Coordinates	24°6′″N97°12′″N
Union
Nickname	Gridiron
First	November 6, 1869, Rutgers vs. Princeton
Contact	Full contact
Team	11 at a time
Category	Outdoor
Ball	Football
Olympic	No }}

American football is a sport played between two teams of eleven with the objective of scoring points by advancing the ball into the opposing team's end zone. Known in the United States as football, it may also be referred to informally as gridiron. The ball can be advanced by running with it or throwing it to a teammate. Points can be scored by carrying the ball over the opponent's goal line, catching a pass thrown over that goal line, kicking the ball through the opponent's goal posts or tackling an opposing ball carrier in his own end zone.

In the United States, the major forms are high school football, college football and professional football. Each of these three are played under slightly different rules. High school football is governed by the National Federation of State High School Associations, while college football by the National Collegiate Athletic Association and National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics. The major league for professional football is the National Football League (NFL). Other minor professional leagues also exist in the U.S., and may also have slightly different rules from those of the NFL.

The sport is also played in Europe, Japan, Mexico, and several other countries. The International Federation of American Football acts as an international governing body for the sport, but the organization has little standing in the United States.

American football is closely related to Canadian football but with some differences in rules and the field. Both sports can be traced to early versions of association football and rugby football.

History

The history of American football can be traced to early versions of rugby football and association football. Both games have their origins in varieties of football played in the United Kingdom in the mid-19th century, in which a ball is kicked at a goal and/or run over a line. Many games known as "football" were being played at colleges and universities in the United States in the first half of the 19th century.

American football resulted from several major divergences from rugby football, most notably the rule changes instituted by Walter Camp, considered the "Father of American Football". Among these important changes were the introduction of the line of scrimmage and of down-and-distance rules. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, game play developments by college coaches such as Eddie Cochems, Amos Alonzo Stagg, Knute Rockne, and Glenn "Pop" Warner helped take advantage of the newly introduced forward pass.

The popularity of collegiate football grew as it became the dominant version of the sport for the first half of the twentieth century. Bowl games, a college football tradition, attracted a national audience for collegiate teams. Bolstered by fierce rivalries, college football still holds widespread appeal in the US.

The origin of professional football can be traced back to 1892, with William "Pudge" Heffelfinger's $500 contract to play in a game for the Allegheny Athletic Association against the Pittsburgh Athletic Club. The first Professional "league" was the Ohio League, formed in 1903, and the first Professional Football championship game was between the Buffalo Prospects and the Canton Bulldogs in 1919. In 1920, the American Professional Football Association was formed. The first game was played in Dayton, Ohio on October 3, 1920 with the host Triangles defeating the Columbus Panhandles 14–0. The league changed its name to the National Football League (NFL) two years later, and eventually became the major league of American football. Initially a sport of Midwestern industrial towns in the United States, professional football eventually became a national phenomenon. Football's increasing popularity is usually traced to the 1958 NFL Championship Game, a contest that has been dubbed the "Greatest Game Ever Played". A rival league to the NFL, the American Football League (AFL), began play in 1960; the pressure it put on the senior league led to a merger between the two leagues and the creation of the Super Bowl, which has become the most watched television event in the United States on an annual basis.

Rules

Field and players

American football is played on a field . The longer boundary lines are ''sidelines'', while the shorter boundary lines are ''end lines''. Sidelines and end lines are out of bounds. Near each end of the field is a ''goal line''; they are apart. A scoring area called an ''end zone'' extends beyond each goal line to each end line. The end zone includes the goal line but not the end line. While the playing field is effectively flat, it is common for a field to be built with a slight crown—with the middle of the field higher than the sides—to allow water to drain from the field.

''Yard lines'' cross the field every , and are numbered every 10 yards from each goal line to the 50-yard line, or midfield (similar to a typical rugby league field). Two rows of short lines, known as inbounds lines or ''hash marks'', run at 1-yard (91.4 cm) intervals perpendicular to the sidelines near the middle of the field. All plays start with the ball on or between the hash marks. Because of the arrangement of the lines, the field is occasionally referred to as a ''gridiron'' in a reference to the cooking grill with a similar pattern of lines.

At the back of each end zone are two ''goalposts'' (also called ''uprights'') connected by a crossbar from the ground. For high skill levels, the posts are apart. For lower skill levels, these are widened to .

Each team has 11 players on the field at a time. Usually there are many more players off the field (an NFL team has a limit of 53 players on their roster, all of which can be dressed for a game). However, teams may substitute for any or all of their players during the breaks between plays. As a result, players have very specialized roles and are divided into three separate units: the offense, the defense and the special teams. It is rare for all team members to participate in a given game, as some roles have little utility beyond that of an injury substitute.

Start of halves

Similarly to association football, the game begins with a coin toss to determine which team will kick off to begin the game and which goal each team will defend. Unlike association football though, the options are presented again to start the second half; the choices for the first half do not automatically determine the start of the second half. The referee conducts the coin toss with the captains (or sometimes coaches) of the opposing teams. The team that wins the coin toss has three options: # They may choose whether to kick or receive the opening kickoff. # They may choose which goal to defend. # They may choose to ''defer'' the first choice to the other team and have first choice to start the second half. Whatever the first team chooses, the second team has the option on the other choice (for example, if the first team elects to receive at the start of the game, the second team can decide which goal to defend).

At the start of the second half, the options to kick, receive, or choose a goal to defend are presented to the captains again. The team which did not choose first to start the first half (or which deferred its privilege to choose first) now gets first choice of options.

Game duration

A standard football game consists of four 15-minute quarters (12-minute quarters in high-school football and often shorter at lower levels), with a 12-minute half-time intermission after the second quarter. At all levels, a down (play) that begins before time expires is allowed to continue until its completion, even after the clock reaches zero. The clock is also stopped after certain plays, therefore, a game can last considerably longer (often more than three hours in real time), and if a game is broadcast on television, TV timeouts are taken at certain intervals of the game to broadcast commercials outside of game action. If an NFL game is tied after four quarters, the teams play an additional period lasting up to 15 minutes. In a regular season NFL overtime game, the first team that scores wins, even if the other team does not get a possession; this is referred to as sudden death. However, in a post-season NFL game during the playoffs, if the first team with possession scores only a field goal, the other team is allowed the opportunity to match or better this score. This rule only affects playoff games in overtime in which the first team with possession scores a field goal: if the first team with possession scores a touchdown, the sudden death rules take effect. In a regular-season NFL game, if neither team scores in overtime, the game is a tie. In an NFL playoff game, additional overtime periods are played, as needed, to determine a winner. College overtime rules are more complicated.

Advancing the ball

Advancing the ball in American football resembles the ''six-tackle rule'' and the ''play-the-ball'' in rugby league. The team that takes possession of the ball (the offense) has four attempts, called downs, in which to advance the ball at least toward their opponent's (the defense's) end zone. When the offense succeeds in gaining at least 10 yards, it gets a first down, meaning the team starts a new set of four downs to gain yet another 10 yards or to score. If the offense fails to gain a first down (10 yards) after four downs, the other team gets possession of the ball at the point where the fourth down ended, beginning with their first down to advance the ball in the opposite direction.

Except at the beginning of halves and after scores, the ball is always put into play by a snap. Offensive players line up facing defensive players at the line of scrimmage (the position on the field where the play begins). One offensive player, the center, then passes (or "snaps") the ball backwards between his legs to a teammate behind him, usually the quarterback.

Players can then advance the ball in two ways: # By running with the ball, also known as rushing. # By throwing the ball to a teammate, known as a pass or as passing the football. If the pass is thrown down-field, it is known as a forward pass. The forward pass is a key factor distinguishing American and Canadian football from other football sports. The offense can throw the ball forward only once during a down and only from behind the line of scrimmage. However, the ball can be handed-off to another player or thrown, pitched, or tossed sideways or backwards (a lateral pass) at any time.

A down ends, and the ball becomes dead, after any of the following:

The player with the ball is forced to the ground (a tackle) or has his forward progress halted by members of the other team (as determined by an official).

