Sports Stars of Tomorrow
Encyclopedia
Sports Stars of Tomorrow (abbreviated SST) is a United States nationally-syndicated sports television show about high school and college athletics. The show, which is hosted by legendary broadcaster Pat Summerall
, takes its viewers across the country in search of the brightest young stars in sports. Sports Stars of Tomorrow is the only high-school sports program in national syndication. The cable-only counterpart of SST is called Future Phenoms
.
The show began in 2005 and provides in-depth feature stories about the top prep athletes in the United States
. The goal of the program is to get an “off the field” look at the athletes, so they are frequently shown doing things like playing golf
, strumming guitars, and studying. It is produced by GameDay Productions, a private television production company based in Fort Worth, Texas
. When the show began in the fall of 2005 it reached out to just 20 percent of the country. Currently, it is airing in nearly 90 percent of all homes nationwide and can be seen in markets such as New York City
(WABC-TV
), Los Angeles
(KCBS-TV
), Chicago
(WFLD
), and Dallas-Fort Worth (KTXA
).
Sports Stars of Tomorrow partners with the website Prep Ticket
, featuring clips of the show in the national section of the site.
Nine of the top 15 picks in the 2008 NBA Draft
were previously featured on the program. Other prominent athletes that have been featured on the show are: Greg Oden
, Tim Tebow
, Chris Wells
, Kevin Durant
, Derrick Rose
, Michael Beasley
, and Matt Barkley
.
One of the most memorable pieces the show has covered was the Terrelle Pryor
story in 2007. The two-sport superstar and top rated football recruit from Jeannette, Pennsylvania
played for Ohio State.
until 1994, when Summerall joined Fox
as the network's lead play-by-play voice for NFL football
. In 1999, Summerall was
inducted into the American Sportscasters Association Hall of Fame. He has also been given the Pro Football Hall of Fame
's Pete Rozelle
Radio-Television Award as well as the Lifetime Achievement Award for Sports from the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences
.
Jerome Butler has been the producer of Sports Stars of Tomorrow since it began in 2005. After working for ESPN
, ABC Sports and NBC
, he would find a home producing television shows for GameDay Productions. He has produced over 350 unique television programs during his time at GameDay, covering Olympic sports
to NASCAR
, and high school to the professional athletes.
Mike Rigg - Before joining the show, Rigg spent eight years as an anchor and producer for various television affiliates. He came directly from KOCO in Oklahoma City
, where he served as a sports anchor and reporter, and also won an Associated Press
award for producing Oklahoma
's top sports segment in 2006. Rigg began his television career in 1999 at 6News in Lawrence, Kansas
. He has also worked at WIFR
in Rockford, Illinois
., and KGWN in Cheyenne, Wyoming
. While in Wyoming, Rigg was named the state's top sports anchor by the Wyoming Association of Broadcasters. Conor Marron is a loon
Pat Summerall
George Allen "Pat" Summerall is a former American football player and television sportscaster, having worked at CBS, Fox, and ESPN.Summerall is best known for his work with John Madden on NFL telecasts for CBS and Fox.-High school:...
, takes its viewers across the country in search of the brightest young stars in sports. Sports Stars of Tomorrow is the only high-school sports program in national syndication. The cable-only counterpart of SST is called Future Phenoms
Future Phenoms
Future Phenoms is a nationally-syndicated sports television show about high school athletics. The show, which is hosted by legendary broadcaster Pat Summerall, takes its viewers across the country in search of the brightest young stars in sports...
.
The show began in 2005 and provides in-depth feature stories about the top prep athletes in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. The goal of the program is to get an “off the field” look at the athletes, so they are frequently shown doing things like playing golf
Golf
Golf is a precision club and ball sport, in which competing players use many types of clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a golf course using the fewest number of strokes....
, strumming guitars, and studying. It is produced by GameDay Productions, a private television production company based in Fort Worth, Texas
Fort Worth, Texas
Fort Worth is the 16th-largest city in the United States of America and the fifth-largest city in the state of Texas. Located in North Central Texas, just southeast of the Texas Panhandle, the city is a cultural gateway into the American West and covers nearly in Tarrant, Parker, Denton, and...
. When the show began in the fall of 2005 it reached out to just 20 percent of the country. Currently, it is airing in nearly 90 percent of all homes nationwide and can be seen in markets such as New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
(WABC-TV
WABC-TV
WABC-TV, channel 7, is the flagship station of the Disney-owned American Broadcasting Company located in New York City. The station's studios and offices are located on the Upper West Side section of Manhattan, adjacent to ABC's corporate headquarters, and its transmitter is atop the Empire State...
), Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
(KCBS-TV
KCBS-TV
KCBS-TV, channel 2, is an owned-and-operated television station of the CBS Television Network, located in Los Angeles, California. KCBS-TV shares its offices and studio facilities with sister station KCAL-TV inside CBS Studio Center in the Studio City section of Los Angeles, and its transmitter...
), Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
(WFLD
WFLD
WFLD, virtual channel 32 , is the Fox owned-and-operated television station, based in Chicago, Illinois; through its parent company News Corporation, the station is owned in a duopoly with area MyNetworkTV affiliate WPWR-TV...
), and Dallas-Fort Worth (KTXA
KTXA
KTXA, virtual channel 21 , is an independent television station based in Fort Worth, Texas, and serving the Dallas/Fort Worth designated market area. With its transmitter in Cedar Hill, KTXA is owned by CBS Corporation and is the sister station of CBS outlet KTVT .KTXA was originally an...
).
Sports Stars of Tomorrow partners with the website Prep Ticket
Prep Ticket
Prep Ticket is a website that offers professionally produced video, photos, and news of high school and college athletics from across the United States. Prep Ticket is also a video and photo sharing website where users can upload, view and share content...
, featuring clips of the show in the national section of the site.
Stories covered
SST looks to answer these types of viewer's questions:- Who will be the young superstar leading his team to an NBA title in five years?
- Which young quarterbackQuarterbackQuarterback is a position in American and Canadian football. Quarterbacks are members of the offensive team and line up directly behind the offensive line...
will be the Super BowlSuper BowlThe Super Bowl is the championship game of the National Football League , the highest level of professional American football in the United States, culminating a season that begins in the late summer of the previous calendar year. The Super Bowl uses Roman numerals to identify each game, rather...
MVP in 2016? - What names should we look for in the next generation of superstar athletes?
Nine of the top 15 picks in the 2008 NBA Draft
2008 NBA Draft
The 2008 NBA Draft was held on June 26, 2008 at the Washington Mutual Theatre at Madison Square Garden in New York City, New York. In this draft, National Basketball Association teams took turns selecting amateur college basketball players and other first-time eligible players, including...
were previously featured on the program. Other prominent athletes that have been featured on the show are: Greg Oden
Greg Oden
Gregory Wayne Oden, Jr. is an American basketball player at the center position. Oden is a member of the Portland Trail Blazers of the NBA....
, Tim Tebow
Tim Tebow
Timothy Richard "Tim" Tebow is an American football player who is currently the starting quarterback for the Denver Broncos of the National Football League . He was drafted by the Broncos as the 25th overall pick in the 2010 NFL Draft...
, Chris Wells
Chris Wells (American football)
Chris "Beanie" Michael Wells is an American football running back for the Arizona Cardinals of the National Football League...
, Kevin Durant
Kevin Durant
Kevin Wayne Durant is an American professional basketball player for the Oklahoma City Thunder of the National Basketball Association . A 6'9" small forward/shooting guard who is also capable of playing power forward, Durant was the consensus 2007 National College Player of the Year and the...
, Derrick Rose
Derrick Rose
Derrick Martell Rose is an American professional basketball player for the Chicago Bulls of the National Basketball Association ....
, Michael Beasley
Michael Beasley
Michael Paul Beasley, Jr. is an American professional basketball player for the Minnesota Timberwolves of the National Basketball Association . He plays both forward positions, and shoots his jump shot left-handed, though he is also ambidextrous...
, and Matt Barkley
Matt Barkley
Matt Barkley is an American football quarterback and student athlete at the University of Southern California, playing for the Trojans football team. As a high school player, Barkley was named 2007 football Gatorade National Player of the Year, and then the 2007 Gatorade national male athlete of...
.
One of the most memorable pieces the show has covered was the Terrelle Pryor
Terrelle Pryor
Terrelle Pryor is an American football quarterback for the Oakland Raiders of the National Football League. He was the starting quarterback for the Ohio State Buckeyes from 2008−2010...
story in 2007. The two-sport superstar and top rated football recruit from Jeannette, Pennsylvania
Jeannette, Pennsylvania
Jeannette is a city in Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 10,788 at the 2000 census.-Geography:Jeannette is located at ....
played for Ohio State.
