ESPN founder, 'father of sports television,' Bill Rasmussen dead at 93

ESPN founder Bill Rasmussen died Tuesday, Aug. 18, at the age of 93 from complications of Parkinson’s disease, the network announced.

Rasmussen founded the network, along with his son Scott, that would become known as the “Worldwide Leader in Sports” in 1979 as a cable channel based in the middle of Connecticut – the Entertainment and Sports Programming Network, which would become known as ESPN.

In 1994, USA TODAY called Rasmussen the “Father of sports television.”

“Bill was a remarkable man – a visionary and an innovator who conceived the idea of a network entirely devoted to sports,” ESPN chairman Jimmy Pitaro said in a statement. “Quite simply, none of us would be here today if it wasn’t for Bill’s passion and all the hard work and entrepreneurial spirit he put into building ESPN in the late 1970s – key aspects of our company culture that still carry on to this day.”

Rasmussen was raised in Illinois and served in the Air Force before entering a sports broadcasting career in Massachusetts in the 1960s. He also worked as an advertising and public relations executive. Rasmussen was inducted into the Sports Broadcasting Hall of Fame in 2025.