A forward pass flies beyond the dimensions of the field (out of bounds) or touches the ground before it is caught. This is known as an incomplete pass. The ball is returned to the most recent line of scrimmage for the next down.

The ball or the player with the ball goes out of bounds.

A team scores.

Officials blow a whistle to notify players that the down is over.

Before each down, each team chooses a play, or coordinated movements and actions, that the players should follow on a down. Sometimes, downs themselves are referred to as "plays."

Change of possession

The offense maintains possession of the ball unless one of the following things occurs:

The team fails to get a first down— i.e., in four downs they fail to move the ball past a line 10 yards ahead of where they got their last first down. The defensive team takes over the ball at the spot where the 4th-down play ends. A change of possession in this manner is commonly called a turnover on downs.

The offense scores a touchdown or field goal. The team that scored then kicks the ball to the other team in a special play called a kickoff.

The offense punts the ball to the defense. A punt is a kick in which a player drops the ball and kicks it before it hits the ground. Punts are nearly always made on fourth down, when the offensive team does not want to risk giving up the ball to the other team at its current spot on the field (through a failed attempt to make a first down) and feels it is too far from the other team's goal post to attempt a field goal.

A defensive player catches a forward pass. This is called an interception, and the player who makes the interception can run with the ball until he is tackled, forced out of bounds, or scores.

An offensive player drops the ball (a fumble) and a defensive player picks it up. As with interceptions, a player recovering a fumble can run with the ball until tackled, forced out of bounds, or scoring. Passes that are thrown either backwards or parallel with the line of scrimmage (lateral passes) that are not caught do not cause the down to end as incomplete forward passes do; instead the ball is still live as if it had been fumbled. Lost fumbles and interceptions are together known as turnovers.

The offensive team misses a field goal attempt. The defensive team gets the ball at the spot where the previous play began (or, in the NFL, at the spot of the kick). If the unsuccessful kick was attempted from within of the end zone, the other team gets the ball at its own 20 yard line (that is, 20 yards from the end zone). If a field goal is missed or blocked and the ball remains in the field of play, a defensive player may pick up the ball and attempt to advance it.

While in his own end zone, an offensive ball carrier is tackled, forced out of bounds, loses the ball out of bounds, or the offense commits certain fouls in the end zone. This fairly rare occurrence is called a safety.

An offensive ball carrier fumbles the ball forward into the opposing end zone, and then the ball goes out of bounds. This extremely rare occurrence leads to a touchback, with the ball going over to the opposing team at their 20 yard line (Note that touchbacks during non-offensive special teams plays, such as punts and kickoffs, are quite common).

Scoring

A team scores points by the following plays: A touchdown (TD) is worth 6 points. It is scored when a player runs the ball into or catches a pass in his opponent's end zone. A touchdown is analogous to a try in rugby. Unlike rugby, a player does not have to touch the ball to the ground to score; a touchdown is scored any time a player has possession of the ball while any part of the ball is beyond the vertical plane created by the leading edge of the opponent's goal line stripe (the stripe itself is a part of the end zone).

After a touchdown, the scoring team attempts a try (which is also analogous to the conversion in rugby). The ball is placed at the other team's line (the line in the NFL). The team can attempt to kick it through the goalposts (over the crossbar and between the uprights) in the manner of a field goal for 1 point (an extra point or point-after touchdown (PAT)), or run or pass it into the end zone in the manner of a touchdown for 2 points (a two-point conversion). In college football, if the defense intercepts or recovers a fumble during a one or two point conversion attempt and returns it to the opposing end zone, the defensive team is awarded the two points.

A field goal (FG) is worth 3 points, and it is scored by kicking the ball through the goalposts defended by the opposition. Field goals may be place kicked (kicked when the ball is held vertically against the ground by a teammate) or drop kicked (extremely uncommon in the modern game due to the better accuracy of place kicks, with only two successful drop kicks in sixty-plus years in the NFL). A field goal is usually attempted on fourth down instead of a punt when the ball is close enough to the opponent's goalposts, or, when there is little or no time left to otherwise score. A safety, worth 2 points, is scored by the opposing team when the team in possession at the end of a down is responsible for the ball becoming dead behind its own goal line. For instance, a safety is scored by the defense if an offensive player is tackled, goes out of bounds, or fumbles the ball out of bounds in his own end zone. Safeties are relatively rare. Note that, though even more rare, the team initially on offense during a down can score a safety if a player of the original defense gains possession of the ball in front of his own goal line and then carries the ball or fumbles it into his own end zone where it becomes dead. However, if the ball becomes dead behind the goal line of the team in possession and its opponent is responsible for the ball being there (for instance, if the defense intercepts a forward pass in its own end zone and the ball becomes dead before the ball is advanced out of the end zone) it is a touchback: no points are scored and the team last in possession keeps possession with a first down at its own 20 yard line. In amateur football, in the extremely rare instance that a safety is scored on a try, it is worth only 1 point.

Kickoffs and free kicks

Each half begins with a kickoff. Teams also kick off after scoring touchdowns and field goals. The ball is kicked using a kicking tee from the team's own line in the NFL and college football (as of the 2007 season). The other team's kick returner tries to catch the ball and advance it as far as possible. Where he is stopped is the point where the offense will begin its drive, or series of offensive plays. If the kick returner catches the ball in his own end zone, he can either run with the ball, or elect for a touchback by kneeling in the end zone, in which case the receiving team then starts its offensive drive from its own 20 yard line. A touchback also occurs when the kick goes out-of-bounds in the end zone. (Punts and turnovers in the end zone can also result in a touchback). A kickoff that goes out-of-bounds anywhere other than the end zone before being touched by the receiving team is a foul, and the ball will be placed within the hash marks of the yard line where it went out of bounds, or from the kickoff spot, depending on which is more advantageous to the receiving team. Unlike with punts, once a kickoff goes 10 yards and the ball has hit the ground, it can be recovered by the kicking team. A team, especially one who is losing, can try to take advantage of this by attempting an onside kick.

After safeties, the team that gave up the points must free kick the ball to the other team from its own 20 yard line.

Penalties

Fouls (a type of rule violation) are punished with penalties against the offending team. Most penalties result in moving the football towards the offending team's end zone. If the penalty would move the ball more than half the distance towards the offender's end zone, the penalty becomes half the distance to the goal instead of its normal value.

Most penalties result in replaying the down. Some defensive penalties give the offense an automatic first down. Conversely, some offensive penalties result in loss of a down (loss of the right to repeat the down). If a penalty gives the offensive team enough yardage to gain a first down, they get a first down, as usual. The only penalty that results in points is if a team on offense commits a certain fouls, such as holding, in its own end zone, which results in a safety.

If a foul occurs during a down (after the play has begun), the down is allowed to continue and an official throws a yellow penalty flag near the spot of the foul. When the down ends, the team that did not commit the foul has the option of accepting the penalty, or declining the penalty and accepting the result of the down.

Variations

Limited contact

* touch football. A play ends when a defender touches the ball carrier (sometimes with two hands).

* flag football. A play ends when a defender removes a designated token ("flag") worn by the ball carrier.

* Wrap. A play ends when a defender wraps his arms round the ball carrier.

Fewer players

*nine-man football

*eight-man football

*six-man football

Smaller field

: The Arena Football League is a league that plays eight-man football, but also plays indoors and on a much smaller playing surface with rule changes to encourage a much more offensive game.

Catch and Run

: In this game, the children split into two teams and line up at opposite sides of the playing field. One side throws the ball to the other side. If the opposing team catches the ball, that player tries to run to the throwing teams touchdown without being tagged/tackled. If no one catches the ball or if the player is tagged/tackled, then that team has to throw the ball to the opposing team. This repeats until time runs out or the players decide to quit.

Players

Most football players have highly specialized roles. At the college and NFL levels, most play only offense or only defense.

Offense

The offensive line (OL) consists of five players whose job is to protect the passer and clear the way for runners by blocking members of the defense. The lineman in the middle is the center. Outside the center are the guards, and outside them are the tackles. Except for the center, who snaps the ball to one of the backs, offensive linemen generally do not handle the ball.

