Those Guys Have All the Fun - James Andrew Miller [230]
It was hardly a shock, then, that no outsider was seriously considered. David Zucker, ESPN’s key man overseas, had expressed interest, while many ESPNers assumed that Howard Katz, Steve Bornstein’s number-two man in Bristol, would be the chosen one, particularly given his vast background in production. But there was another candidate, a quieter one, if you will, whose name didn’t spring to a lot of minds in terms of programming or production but who nevertheless had qualities that made him ideal.
George W. Bodenheimer had spent many of his ESPN years on the road, hammering out agreements with tough-minded cable operators, and he knew the business side of the ESPN equation as well as anyone. His knowledge and expertise proved critical to such major developments as the launch of ESPN2 and the veritably monumental football negotiations of 1998. In addition, much to his credit and despite all those years of travel, Bodenheimer was well known to many at the company. Beginning with his mail-room days, he had forged strong relationships with coworkers and was resolute about maintaining them. He also made sure to stay current on what was happening all over campus, demonstrating a knack for keeping in the know and keeping his name alive.
One more factor in Bodenheimer’s favor: Bornstein loved springing surprises.
STEVE BORNSTEIN:
Picking George as my successor was my call. I could have picked any number of people. I don’t think anybody would have really questioned me on any of them. I gave serious consideration to Howard Katz. He was really the only other executive that I thought was able to do the job, but I thought George had the bigger balls. That obviously impacted my relationship with Howard.
HERB GRANATH:
When Bornstein was going west, Tom Murphy said to me, “Who are you going to replace him with?” and I said, “George Bodenheimer, he’s the executive vice president,” and he said, “Who?” I said, “Tom, you’ve met him a number of times. He’s just a quiet guy. He’s the kind of guy I want to work with; if I give him a job, I won’t have to worry, because I know it will be done.” I felt George had a great deal of heart, and he was accepted by the crew because he started at the very bottom and came up through the ranks. He never threw his weight around, just quietly went around and got things done.
GEORGE BODENHEIMER:
When I became executive vice president of Sales and Marketing in 1996, it was the first time I thought, “Gee, maybe I could become president of the company.” I had a good understanding of our content, having been at the company from the beginning, and I had a lot of contacts on the programming and production side. We had done SportsCentury, and I was heavily involved because we were selling it. Steve and I had established a great relationship both professionally and personally over the years. It wasn’t like there was a big meeting where he said something like, “Gee, I think you have potential,” and I said something like, “Gee, I think I can fulfill the job.” I don’t recall any of those big “here’s what could be” discussions. It just felt kind of natural at the time.
ROSA GATTI:
We had a management meeting at a restaurant in Greenwich, and during the cocktail reception, Steve called me over and said, “I want you to get a press release ready that will say George Bodenheimer is going to become the next president.” Well, I was stunned. At that point, George’s name was not bandied about.
When each person became president, I would sit and talk with them about their philosophy of public relations and how they wanted to handle the announcement. I had learned to be proactive, not to assume anything, so while preparing George’s release, I said, “It would be really refreshing to put in the press release that you started in the mail room.” And he thought about it, and maybe the next day we went with it. And that was the headline: “From Mail Room to President.”
I became concerned those first months because here’s a fellow that grew up in the company but was not