(Editor’s Note: Today’s Friday PiDay features Brother Bob Steinfeld, who has carved out a legendary career in sports broadcasting and journalism. Highlighting an AEPi brothers in sports gives us a great opportunity to remind brothers, parents and friends that Mensch Madness, AEPi’s philanthropic take on tournament brackets, has kicked off! For more information – and to purchase brackets – go here!)
Of the several hundred Friday PiDay articles that have been published on the AEPi website over the years, the following will be the first quote from basketball legend Bill Walton:
Bob Seinfeld’s latest masterpiece — 3-2-1, We’re on the Air — perfectly captures the essence of our lives…storytelling, which is the basis of knowledge, education, and entertainment.
Leadership is a requisite for success, and production actually makes it all happen. Those are two elements that define Bob Seinfeld.
Brother Robert Steinfeld (Texas, 1978) has had a career in sports journalism and television production that is the stuff of legends. Ironically, Bob notes that his career highlights include meeting many other sports and journalism legends. His stories of meeting these legends and being present at so many legendary events are woven throughout his new book, 3-2-1, We’re on the Air (available on Amazon and in your local book stores).
Growing up in New Jersey, at a young age he was a New York sports fan. “I was born in New Jersey and lived there until I was nine years old, so I was a Yankee fan. I loved going to Yankee Stadium with my grandfather, but then we moved to Dallas which had no major league baseball team then. We had the Cowboys but no basketball team, no hockey team. So, funny thing is that I ended up playing junior high and high school baseball, and one of my teammates was David Mantle, Mickey Mantle’s son. So, I grew up in New Jersey/New York and Mickey’s my hero and then I ended up playing baseball with his son in Texas.”
Reading Bob’s book, you get the sense that those kinds of unexpected meetings and “being in the right place at the right time” are no accident. Bob’s career has put him in the center of many of the most memorable sports events and with some of the sports world’s most fascinating characters.
Upon arriving at the university of Texas, AEPi and sports journalism were his two passions. “I can’t tell you how indebted I really was to AEPi and how much I loved AEPi when I was in college. I lived in the house my whole time there except for my first semester as a freshman. I even lived in the Pi house in the summer when no one was there. I still have a lot of friends that I made in AEPi during my time there.”
Bob and Brother Brad Sham (Missouri, 1970), who is the radio play-by-play voice of the Dallas Cowboys, have run in similar circles for years. “Brad and I were on a panel together last year with Chuck Cooper, the voice of the Dallas Mavericks on radio, and it was nice that all three of us are Jewish and in this profession.”
Bob’s work has earned him 10 Sports Emmy Awards for producing and or directing local, regional, and national network sports television since the early 1980s, and during that time he has covered Major League Baseball; NBA, WNBA and college basketball; college football; NCAA Championship events; World Cup Soccer, the Cotton Bowl Classic for four decades; and three summer Olympic Games. He’s produced and or directed for ESPN, CBS, ABC, NBC, Fox Sports networks, Bally Sports, the NBA and more. In addition to his Emmy Awards and additional five nominations, he’s received a national Cable Ace Award nomination for Outstanding Programming Achievement, five Telly Awards, and more. He’s produced five highly successful and critically acclaimed baseball pitching instructional videos – including Nolan Ryan’s Fastball with Randy Johnson.
His professional accomplishments started at the University of Texas. “I was writing my freshman year for the Daily Texan, the University of Texas’ newspaper. This was before I even started classes, in August. The first headline I wrote said, ‘Freshman Campbel (running back legend Earl Campbell) shines in first scrimmage.’ No one even knew who he was! That was my first published article. I actually got the University of Texas to give me permission to reprint that article in my book. That article led to more stuff, and I ended up becoming an associate sports editor and columnist!”
In one of his early columns, he questioned why college baseball wasn’t broadcast. “I contacted all of the networks and producers with the column and Don Bernstein, who was the media relations director for ABC sports and, specifically, college football, contacted me. He asked me to go to a college football game in Baylor – like an hour and a half away – and work as a runner, sort of a ‘gopher.’ I called the people that Don told me to call, and I guess they liked the work I did, and they kept calling me. They would call me at the AEPi house where we had a house phone and guys would answer and yell for me that I had a phone call and it would be Curt Gowdy and the guys are screaming across the house, “Curt Gowdy from ABC is on the phone! That’s how I was able to use the AEPi house to my advantage! Someone always answered the phone!”
“I hope the book provides inspiration for AEPI brothers and their families who want to get ahead in their professions, enjoy sports and perhaps want to pursue a career in sports television. It’s (the book) basically a blueprint for success.”
#ProudtobeaPi
(For more information about Brother Steinfeld and to learn about his upcoming appearances, please visit www.robertsteinfeld.com. Look for some possible upcoming appearances by Bob at some AEPi events also!)