The quarterback (QB) receives the snap from the center on most plays. He then hands or tosses it to a running back, throws it to a receiver or runs with it himself. The quarterback is the leader of the offense and calls the plays that are signaled to him from the sidelines.

Running backs (RB) line up behind or beside the QB and specialize in running with the ball. They also block, catch passes and, on rare occasions, pass the ball to others or even receive the snap. If a team has two running backs in the game, usually one will be a halfback (HB) (or tailback (TB)), who is more likely to run with the ball, and the other will usually be a fullback (FB), who is more likely to block.

Wide receivers (WR) line up near the sidelines. They specialize in catching passes, though they also block for running plays or downfield after another receiver makes a catch.

Tight ends (TE) line up next to the offensive line. They can either play like wide receivers (catch passes) or like offensive linemen (protect the QB or create spaces for runners). Sometimes an offensive lineman takes the tight end position and is referred to as a tackle eligible.

At least seven players must line up on the line of scrimmage on every offensive play. The other players may line up anywhere behind the line. The exact number of running backs, wide receivers and tight ends may differ on any given play. For example, if the team needs only one yard, it may use three tight ends, two running backs and no wide receivers. On the other hand, if it needs 20 yards, it may replace all of its running backs and tight ends with wide receivers.

Defense

In contrast to members of the offense, the rules of professional football (NFL Rulebook) and American college football (NCAA Rulebook) do not specify starting position, movement, or coverage zones for members of the defensive team, except that they must be in the defensive zone at the start of play. The positions, movements and responsibilities of all defensive players are assigned by the team by selection of certain coverages, or patterns of placement and assignment of responsibilities. The positional roles are customary. These roles have varied over the history of American football. The following are customary defensive positions used in many coverages in modern American football.

The defensive line consists of three to six players who line up immediately across from the offensive line. They try to occupy the offensive linemen in order to free up the linebackers, disrupt the backfield (behind the offensive line) of the offense, and tackle the running back if he has the ball before he can gain yardage or the quarterback before he can throw or pass the ball. They are the first line of defense.

Behind the defensive line are the linebackers. They line up between the defensive line and defensive backs and may either rush the quarterback or cover potential receivers.

The last line of defense is known as the secondary, comprising at least three players who line up as defensive backs, who are either cornerbacks or safeties. They cover the receivers and try to stop pass completions. They occasionally rush the quarterback.

Special teams

The units of players who handle kicking plays are known as special teams. Three important special-teams players are the punter, who handles punts, the placekicker or kicker, who kicks off and attempts field goals and extra points, and the long snapper, who snaps the ball for extra points, field goals, and punts. Also included on special teams are the returners. These players return punts or kickoffs and try to get in good field position. These players can also score touchdowns.

Uniform numbering

In the NFL, ranges of uniform numbers are (usually) reserved for certain positions: 1–19: Quarterbacks, punters and placekickers 20–49: Running backs and defensive backs 50–79: Offensive and defensive linemen 10–19, 80–89: Wide receivers 40–49, 80–89: Tight ends 50–59, 90–99: Linebackers and defensive linemen (90–99) Players who switch positions in their career can keep their number if they played their prior position for at least a year and move from a position that is eligible to receive passes to another eligible position, or if he is moving from one ineligible position to another ineligible position.

NCAA and high school rules specify only that offensive linemen must have numbers in the 50–79 range, but the NCAA "strongly recommends" that quarterbacks and running backs have numbers below 50 and wide receivers numbers above 79. This helps officials, as it means that numbers 50 to 79 are ineligible receivers, or players that may not receive a forward pass (except in the rare instance when a Tackle lines up as the outermost lineman on his side of the line and the officials are notified that he will be an eligible receiver for that particular play). There are no numbering restrictions on defensive players in the NCAA, other than that a team may not have two players on the field at the same time with the same jersey number.

Basic strategy

Because the game stops after every down, giving teams a chance to call a new play, strategy plays a major role in football. Each team has a playbook of dozens to hundreds of plays. Ideally, each play is a scripted, strategically sound team-coordinated endeavor. Some plays are very safe; they are likely to get only a few yards. Other plays have the potential for long gains but at a greater risk of a loss of yardage or a turnover.

Generally speaking, rushing plays are less risky than passing plays. However, there are relatively safe passing plays and risky running plays. To deceive the other team, some passing plays are designed to resemble running plays and vice versa. These are referred to as play-action passes and draws, respectively. There are many trick or gadget plays, such as when a team lines up as if it intends to punt and then tries to run or pass for a first down. Such high-risk plays are a great thrill to the fans when they work. However, they can spell disaster if the opposing team realizes the deception and acts accordingly.

The defense also plans plays in response to expectations of what the offense will do. For example, a "blitz" (using linebackers or defensive backs to charge the quarterback) is often attempted when the team on defense expects a pass. A blitz makes downfield passing more difficult but exposes the defense to big gains if the offensive line stems the rush.

Many hours of preparation and strategizing, including film review by both players and coaches, go into the days between football games. This, along with the demanding physicality of football (see below), is why teams typically play at most one game per week.

Physicality

American football is a collision sport. To stop the offense from advancing the ball, the defense must tackle the player with the ball by knocking or pulling him down. As such, defensive players must use some form of physical contact to bring the ball-carrier to the ground, within certain rules and guidelines. Tacklers cannot kick or punch the runner. They also cannot grab the face mask of the runner's helmet or lead into a tackle with their own helmet ("spearing"). Despite these and other rules regarding unnecessary roughness, most other forms of tackling are legal. Blockers and defenders trying to evade them also have wide leeway in trying to force their opponents out of the way. Quarterbacks are regularly hit by defenders coming on full speed from outside the quarterback's field of vision. This is commonly known as a blindside.

To compensate for this, players must wear special protective equipment, such as a padded plastic helmet, shoulder pads, hip pads and knee pads. These protective pads were introduced decades ago and have improved ever since to help minimize lasting injury to players. An unintended consequence of all the safety equipment has resulted in increasing levels of violence in the game. Players may now hurl themselves at one another at high speeds without a significant chance of injury. The injuries that do result tend to be severe and often season or career-ending and sometimes fatal. In previous years with less padding, tackling more closely resembled tackles in Rugby football. Better helmets have allowed players to use their helmets as weapons. This form of tackling is particularly unwise, because of the great potential for brain or spinal injury. All this has caused the various leagues, especially the NFL, to implement a complicated series of penalties for various types of contact. Most recently, virtually any contact with the helmet of a defensive player on the quarterback, or any contact to the quarterback's head, is now a foul. During the late 1970s, the penalty in high school football for spearing included ejection from the game.

Despite protective equipment and rule changes to emphasize safety, injuries remain very common in football. It is increasingly rare, for example, for NFL quarterbacks or running backs (who take the most direct hits) to make it through an entire season without missing some time to injury. Additionally, 28 football players died from direct football injuries in the years 2000–05 and an additional 68 died indirectly from dehydration or other examples of "non-physical" dangers, according to the National Center for Catastrophic Sport Injury Research. Concussions are common, with about 41,000 suffered every year among high school players according to the Brain Injury Association of Arizona. In 1981, U.S. President Ronald Reagan, who played football in high school, commented on the contact of the sport: "Football is the last thing left in civilization where men can literally fling themselves bodily at one another in combat and not be at war."

Extra and optional equipment such as neck rolls, spider pads, rib protectors (referred to as "flak jackets"), and elbow pads help against injury as well, though they do not tend to be used by the majority of players due to their lack of requirement.

The danger of football, and the equipment required to reduce it, make regulation football impractical for casual play. Flag football and touch football are less violent variants of the game popular among recreational players.

Nutrition and dehydration

Football players typically begin their season while the weather is still extremely warm and with the dangerous combination of warm weather and high humidity, dehydration is a great risk for the players. The players are usually required to follow a hydration schedule. It is extremely important for players to drink enough fluids because dehydration can seriously reduce athletic performance and increase the risk of heat illnesses. Most trainers and coaches make it imperative for their players to drink fluids before they are thirsty.

