Geoffrey Mason, a longtime sports television production executive and member of the Sports Broadcasting Hall of Fame, died Sunday at the age of 85.
Mason’s career spanned five decades across ABC Sports, ESPN, NBC, Fox, the NFL Network and other networks, helping shape the coverage of sports on television. He won 24 Emmy Awards and was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2010.
«Geoff Mason was a friend and a colleague who had a storied career, touching just about every corner of the sports television industry,» said Bob Iger, CEO of The Walt Disney Company, which owns ABC and ESPN. «He had a passion for the business, which was evidenced in his prodigious work ethic and the constant love and enthusiasm he exhibited on everything he worked on.
«He most certainly will be missed.»
Mason was the coordinating producer for ABC’s coverage of the terrorist attack at the 1972 Olympics in Munich, among his eight Olympic assignments. Over the course of his career, he also was part of coverage for the Super Bowl, the World Series, the World Cup, «Monday Night Football,» golf and tennis majors, the Tour de France, the Indianapolis 500, horse racing’s Triple Crown and sailing’s America’s Cup.
A graduate of Duke University and veteran of the U.S. Navy, Mason began his sports television career as a production associate at ABC Sports in 1967.
Mason was a longtime board member of the V Foundation for Cancer Research after being selected by Jim Valvano as a founding board member and was also a board member of the Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation.
He is survived by his wife, Chris; son, Geoff Jr.; and brother, David.
