Bill Rasmussen died Tuesday August 18 at his home in Land O' Lakes, Florida at the age of 93 from the effects of Parkinson's disease, a diagnosis he had revealed publicly in 2019 after living with it since 2014.
He co-founded ESPN with his son Scott in 1979 and changed sports television permanently.
The story of how ESPN happened is a great American entrepreneurial story. In the late 1970s Rasmussen was fired as communications director of the New England Whalers of the World Hockey Association.
Broke, out of work and out of options, he had an idea: a 24-hour cable channel devoted entirely to sports. Nobody thought it would work.
He maxed out his personal credit card and used a $9,000 advance to acquire satellite transponder time from RCA. He went door to door to sports leagues, cable operators and potential investors. On September 7, 1979, ESPN launched. He was its first CEO.
ESPN now employs more than 5,900 people, programs eight television networks, and is home to Monday Night Football, the NCAA Tournament, the NBA and more than 47 years of SportsCenter.
"Bill was our George Washington and a good friend," said Chris Berman, who joined ESPN three weeks after launch.
"I believe the harder you work, the luckier you are," Rasmussen told Forbes in 2012. He is survived by two sons, a daughter, seven grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.