Organization in the United States

In the United States, the major forms are high school football, college football and professional football. Most American high schools field football teams. In general, high school teams play only against other teams within the same state, but there are some exceptions like nearby schools located on opposite sides of a state line.

Most of college football in the United States is governed by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), and most colleges and universities around the country have football teams. These teams mostly play other similarly sized schools, through the NCAA's divisional system, which divides the schools into four divisions: Division I Bowl Subdivision, Division I Championship Subdivision, Division II, and Division III. Unlike the three smaller NCAA football divisions, the Division I Bowl Subdivision does not have an organized tournament to determine its national champion. Instead, teams are invited to compete in a number of post-season bowl games. In addition, the champions of six conferences in the Division I Bowl Subdivision receive automatic bids, and four other schools receive "at-large" bids, to those five bowl games under the highly lucrative Bowl Championship Series to help determine the national champion.

The highest level major professional league in the United States is the 32-team National Football League (NFL). Another professional league, the 5-team United Football League, also currently operates. Several semi-professional, women's semi-professional football, and indoor football leagues are also played across the country.

Calendar

Traditionally, football is an autumn sport. A season typically begins in mid-to-late August and runs through December, into January. The NFL playoffs run further through January, and the Super Bowl is often played in the first week of February. As such, the sport is played in a wide range of weather conditions, from the heat and humidity of late summer, to the cold winds and snow in mid-winter. Unlike rainouts in baseball, play is only generally postponed or canceled in very extreme conditions such as lightning and hurricanes.

The NFL draft is usually held in April, in which eligible college football players are selected by NFL teams, the order of selection determined by the teams' final regular season records.

It is a long-standing tradition in the United States (though not universally observed) that high school football games are played on Friday night, college games on Saturday, and professional games on Sunday.

In the 1970s, the NFL began to schedule one game on Monday nights. Beginning in 2006, the NFL began scheduling games on Thursday and Saturday nights after the college football regular season concludes in mid-November, aired on the NFL Network.

Nationally televised Thursday-night college games have become a weekly fixture on ESPN, and most nights of the week feature at least one college game, though most games are still played on the traditional Saturday.

Certain fall and winter holidays—such as the NFL's Thanksgiving Classic and numerous New Year's Day college bowl games—have traditional football games associated with them.

Despite this, there are a few professional leagues that have played in the spring, mainly to avoid competition with the established leagues. Examples include the now defunct XFL, the United States Football League, and the proposed All American Football League. Indoor football is played primarily in spring for this same reason.

At most levels of competition, college football teams hold several weeks of practices in the spring. These practices typically end with an intramural scrimmage open to the public. In certain areas, high school football teams also hold spring practices.

Outside the United States

Outside the United States, the sport is referred to as "American football" (or a translation thereof) to differentiate it from other football codes such as association football (soccer), rugby football, Australian rules football and Gaelic football. In Australia and New Zealand the game is also known as gridiron football, or more commonly as gridiron, although in the United States the term ''gridiron'' refers only to the playing field itself. The term ''gridiron'' has also been used in the UK to describe the game. In much of the world, the term football is unambiguous and refers to association football (known commonly as 'soccer' in the United States).

Exportation by the established U.S. leagues and organizations

In 1977, the semi-pro football teams Newton Nite Hawks and Chicago Lions completed a five-game tour in Europe. These were the first professional or semi-professional American football teams to play organized games on the European continent. Games were played in Versailles, France; Lille, France; Landstuhl, Germany; Gratz Austria; and Vienna, Austria.

In 1985, Bethany College head coach and future College Football Hall of Fame member Ted Kessinger brought the first American football team to play in Sweden. The Bethany "Terrible Swedes" defeated the Swedish all-star team 72–7 in Stockholm Olympic Stadium.

The NFL has attempted to introduce the game to other nations and operated a developmental league, NFL Europa (also known as the World League of American Football and NFL Europe) with teams in various European cities, but this league was closed down following the 2007 season. The professional Canadian Football League and collegiate Canadian Interuniversity Sport play under the slightly different Canadian rules.

Major American leagues have also held some regular season games outside of the United States. On October 2, 2005, the Arizona Cardinals and San Francisco 49ers played the first regular season NFL game outside of the United States, in Mexico City's Estadio Azteca, From 2007, the NFL has played or has plans to play at least one regular season game outside of the United States during each season. The NCAA will also play games outside of the U.S. In 2012, The United States Naval Academy will play the University of Notre Dame in Dublin, Ireland.

Leagues by country

 — Gridiron Australia is the overall governing body for American football in Australia. The country is actually divided into state-level leagues instead of one national-level league by itself: ACT Gridiron (Australian Capital Territory), Gridiron NSW (New South Wales), Gridiron Queensland (Queensland), South Australian Gridiron Association (South Australia), Gridiron Victoria (Victoria), and Gridiron West (Western Australia).

 — The Belgian Football League fields 16 teams. The finalists from the playoffs determine the champion during the Belgian Bowl.

 — The Brazilian American Football League has 14 teams partitioned into north and south conferences.

 — The Vaahteraliiga or the ''Maple League'' has eight teams. The league's name comes from the name of the championship trophy ''Vaahteramalja'' ("Maple Bowl"), which was donated to the newly formed association by the embassy of Canada in Finland.

 — The German Football League has 12 teams partitioned into north and south conferences. The finalists from the playoffs determine the German champion during the German Bowl.

 — 18 registered teams participate in the MAFL's two-division league structure. The sport has grown significantly since 2004 and with some top Division I teams participating in the CEFL.

 — The Elite Football League of India (EFLI) is a proposed professional league in India. When play begins in late 2012, there will be eight teams, representing various cities across India with populations of one million or more. The ELFI will be India's first professional American football league, and its launch is backed by the Government of India and the Sports Authority of India. All of the first season's games will be held in Pune at the Shree Shiv Chhatrapati Sports Complex.

 — The Irish American Football League consists of 14 teams. Its championship game is the Shamrock Bowl.

 — Games are governed by the Israeli Football League.

 — The Italian Football League was founded in 2008, taking over previous league (National Football League Italy). It has 9 teams for the 2010 season.

 — The X-League is a professional league with 60 teams in four divisions, using promotion and relegation. After the post-season playoffs, the X-League champion is determined in the Japan X Bowl. There are also over 200 universities fielding teams, with the national collegiate championship determined by the Koshien Bowl. The professional and collegiate champions then face each other in the Rice Bowl to determine the national champion.

 — The ONEFA is a college league with 26 teams in 3 conferences.

 — American Football Wellington comprises five teams located in the Wellington area.

 — A rising number of teams (11 in 2010) compete in a two division league structure (division I which determines a national champion by a postseason playoff, and division 2 where newer and smaller teams are allowed to mature). Two teams (Oslo Vikings and Eidsvoll 1814s) regularly compete in either the European Football League or the EFAF Cup. Eidsvoll was the runner-up in EFAF Cup 2006.

 — Games are governed by the Polish American Football League.

 — Teams in the Nacionalna Liga Srbije compete in the Serbian Bowl.

 — The LNFA was founded in 1995, and currently consists of 15 clubs.

 — 70 amateur teams play in the BAFA Community Leagues (BAFACL) across a number of age ranges. The senior (adult) league has three levels: the Premiership, comprising six teams; Division 1, comprising 18 teams split across three regional conferences; and Division 2, comprising 23 teams split across four regional conferences. While the lower level teams have their own championship games during BritBowl Weekend, only Premier Division teams face each other in the BritBowl which is held in Worcester's Sixways Stadium. Unlike the NFL, the BAFACL season is played through the summer (April to September), with the British university season spanning the autumn and winter.

The IFAF and the American Football World Cup

The International Federation of American Football (IFAF) is the ''de facto'' governing body for American football, with 45 member associations from North and South America, Europe, Asia and Oceania. The organization is headquartered in La Courneuve, France. Although the IFAF has relatively little standing in the U.S. compared to the NFL, NCAA, and the other established aforementioned bodies, these same organizations also give support to USA Football, the designated U.S. representative to the IFAF.

