Terry Gannon was born in Joliet, Illinois, where his father coached basketball at Joliet Catholic High School. He attended Joliet Catholic before earning a basketball scholarship to North Carolina State University. In 1983, he was part of the NC State team that upset heavily favored Houston to win the NCAA title. 

After briefly playing professional basketball in Europe, his college coach, Valvano, encouraged him to pursue broadcasting. He began calling regional college basketball games before joining ABC in 1991 to cover college basketball. For over two decades at ABC and ESPN, he covered several events — the FIFA World Cup, Indianapolis 500, Belmont Stakes, Tour de France, Little League World Series, and the Tournament of Roses Parade. He joined Golf Channel in 2010 and quickly became one of NBC Sports’ most recognized voices.

Today, Gannon calls golf for the PGA Tour and LPGA Tour, gymnastics and figure skating at the Olympics, and Big Ten and NBA basketball on NBC and Peacock. He co-hosted the 2026 Milan Cortina Winter Olympics Opening Ceremony alongside Mary Carillo and Shaun White. He won a Sports Emmy as part of NBC’s 2024 Paris Olympics team and has covered eight Olympic Games overall.