Anthony Cris Collinsworth, famously known as Cris Collinsworth, is an American sports broadcaster and former American football player.
Collinsworth played professional football for the Cincinnati Bengals in the National Football League for eight seasons from 1981 to 1988.
The sports broadcaster was a wide receiver for the team. However, the former player’s history with the sport runs deeper.
Collinsworth was an All-American quarterback during his high school years. Then, in college, the future wide receiver played at the University of Florida, where he was again recognized as an All-American.
An All-American is a term used for an outstanding player by both the media and relevant commentators.
Throughout his football career, Collinsworth won many accolades. They are:
- Three times Second-team All-Pro (1981-1983)
- Three times Pro Bowl (1981-1983)
- PFWA All-Rookie Team (1981)
- First-team All-American (1980)
- Three times First-team All-SEC (1978-1980)
- University of Flordia Athletic Hall of Fame
After his retirement, Collinsworth began his broadcasting career, first as a sports radio talk show host on the Cincinnati station WLW.
The player had started as a guest host for Bob Trumpy, but his charisma won everyone over, and he took over the show full-time after Trumpy accepted more television assignments.
Currently, Collinsworth is a television sportscaster for NBC, Showtime, and the NFL Network. He has won 17 Sports Emmy Awards.
Here Are Some Facts Stats About Cris Collinsworth
| 63 |
| $25 Million |
| Sportscaster, Retired Athlete |
| American |
| Holly Bankemper Collinsworth |
| 4 |
| January 27, 1959 |
| Dayton, Ohio |
| 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) |
| 192 lb (87 kg) |
| University of Florida |
| Cincinnati Bengals |
| 1981 – Present |
What Happened To Cris Collinsworth -Sick/Ill?
The news of Cris Collinsworth’s illness has been greatly exaggerated, and the 63-year-old sportscaster is perfectly healthy.
As one of the most beloved sportscasters of our time, Collinsworth has kept trucking along without any problems from 1988 onwards.
After getting his own sports radio talk show, Collinsworth also became a reporter for HBO’s Inside the NFL in 1989. The same HBO would become Showtime later on.
Collinsworth’s career would continue on its upward trajectory in 1990 when he became part of the NBC network’s NFL broadcasts and some of their college programming.
The sportscaster stayed there for six years until he joined the NBC pregame show in 1996.
A highlight of Collinsworth’s early career was when he appeared on HBO broadcasting in 1995 at Wimbledon with such sports luminaries as Billie Jean King, Barry MacKay, and Martina Navratilova.
Collinsworth’s career reached its peak, and it has plateaued at that peak since then when he joined the NFL on Fox team after NBC lost its broadcasting rights to CBS in 1998.
Collinsworth served as a color commentator on the Fox NFL Sunday pregame show for many years until, in 2002, he was assigned to the network’s lead game broadcasting crew alongside Joe Buck and Troy Aikman.
Where Is Cris Collinsworth Now?
Cris Collinsworth’s career is still going strong in his fourth decade being a sportscaster.
Some might say Collinsworth is still at his peak and has been since 2006, when the sportscaster could be seen on three networks during football season.
During this time, Collinsworth hosted Inside the NFL on HBO, returned to NBC as a studio analyst for Sunday night NFL coverage, and did color commentary on the NFL Network.
Another highlight from this era was when Collinsworth appeared alongside Bob Costas as a commentator on various occasions during the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing.
The two were so popular as a team that they paired again during the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, Canada.
Collinsworth’s cultural capital increased greatly in the late 2000s and early 2010s for a new generation when the sportscaster became the color commentator for the hugely popular Madden NFL games of 2009 and 2010 with Tom Hammond and 2011 and 2012 with Gus Johnson.
However, Collinsworth’s career is not without controversy, as he suffered backlash during Super Bowl LII due to what many thought biased commentary favoring the New England Patriots.
Though fans were less than pleased at his commentary, many of his co-workers defended him.
Read more about Cris Collinsworth here: Is Cris Collinsworth Retiring? NBC Broadcaster New Contract States Otherwise- Meet His Wife And Family On Instagram
Cris Collinsworth’s Wife -Holly Bankemper Collinsworth
Cris Collinsworth is married to Holly Bankemper Collinsworth and lives with her in Fort Thomas, Kentucky.
Bankemper is an attorney. Collinsworth and his wife have four children together.
Their son, Austin Collinsworth, is a former football player who was the team captain at the University of Notre Dame.
Their other son, Jac Collinsworth, first followed in his brother’s footsteps and tried to become a football player, but an injury led to him switching careers.
His injury made Jac look toward sportscasting, like his father, and soon he began following in his father’s footsteps when he became a features reporter for ESPN’s Sunday NFL Countdown.
Young Collinsworth has now joined his father at NBC and works as the on-site host for Football Night in America. Unlike his father, Jac not only covers football but NASCAR as well.