Your Host, Tom James

Tom James is a 2-time Edward R. Murrow award-winning sportscaster. He is currently a TV Play-by-Play and Studio Host for the ESPN Family of Networks, ESPN Wide World of Sports, CBS Sports Network, Celebrity Sweat, FGCU, & the ASUN Conference. Tom specializes in a variety of sports, including college basketball and football, beach volleyball, volleyball, tennis, soccer, baseball, and softball.

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Tom has covered the NFL (Superbowl/ Playoffs, Redskins, Bucs, & Dolphins beats), SEC and ACC sports (multiple bowl games, UVA, Gators, Seminoles, and Hurricanes beats), MLB, NBA, NASCAR, hockey, golf, and tennis. Tom created and launched “The Dream 18,” a weekly series featuring the most challenging golf holes in Southwest Florida and he conceived and introduced “Tom’s Top Performer” to Southwest Florida, featuring a high school scholar/athlete of the week.

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Tom got his start in his hometown of Ocala, Florida as a 17-year-old part-time Sportswriter and Golf Columnist at the Ocala Star-Banner and Morning Sports Anchor in local radio. He is a graduate of the University of Central Florida in Orlando with a degree in Radio/Television Communications. During his college years, Tom did Play-by-Play for UCF football, basketball, and baseball, was a DJ for WUCF radio, writer for the student newspaper, and along with a few friends, helped launch UCF’s first ever completely independent student-run TV magazine, “UCF Up Close.” Post-graduation, he worked as an Associate Producer at Orlando NBC affiliate WESH, before landing his first on-air TV sports gig.

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Regular gigs include:

• College Basketball: Play-by-Play for numerous games throughout each season on ESPN (FGCU/ASUN Conference), CBS Sports Network (the Sunshine Slam), multiple holiday tournaments, conference championships, and the College Basketball Invitational.

• ESPN Wide World of Sports (ESPN2, ESPNU, ESPNNews, ESPN+): Studio Host/Play-by-Play for the NBPA Top 100 Camp, the Warrior Games, and numerous other events annually.

• Celebrity Sweat (ESPN, Bally Sports, Bleacher Report): Play-by-Play for the annual Celebrity Flag Football Challenge on Superbowl Weekend and the annual Celebrity Basketball Jam on Final Four Weekend. Narrator for the Celebrity Golf Classics year-round.

• Florida Gulf Coast University (FGCU) TV Play-by-Play & Show Host: From 2010-present, Tom has done home TV Play-by-Play (ESPN+ since 2014) and road radio broadcasts for Florida Gulf Coast University (FGCU) in Dunk City. He has called hundreds of Men’s and Women’s basketball games, including Conference Championship games, NCAA Tournament & NIT games, broadcasts at Duke, Indiana, and TCU, and ESPN’s annual Midnight Madness specials. During FGCU’s magical March Madness run of 2013, Tom traveled with the team to the Sweet 16 in Dallas. He subsequently hosted the Chris Nealon-produced TV documentary “Dunk City: We Are FGCU” chronicling the Cinderella run & its subsequent follow up “The Dunk City Effect” which he also co-produced. Tom was host and co-producer (again with Nealon) and was responsible for the original concept of the FGCU Women’s Basketball documentary, “Raining 3s” in 2015. To date, this trilogy of docs has over 60,000 views on YouTube.

• From 2010-2012, Tom hosted FGCU’s first-ever Men’s and Women’s Basketball Coaches Shows, and the school’s first-ever weekly 30-minute TV magazine, the “FGCU Sports Report,” covering all of FGCU’s Men’s & Women’s sports.

• Along with broadcasting, Tom annually emcees the FGCU Athletics Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony and other banquets.