James Brown grew up in Washington, D.C., and attended DeMatha Catholic High School, where he starred on a nationally ranked basketball team under coach Morgan Wootten. He went on to play basketball at Harvard University, earning All-Ivy League honors in his final three seasons and serving as team captain his senior year. After his degree in American government, Brown was picked in the NBA draft by the Atlanta Hawks but didn’t make the roster.

Brown then spent several years in corporate sales at companies including Xerox and Eastman Kodak before broadcasting called. He got his start doing Washington Bullets NBA broadcasts in the early 1980s, later anchoring locally in Washington before joining CBS Sports in 1984 as a play-by-play announcer for NFL and college basketball coverage.

In 1994, Brown left to host Fox’s new NFL pregame show, Fox NFL Sunday, building it into a ratings powerhouse over eleven years. He returned to CBS in 2006 to host The NFL Today, a role he still holds. Brown has also hosted “Inside the NFL” on Showtime and serves as a special correspondent for CBS News.