The IFAF also oversees the American Football World Cup, which is held every four years. Japan won the first two World Cups, held in 1999 and 2003. Team USA, which had not participated in the previous World Cups, won the title in 2007.

A long term goal of the IFAF is for American football to be accepted by the International Olympic Committee as an Olympic sport. The only time that the sport was played was at the 1932 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, but as a demonstration sport.

See also

American football on Thanksgiving

Comparison of American and Canadian football

Comparison of American football and rugby league

Fantasy football (American)

Glossary of American football

Lists of American football players

List of American football stadiums by capacity

List of American football teams in Belgium

List of American football teams in Germany

List of American football teams in the Netherlands

List of defunct sports leagues

Pro Football Hall of Fame

Sports nutrition

Sprint Football

Steroid use in American football

Strat-O-Matic Football

Street football (American)

References

Notes

Bibliography

Further reading

''Sports Illustrated'' magazine dated December 4, 2005; "Football America", a series of articles attesting to the pervasive popularity of American football in the United States at all levels.

External links

Movie of 1903 football game between the University of Chicago and the University of Michigan

National Football League Official Signals.

Brief explanation of the sport by the BBC aimed at a non-american audience

American Youth Football

Category:Sports originating in the United States Category:1869 introductions Category:Football codes

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Coordinates	24°6′″N97°12′″N
name	Tim Russert
birthname	Timothy John Russert
birth date	May 07, 1950
birth place	Buffalo, New York, U.S.
death date	June 13, 2008
death place	Washington, D.C.
education	B.A. in Political Science, 1972John Carroll University,J.D., 1976 Cleveland-Marshall College of Law
occupation	Journalist
party	Democrat
spouse	Maureen Orth (1983–2008) (his death)
children	Luke Russert
religion	Roman Catholic
credits	''Meet the Press'' moderator(1991–2008), ''NBC Nightly News'' correspondent,NBC News Washington Bureau Chief, host of ''Tim Russert''
url	http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/4459759/ }}

Timothy John "Tim" Russert (May 7, 1950 – June 13, 2008) was an American television journalist and lawyer who appeared for more than 16 years as the longest-serving moderator of NBC's ''Meet the Press''. He was a senior vice president at NBC News, Washington bureau chief and also hosted the eponymous CNBC/MSNBC weekend interview program ''Tim Russert''. He was a frequent correspondent and guest on NBC's ''The Today Show'' and ''Hardball''. Russert covered several presidential elections, and he presented the NBC News/''Wall Street Journal'' survey on the ''NBC Nightly News'' during the 2008 U.S. presidential election. ''Time'' magazine included Russert in its list of the 100 most influential people in the world in 2008. Russert was posthumously revealed as a 30-year source for syndicated columnist Robert Novak.

Early life

Russert was born in Buffalo, New York to Irish American Catholic parents Elizabeth (Betty), a homemaker, and Timothy Joseph "Big Russ" Russert (November 29, 1923 – September 24, 2009), a sanitation worker. Elizabeth and Joseph were married for 30 years before separating in 1976. He was the second of four children; his sisters are Betty Ann (B.A.), Kathleen (Kathy) and Patricia (Trish). He received a Jesuit education from Canisius High School in Buffalo.

He received his B.A. in 1972 from John Carroll University and a Juris Doctor with honors from the Cleveland State University, Cleveland-Marshall College of Law in 1976. Russert commented on ''Meet the Press'' that he went to Woodstock, "in a Buffalo Bills jersey with a case of beer." While in law school, an official from his alma mater, John Carroll University, called Russert to ask if he could book some concerts for the school as he had done while a student. He agreed, but said he would need to be paid because he was running out of money to pay for law school. One concert that Russert booked was headlined by a then-unknown singer, Bruce Springsteen, who charged $2,500 for the concert appearance. Russert told this story to Jay Leno when he was a guest on ''The Tonight Show'' on NBC on June 6, 2006. John Carroll University has since named its Department of Communications and Theatre Arts in Russert's honor.

Professional career

Political

Prior to becoming host of ''Meet the Press'', Russert worked as a special counsel, and later as chief of staff, to U.S. Senator Daniel Moynihan, a Democrat from New York. In 1983, he became the counsel to New York Governor Mario Cuomo, also a Democrat.

NBC News: Washington bureau chief and host of ''Meet the Press''

He was hired by NBC News' Washington bureau the following year and became bureau chief by 1989. Russert assumed the job of host of the Sunday morning program ''Meet the Press'' in 1991, and would become the longest serving host of the program. Its name was changed to ''Meet the Press with Tim Russert'', and, at his suggestion, went to an hour-long format in 1992. The show also shifted to a greater focus on in-depth interviews with high profile guests, where Russert was known especially for his extensive preparatory research. One approach he developed was to find old quotes or video clips that were inconsistent with guests' more recent statements, present them on-air to his guests and then ask them to clarify their positions. With Russert as host the show became increasingly popular, receiving more than four million viewers per week, and it was recognized as one of the most important sources of political news. ''Time'' magazine named Russert one of the 100 most influential people in the world in 2008, and Russert often moderated political campaign debates.

Political coverage and debates

During NBC's coverage of the 2000 presidential election, Russert calculated possible Electoral College outcomes using a whiteboard (now in the Smithsonian Institution) on the air and memorably summed up the outcome as dependent upon "Florida, Florida, Florida." TV Guide described the scene as "one of the 100 greatest moments in TV history." Russert again accurately predicted the final battleground of the presidential elections of 2004: "Ohio, Ohio, Ohio." On the MSNBC show ''Tucker'', Russert predicted the battleground states of the 2008 presidential election would be New Mexico, Colorado, Arizona and Nevada, saying, "If Democrats can win three of those four, they can lose Ohio and Florida, and win the presidency."

Red states and blue states

According to ''The Washington Post'', the phrases red states and blue states were coined by Tim Russert, although in that same article Russert states that he wasn't the first to use the terminology. This term refers to those states of the United States of America whose residents predominantly vote for the Republican Party (red) or Democratic Party (blue) presidential candidates, respectively. John Chancellor, Russert's NBC colleague, is credited with using red and blue to represent the states on a US map for the 1976 presidential election. Mainstream political discussion following the 2000 presidential election used red state/blue state more frequently.

CIA leak scandal

In the Plame affair, Scooter Libby, convicted chief of staff for Vice President Dick Cheney, told special prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald that Russert told him of the identity of Central Intelligence Agency officer Valerie Plame (Mrs. Joseph C. Wilson). Russert testified previously, and again in ''United States v. I. Lewis Libby,'' that he would neither testify whether he spoke with Libby nor would he describe the conversation. Russert did say, however, that Plame's identity as a CIA operative was not leaked to him. Russert testified again in the trial on February 7, 2007. According to the ''Washington Post'', Russert testified that "when ''any'' senior government official calls him, they are presumptively off the record," saying: "when I talk to senior government officials on the phone, it's my own policy our conversations are confidential. If I want to use anything from that conversation, then I will ask permission."

At the trial, the prosecution asserted that a Federal Bureau of Investigation agent had called Russert regarding Russert's phone call with Libby, and that Russert had told the agent that the subject of Plame had not come up during his conversation with Libby. Russert was posthumously revealed as a thirty-year source of columnist Robert Novak, whose original article revealed Plame's affiliation with the CIA. In a Slate.com article, Jack Shafer argued that "the Novak-Russert relationship poses a couple of questions. [...] Russert's long service as an anonymous source to Novak...requires further explanation." In a posthumous commentary, the L.A. Times wrote that, "Like former New York Times reporter Judith Miller, Russert was one of the high-level Washington journalists who came out of the Libby trial looking worse than shabby." The article's author, Tim Rutten, argued that although Russert and NBC had claimed that these conversations were protected by journalistic privilege, "it emerged under examination [that] Russert already had sung like a choirboy to the FBI concerning his conversation with Libby—and had so voluntarily from the first moment the Feds contacted him. All the litigation was for the sake of image and because the journalistic conventions required it."