Producers and reporters
Pat Summerall began his broadcasting career in 1962 after playing ten seasons in the NFL. He worked for CBSCBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...
until 1994, when Summerall joined Fox
Fox Broadcasting Company
Fox Broadcasting Company, commonly referred to as Fox Network or simply Fox , is an American commercial broadcasting television network owned by Fox Entertainment Group, part of Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation. Launched on October 9, 1986, Fox was the highest-rated broadcast network in the...
as the network's lead play-by-play voice for NFL football
American football
American football is a sport played between two teams of eleven with the objective of scoring points by advancing the ball into the opposing team's end zone. Known in the United States simply as football, it may also be referred to informally as gridiron football. The ball can be advanced by...
. In 1999, Summerall was
inducted into the American Sportscasters Association Hall of Fame. He has also been given the Pro Football Hall of Fame
Pro Football Hall of Fame
The Pro Football Hall of Fame is the hall of fame of professional football in the United States with an emphasis on the National Football League . It opened in Canton, Ohio, on September 7, 1963, with 17 charter inductees...
's Pete Rozelle
Pete Rozelle
Alvin Ray "Pete" Rozelle was the commissioner of the National Football League from January 1960 to November 1989, when he retired from office. Rozelle is credited with making the NFL into one of the most successful sports leagues in the world....
Radio-Television Award as well as the Lifetime Achievement Award for Sports from the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences
National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences
The National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences or NATAS was created in 1955 to advance the arts and sciences of television. Headquartered in New York, NATAS's membership is national and the organization has local chapters around the country....
.
Jerome Butler has been the producer of Sports Stars of Tomorrow since it began in 2005. After working for ESPN
ESPN
Entertainment and Sports Programming Network, commonly known as ESPN, is an American global cable television network focusing on sports-related programming including live and pre-taped event telecasts, sports talk shows, and other original programming....
, ABC Sports and NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
, he would find a home producing television shows for GameDay Productions. He has produced over 350 unique television programs during his time at GameDay, covering Olympic sports
Olympic sports
Olympic sports, as defined by the International Olympic Committee, are all the sports contested in the Summer and Winter Olympic Games. The Summer Olympics, as of 2012, will include 26 sports, with two additionall sports due to be added in 2016...
to NASCAR
NASCAR
The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing is a family-owned and -operated business venture that sanctions and governs multiple auto racing sports events. It was founded by Bill France Sr. in 1947–48. As of 2009, the CEO for the company is Brian France, grandson of the late Bill France Sr...
, and high school to the professional athletes.
Mike Rigg - Before joining the show, Rigg spent eight years as an anchor and producer for various television affiliates. He came directly from KOCO in Oklahoma City
Oklahoma city
Oklahoma City is the capital and largest city of the U.S. state of Oklahoma.Oklahoma City may also refer to:*Oklahoma City metropolitan area*Downtown Oklahoma City*Uptown Oklahoma City*Oklahoma City bombing*Oklahoma City National Memorial...
, where he served as a sports anchor and reporter, and also won an Associated Press
Associated Press
The Associated Press is an American news agency. The AP is a cooperative owned by its contributing newspapers, radio and television stations in the United States, which both contribute stories to the AP and use material written by its staff journalists...
award for producing Oklahoma
Oklahoma
Oklahoma is a state located in the South Central region of the United States of America. With an estimated 3,751,351 residents as of the 2010 census and a land area of 68,667 square miles , Oklahoma is the 28th most populous and 20th-largest state...
's top sports segment in 2006. Rigg began his television career in 1999 at 6News in Lawrence, Kansas
Lawrence, Kansas
Lawrence is the sixth largest city in the U.S. State of Kansas and the county seat of Douglas County. Located in northeastern Kansas, Lawrence is the anchor city of the Lawrence, Kansas, Metropolitan Statistical Area, which encompasses all of Douglas County...
. He has also worked at WIFR
WIFR
WIFR, virtual channel 23, is the CBS television affiliate based in Rockford, Illinois and licensed to nearby Freeport. It broadcasts its digital signal on UHF channel 41, though it formerly broadcast its analog signal on channel 23, which it continues to use as its virtual digital channel via PSIP....
in Rockford, Illinois
Rockford, Illinois
Rockford is a mid-sized city located on both banks of the Rock River in far northern Illinois. Often referred to as "The Forest City", Rockford is the county seat of Winnebago County, Illinois, USA. As reported in the 2010 U.S. census, the city was home to 152,871 people, the third most populated...
., and KGWN in Cheyenne, Wyoming
Cheyenne, Wyoming
Cheyenne is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Wyoming and the county seat of Laramie County. It is the principal city of the Cheyenne, Wyoming, Metropolitan Statistical Area which encompasses all of Laramie County. The population is 59,466 at the 2010 census. Cheyenne is the...
. While in Wyoming, Rigg was named the state's top sports anchor by the Wyoming Association of Broadcasters. Conor Marron is a loon