Berg welcomes alum, ESPN anchor
Heidelberg alumnus and ESPN anchor John Buccigross is someone who’s always done things his own way. Last weekend, though, he felt right at home, returning to his Heidelberg roots for a series of events to kick off the fall athletic season.
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Heidelberg brought John to campus to help unveil the new Student Prince mascot at a Meet the Teams rally Friday night. Before he emceed that raucous production, he spent two hours talking with students about his career at ESPN, how he landed his “dream job,” and offering advice on such topics as interviewing and securing that first job. A fixture around Founders Hall and the WHEI radio and TV studios during his student days, John’s professor, Gary Dickerson, remembered the future anchor “always had a camera with him. He was always shooting video on his own.”
His professor saw something special that John didn’t see in himself. A basketball career that didn’t pan out almost led him to transfer from Heidelberg. But his broadcast professor “looked me in the eye and told me he was disappointed I was going to leave.”
“He was the only person who really cared whether I stayed or not, who thought I could be something.” And so, he stayed at Heidelberg.
Several years into his career that began at a Cape Cod network where he worked for “poverty wages,” John took a chance and sent an audition tape to ESPN. “Back then, ESPN was like Major League Baseball or the NBA. It was the big leagues,” he told the students. “I didn’t have a lot of confidence I’d ever get there. I sent my tape and let it go. It just seemed too big to me.”
Weeks later, John got a call for an interview. “When I left that building, I knew I had the job,” he said. He’s been at ESPN for 12 years, and still has the same enthusiasm and passion for his work as he did at Heidelberg.
The key to his success has been making connections with people, maintaining a voracious appetite for reading, and a love of the English language and pop culture. And, having a liberal arts background didn’t hurt!
In addition to his anchor duties, John writes a popular weekly hockey column for ESPN.com, and authored his first book last year on the life of NHL player and now analyst Keith Jones. “It’s funny … I’m doing the same things now that I was when I was here,” he said.
At Saturday’s home football opener, John anchored an on-field recognition of the Fellows Organization, Heidelberg’s official giving club. He also spoke to the Fellows at their annual dinner that evening.
Posted on Sept. 9, 2008