Iraq War

In the lead up to the Iraq War, ''Meet the Press'' featured interviews with top government officials including Vice President Dick Cheney. CBS ''Evening News'' correspondent Anthony Mason praised Russert's interview techniques: "In 2003, as the United States prepared to go to war in Iraq, Russert pressed Vice President Dick Cheney about White House assumptions." However, Salon.com reported a statement from Cheney press aide Cathie Martin regarding advice she says she offered when the Bush administration had to respond to charges that it manipulated pre-Iraq War intelligence: "I suggested we put the vice president on ''Meet the Press'', which was a tactic we often used. It's our best format." David Folkenflik quoted Russert in his May 19, 2004, ''Baltimore Sun'' article:

Folkenflik went on to write:

In the 2007 PBS documentary, ''Buying the War'', Russert commented:

2008 Presidential Debate

At the February debate, Russert was criticized for what some perceived as disproportionately tough questioning of Democratic presidential contender Hillary Clinton. Among the questions, Russert had asked Clinton, but not Obama, to provide the name of the new Russian President (Dmitry Medvedev). This was later parodied on ''Saturday Night Live''. In October 2007, liberal commentators accused Russert of harassing Clinton over the issue of supporting drivers' licenses for illegal immigrants.

Enthusiasm for sports

Russert grew up as a New York Yankees fan, switching his allegiance to the Nationals when they were established in Washington, D.C. Russert held season tickets to both the Washington Nationals and the Washington Wizards and was elected to the board of directors of the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York in 2003.

A lifelong fan of the Buffalo Bills football team, Russert often closed Sunday broadcasts during the football season with a statement of encouragement for the franchise. The team released a statement on the day of his passing, saying that listening to Russert's "Go Bills" exhortation was part of their Sunday morning game preparation. He once prayed publicly on the show with his father when the Bills were going for the Super Bowl for the fourth consecutive time before Super Bowl XXVIII. On July 23, 2008, U.S. Route 20 leading to the Bills' Ralph Wilson Stadium in Orchard Park, New York was renamed the "Timothy J. Russert Highway".

Russert was also a Buffalo Sabres fan and appeared on an episode of ''Meet the Press'' next to the Stanley Cup during a Sabres playoff run. While his son was attending Boston College, he often ended ''Meet the Press'' with a mention of the success of various Boston College sports teams.

Author

Russert penned a best-selling autobiography, ''Big Russ and Me'' in 2004, which chronicled his life growing up in the predominantly Irish American working-class neighborhood of South Buffalo and his education at Canisius High School. Russert's father Timothy Joseph Russert, "Big Russ," was a World War II veteran who held down two jobs after the war, emphasized the importance of maintaining strong family values, the reverence of faith, and never taking a short cut to reach a goal. Russert claimed to have received over 60,000 letters from people in response to the book, detailing their own experiences with their fathers. He released ''Wisdom of Our Fathers: Lessons and Letters from Daughters and Sons'' in 2005, a collection of some of these letters. This book also became a best-seller.

Cameo television appearance

Russert made a cameo appearance in 1995 on the critically acclaimed police drama, ''Homicide: Life on the Street''. He played the cousin of fictional Baltimore homicide detective Megan Russert. He was mentioned by name again on the show in 1996, when it was said that he had introduced his "cousin" to a French diplomat, with whom she then went abroad. ''Homicide'' executive producer Tom Fontana attended the same Buffalo high school as Russert.

Awards

During his career, Russert received 48 honorary doctorates and won several awards for excellence in journalism, including the Edward R. Murrow Award from the Radio-Television News Directors Association, the John Peter Zenger Freedom of the Press Award, the American Legion Journalism Award, the Veterans of Foreign Wars News Media Award, the Congressional Medal of Honor Society Journalism Award, the Allen H. Neuharth Award for Excellence in Journalism, the David Brinkley Award for Excellence in Communication and the Catholic Academy for Communication's Gabriel Award. Russert also received an Emmy Award in 2005 for his coverage of the funeral of former President Ronald Reagan.

Personal life

Russert met Maureen Orth at the 1976 Democratic National Convention; they married in 1983 at the Basilica de San Miguel in Madrid, Spain. Orth has been a special correspondent for ''Vanity Fair'' since 1993.

Their son, Luke, graduated from Boston College in 2008. He hosts the XM Radio show ''60/20 Sports'' with James Carville, and was an intern with ESPN's ''Pardon the Interruption'' and NBC's ''Late Night with Conan O'Brien''. On July 31, 2008, NBC News announced that Luke Russert would serve as an NBC News correspondent covering the youth perspective on the 2008 United States presidential election.

The Russert family lived in northwest Washington, D.C. and also spent time at a vacation home on Nantucket Island, where Tim served on the board of several non-profit organizations.

Russert, a devout Catholic, said many times he had made a promise to God to never miss Sunday Mass if his son were born healthy. In his writing and in his news reporting, Russert spoke openly and fondly of his Catholic school education and of the role of the Catholic Church in his life. He was an outspoken supporter of Catholic education on all levels. Russert said that his father, a sanitation worker who never finished high school, "worked two jobs all his life so his four kids could go to Catholic school, and those schools changed my life." He also spoke warmly of the Catholic nuns who taught him. "Sister Mary Lucille founded a school newspaper and appointed me editor and changed my life," he said. Teachers in Catholic schools "taught me to read and write, but also how to tell right from wrong."

Russert also contributed his time to numerous Catholic charities. He was particularly devoted and concerned for the welfare of street kids in the United States and children whose lives were lost to street violence. He told church workers attending the 2005 Catholic Social Ministry Gathering that "if there's an issue that Democrats, Republicans, conservatives and liberals can agree on, it's our kids."

Russert's favorite beer was Rolling Rock, and, at his funeral, fellow anchor Tom Brokaw brought and raised a Rolling Rock in Russert's memory.

Prior to his death, he had an audience with Pope Benedict XVI during his trip to Italy. He was also scheduled to give the Catholic Common Ground Initiative's Philip J. Murnion Lecture on June 27, 2008 at The Catholic University of America. Russert was the commencement speaker at Saint Joseph's University in summer of 2005.

Death

Shortly after 1:30 pm on June 13, 2008, Russert collapsed at the offices of WRC-TV, which houses the Washington, D.C. bureau of NBC News where he was chief. He was recording voiceovers for the Sunday edition of ''Meet the Press.'' According to Brian Williams, during his speech at the Kennedy Center on June 13, Russert's last words were, "What's happening?" spoken as a greeting to NBC Washington bureau editing supervisor Candace Harrington. He then collapsed. A co-worker began CPR on him. The District of Columbia Fire and Rescue service received a call from NBC at 1:40 pm, and dispatched an EMS unit which arrived at 1:44 pm. Paramedics attempted to defibrillate Russert's heart three times, but he did not respond. Russert was then transported to Sibley Memorial Hospital, arriving at 2:23 pm, where he was pronounced dead.

In accordance with American journalistic tradition, the public announcement of Russert's death was withheld by both the wire services and his network's competitors, until Russert's family had been notified. Retired ''NBC Nightly News'' anchor Tom Brokaw then delivered, live on NBC, CNBC and MSNBC, the news of his passing. ''NBC Nightly News'' anchor Brian Williams was on assignment in Afghanistan and could not anchor the special report. Russert had just returned from a family vacation in Rome, Italy, where he had celebrated his son's graduation from Boston College. While his wife and son remained in Rome, Russert had returned to prepare for his Sunday television show.

Russert's longtime friend and physician, Dr. Michael Newman, said that his asymptomatic coronary artery disease had been controlled with medication and exercise, and that he had performed well on a stress test in late April. An autopsy performed on the day of his death determined that his history of coronary artery disease led to a myocardial infarction (heart attack) and ventricular fibrillation with the immediate cause being an occlusive coronary thrombosis in the left anterior descending artery resulting from a ruptured cholesterol plaque, called a "widow maker".

Russert is buried at Rock Creek Cemetery, next to the historic Soldiers' Home, in Washington's Petworth neighborhood. The Newseum in Washington, D.C., has a re-creation of Russert's office.

