Gumbel. He, too, was choked up and seemed to be fighting back tears.

“Things that we take for granted, you know. We just assume these things are going to continue forever,” Smith said. “You walk in these hallways, he echoes through these hallways as you come through here. We’ve had some people retire here. We have people move on to different jobs, but you always can reach back out. Now you feel like you didn’t say enough. And the most interesting, I told Ernie when it happened, the week before, because he did keep it private, he just was on my heart and in my head, and I text him, ‘Hey, just thinking about you, how are you doing?’ And he didn’t respond, and I didn’t know what was going on at that time. And so you take for granted the ability to reach out to someone who is instrumental in your life and sometimes you don’t even know how instrumental they are until things like this happen.

“So we’re going to miss him wholeheartedly. And it’s a difficult time, but we’re going to have fun because we’re going to have some dad jokes that we’re going to bring out.”

And with that, CBS did what Greg Gumbel would have wanted. It attempted to move on to coverage of the day’s games.

“He was a pro’s pro. A gentleman of the highest order,” Johnson said. “And I’m sure he’s looking down right now saying move this thing along. We’re closing in on the first full day of tournament action. And with the madness of March upon us, the hype is real.”