Reaction

On the evening of his death, the entire, nearly commercial-free half hour of ''NBC Nightly News'' was dedicated to Russert's memory. Bill and Hillary Clinton released a joint statement saying Russert "had a love of public service and a dedication to journalism that rightfully earned him the respect and admiration of not only his colleagues but also those of us who had the privilege to go toe to toe with him." Many of his colleagues in both newspaper and television reporting also offered tribute to Russert in this and other programs. Other major news agencies, including CBS, ABC, CNN, Fox News, and the BBC spent large segments of their programming on June 13 reporting about Russert's life and career. Bruce Springsteen, a friend of Russert's, gave an on-stage tribute to Russert while performing in Cardiff, Wales, on June 14 and again at Russert's televised Kennedy Center memorial service, calling him "an important irreplaceable voice in American journalism" and offering condolences to his family. On the June 13, 2008, episode of ''Late Night'', Conan O'Brien simply walked onto the stage at the start of the show. Instead of his usual upbeat antics and monologue, O'Brien announced that he had just received news about the sudden death of his good friend, fellow NBC employee and frequent ''Late Night'' guest Tim Russert. O'Brien proceeded to show two clips of his favorite Russert ''Late Night'' moments.

Some journalists criticized the amount of media coverage that Russert's death received. Jack Shafer of ''Slate'' called NBC's coverage a "never-ending video wake." ''Washington Post'' writer Paul Farhi also expressed disapproval, noting that a print journalist would likely not have received similar attention. ''Chicago Tribune'' columnist Julia Keller questioned the volume of coverage as well as the labeling of Russert's death as "a national tragedy."

Career timeline

;Political career

1977–1982 — chief of staff to Daniel Patrick Moynihan

1983–1984 — counselor to Mario Cuomo

;Broadcast career

1984–1988 — senior vice president of NBC News' Washington operations

1995—Homicide: Life on the Street (cameo appearance as self, but as fictitious cousin of Captain Megan Russert)

1988–2008 — Washington bureau chief of NBC News

1991–2008 — moderator of ''Meet the Press''

1992–2006 — co-anchor of NBC News' election night coverage

;Debates moderated 1991 — Ex-Gov. Edwin Edwards and State Rep. David Duke, candidates for Governor of Louisiana 1994 — Gov. Lawton Chiles and Jeb Bush, candidates for Governor of Florida 1998 — Sen. Bob Graham vs. State Sen. Charlie Crist, candidates for U.S. Senate from Florida January 2000 — in New Hampshire involving Republican candidates for President January 2000 — in New Hampshire involving Democratic candidates for President 2000 — Bill McCollum vs. Bill Nelson, candidates for U.S. Senate from Florida September 2000 — in Buffalo Rep. Rick Lazio and First Lady Hillary Clinton, candidates for U.S. Senate from New York October 2000 — involving candidates for U.S. Senate from Florida 2002 — Bill McBride and Gov. Jeb Bush, candidates for Governor of Florida 2002 — Shannon O'Brien vs. Mitt Romney, candidates for Governor of Massachusetts 2004 — Betty Castor and HUD Secretary Mel Martinez, candidates for U.S. Senate from Florida October 2005 — Jerry Kilgore and Lt. Gov. Tim Kaine, candidates for governor of Virginia November 2006 — in Orlando Sen. Bill Nelson and Rep. Katherine Harris, candidates for U.S. Senate from Florida September 2007 — in New Hampshire involving Democratic candidates for U.S. President

November 2007 — (co-moderator) of debate in Philadelphia involving Democratic candidates for U.S. president

January 2008 — in Boca Raton, Florida involving Republican candidates for President January 2008 — in Las Vegas, Nevada involving Democratic candidates for President

March 2008 — (co-moderator) at Cleveland State between Sen. Hillary Clinton and Sen. Barack Obama, Democratic candidates for U.S. President

References

Further reading

Russert, Tim. Interview with President George W. Bush. Transcript. ''NBC News' Meet the Press''. MSNBC February 8, 2004. Accessed February 10, 2007.

Russert, Tim. Interview with Sen. John Kerry, D-MA, presidential candidate. Transcript. ''NBC News' Meet the Press''. MSNBC April 18, 2004. Accessed February 10, 2007.

External links

Tim Russert – MSNBC biography

Remembering Tim Russert

Tim Russert at Find-A-Grave

A Tribute to Tim Russert '72 – John Carroll University video tribute

Tim Russert Archive of American Television Interview

Category:1950 births Category:2008 deaths Category:American television news anchors Category:American political journalists Category:American Roman Catholics Category:American broadcast news analysts Category:Cardiovascular disease deaths in Washington, D.C. Category:Cleveland-Marshall College of Law alumni Category:Deaths from myocardial infarction Category:Emmy Award winners Category:American people of Irish descent Category:American writers of Irish descent Category:John Carroll University alumni Category:Journalists from Upstate New York Category:NBC News Category:New York Democrats Category:New York lawyers Category:People from Buffalo, New York Category:Plame affair figures Category:Washington, D.C. Democrats Category:Washington, D.C. lawyers Category:Writers from New York Category:Burials at Rock Creek Cemetery

de:Tim Russert es:Tim Russert fa:تیم راسرت fr:Tim Russert id:Tim Russert it:Tim Russert he:טים ראסרט la:Timotheus Ioannes Russert nl:Tim Russert no:Tim Russert pt:Tim Russert simple:Tim Russert fi:Tim Russert sv:Tim Russert zh:提姆·拉瑟特

Coordinates	24°6′″N97°12′″N
Name	Dick Clark
Birth name	Richard Wagstaff Clark
Birth date	November 30, 1929
Birth place	Mount Vernon, New York, United States
Nationality	American
Birth date	November 30, 1929
Alma mater	Syracuse University
Home town	Mount Vernon, New York (born and Raised)
Other names	The World's Oldest Teenager (nickname)
Spouse	Barbara Mallery (1952–1961, divorced)Loretta Martin (1962–1971, divorced)Kari Wigton (1977–present)
Children	Richard A. Clark,Duane Clark,Cindy Clark
Occupation	BusinessmanGame show hostRadio/television personality
Years active	1945–present }}

Richard Wagstaff "Dick" Clark (born November 30, 1929) is an American businessman; game-show host; and radio and television personality. He served as chairman and chief executive officer of Dick Clark Productions, which he has sold part of in recent years. Clark is best known for hosting long-running television shows such as ''American Bandstand'', five versions of the game show ''Pyramid'', and ''Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve''.

Clark has long been known for his departing catchphrase, "For now, Dick Clark...so long," delivered with a military salute, and for his youthful appearance, earning the moniker "America's Oldest Teenager", until he had a stroke in late 2004. With some speech ability still impaired, Clark returned to his ''New Year's Rockin' Eve'' show on December 31, 2005/January 1, 2006. Subsequently, he appeared at the Emmy Awards on August 27, 2006, and every ''New Year's Rockin' Eve'' show since then.

On November 30, 2009, disc jockeys throughout the U.S. paid tribute to Clark on his 80th birthday.

Early life, education and early career

Clark was born and raised in Mount Vernon, New York, the son of Julia Fuller (''née'' Barnard) Clark and Richard Augustus Clark. His only sibling, older brother Bradley, was killed in World War II. His career in show business began in 1945 when he started working in the mailroom of WRUN, a radio station owned by his uncle and managed by his father in Utica, New York. Clark was soon promoted to weatherman and news announcer.

Clark attended A.B. Davis High School (now A.B. Davis Middle School) in Mount Vernon and Syracuse University in Syracuse, New York, and was a member of Delta Kappa Epsilon fraternity (Phi Gamma); he graduated in 1951 with a degree in business.

Career

Radio and television

After graduating high school in 1947, Dick Clark started as an office worker at WRUN-AM in Rome, NY. Almost immediately he was asked to fill in for the vacationing weatherman, and within a few months he was announcing station breaks. His quick rise may have been helped by the fact that his uncle owned the station and his father managed it.

Dick Clark received a degree from Syracuse University where he worked at WOLF, a country music station. He returned to WRUN for a short time where he used the name Dick Clay.

He went back to his given name and went to work for WFIL, a radio and affiliated television station in Philadelphia. The station decided to follow the trend of announcers playing records over the air waves. The television station aired a show called Bandstand, an afternoon teen dance show. Clark was given the job as host and replaced Bob Horn.

Clark began his television career at station WKTV in Utica and was also subsequently a disc jockey on radio station WOLF in Syracuse. His first television-hosting job was on ''Cactus Dick and the Santa Fe Riders'', a country-music program. He would later replace Robert Earle (who would later host the ''GE College Bowl'') as a newscaster.

Clark was principal in Pro broadcasters operator of 1440 KPRO in RiversideCA from 1962 to 1982. He was owner in the sixties of KGUD AM/FM (later KTYD AM/FM) in Santa Barbara, CA.

''American Bandstand''

In 1952 Clark moved to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, more specifically to Drexel Hill, Pennsylvania, and resided within the Drexelbrook Community where he was neighbors with Ed McMahon. There he took a job as a disc jockey at radio station WFIL. WFIL had an affiliated television station (now WPVI) with the same call sign which began broadcasting a show called ''Bob Horn's Bandstand'' in 1952. Clark was a regular substitute host on the show and when Horn left, Clark became the full-time host on July 9, 1956. The show was picked up by the ABC television network, renamed ''American Bandstand'', and was first aired nationally on August 5, 1957. On that day, Clark interviewed Elvis Presley.

Clark also began investing in the music publishing and recording business in the 1950s. In 1959, the United States Senate opened investigations into payola, the practice of music-producing companies paying broadcasting companies to favor their product. Clark was a shareholder in the Jamie-Guyden Distributing Corporation, which nationally distributed Jamie and other non-owned labels. Clark sold his shares back to the corporation when ABC suggested that his participation might be considered as creating a conflict of interest. In 1960, when charges were levied against Clark by the Congressional Payola Investigations, he quietly divested himself of interests and signed an affidavit denying involvement. Clark was not charged with any illegal activities.

Unaffected by the investigation, ''American Bandstand'' was a major success, running daily Monday through Friday until 1963, then weekly on Saturdays until 1987. In 1964, the show moved from Philadelphia to Hollywood, California. Charlie O'Donnell, a close friend of Clark's and an up-and-coming fellow Philadelphia disc jockey, was chosen to be the announcer, a position he held for ten years. O'Donnell also announced on many 1980s versions of Clark's ''Pyramid'' game show; he continued to work with Clark on various specials and award shows until his death in November 2010.

Clark produced ''American Bandstand'' for syndicated television and later the USA Network, a cable-and-satellite-television channel, until 1989. Clark also hosted the program in 1987 and 1988; David Hirsch hosted in 1989, its final year. American Bandstand and Dick Clark himself were honored at the 2010 Daytime Emmy Awards.

A spin-off of ''Bandstand'', ''Where the Action Is'', aired from June 27, 1965 to March 31, 1967, also on ABC.

''Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve''

In 1972, Clark produced and hosted ''Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve'', the first of an ongoing series of specials still broadcast on New Year's Eve. The program has typically consisted of live remotes of Clark in Times Square in New York City, counting down until the New Year ball comes down. After the ball drops, the focus of the program switches to musical segments taped prior to the show in Hollywood, California. The special is live in the Eastern Time Zone, and it is delayed for the other time zones so that they can ring in the New Year with Clark when midnight strikes in their area.

ABC has broadcast the event on every New Year's Eve since 1972 except in 1999 when it was pre-empted for ''ABC 2000 Today'', news coverage of the milestone year hosted by Peter Jennings. In the more than three decades it has been on the air, the show has become a mainstay in U.S. New Year's Eve celebrations. Before then, Guy Lombardo (a.k.a. "Mr. New Year's Eve"), along with his big band orchestra, the Royal Canadians, had long been the main draw for New Year's Eve broadcasts for radio and, later, for television (on CBS). Watching the ball in Times Square drop on Clark's show is considered an annual cultural tradition for the New Year's holiday.

Twice, Clark was not able to host his show. The first time happened at the end of 1999, going into 2000, due to ''ABC 2000 Today''. However, during that broadcast, Clark, along with ABC News correspondent Jack Ford, announced his signature countdown to the new year. He was a correspondent, according to the transcript of the broadcast released by ABC News. Ford had been assigned to Times Square during the broadcast, and thus, Clark's role was limited. Nevertheless, he won a Peabody Award for his coverage. The second time happened at the end of 2004, as he was recovering from his stroke; Regis Philbin substituted as host. The following year, Clark returned to the show, although Ryan Seacrest served as primary host. From December 31, 2005, onward, Clark has co-hosted ''New Year's Rockin Eve'' with Seacrest.

''Pyramid'' game shows

Before ''Pyramid'', Clark had two brief runs as a quiz-show host, presiding over ''The Object Is'' and then ''Missing Links''. In a near twist of irony, on ''Missing Links'', he replaced his former Philadelphia neighbor and subsequent ''TV's Bloopers & Practical Jokes'' co-host, Ed McMahon, when the game show switched networks from NBC to ABC; NBC replaced ''Missing Links'' with ''Jeopardy!''.

Clark later became host of ''The $10,000 Pyramid'', which premiered on CBS March 26, 1973 (the same day as ''The Young and the Restless''). The show — a word association game created and produced by daytime television producer Bob Stewart — moved to ABC from 1974 to 1980, during which time the top prize was upgraded to $20,000. After a brief 1981 syndicated run as ''The $50,000 Pyramid,'' the show returned to CBS in 1982 as ''The New $25,000 Pyramid,'' and continued through 1988, save for a three month break. From 1985 to 1988, Clark hosted both the CBS ''$25,000'' version and a daily ''$100,000 Pyramid'' in syndication. His daytime versions of ''Pyramid'' won nine Emmy Awards for best game show, a mark that is eclipsed only by the eleven won by the syndicated version of ''Jeopardy!''. It also won Clark three Emmy Awards for best game show host.

Clark would return to ''Pyramid'' as a guest in later incarnations. He was a guest during the Bill Cullen version of ''The $25,000 Pyramid'' (not to be confused with the incarnation Clark himself hosted). During the premiere of the John Davidson version in 1991, Clark sent a pre-recorded message wishing Davidson well in hosting the show. In 2002, Clark played as a celebrity guest for three days on the Donny Osmond version.

Radio programs

Clark also had a long stint as a top-40 radio countdown show host. He began in 1963, hosting a radio program called ''The Dick Clark Radio Show''. It was produced by Mars Broadcasting of Stamford, Connecticut. Despite his enormous popularity on ''American Bandstand'', the show was only picked up by a few dozen stations and lasted less than a year. The show proved to be ahead of its time, becoming one of the earliest attempts at radio syndication.

On March 25, 1972, Clark hosted ''American Top 40'', filling in for Casey Kasem. Several years later, Clark would become one of AT40's most enduring rivals. In 1981, he created ''The Dick Clark National Music Survey'' for the Mutual Broadcasting System. The program counted down the Top 30 contemporary hits of the week in direct competition with ''American Top 40''. Clark left Mutual in 1986, and Charlie Tuna took over the National Music Survey. Clark then launched his own radio syndication group; the United Stations Radio Network, or Unistar, and took over the countdown program, "Countdown America". It ran until 1994, when Clark sold Unistar to Westwood One Radio. The following year, Clark started over, building a new version of the USRN and a new countdown show: "The U.S. Music Survey". He served as its host until his 2004 stroke.

Dick Clark's longest running radio show began on February 14, 1982. "Rock, Roll & Remember" was a four hour oldies show named after Clark's 1976 autobiography. For the first three years, the program was co-hosted by Los Angeles radio veteran Mark Elliot. By 1985, Clark hosted the entire show. Pam Miller served as producer. Each week, Clark would profile a different artist from the Rock and Roll era. He would also highlight the events and music from a certain year in the 1950s 60's or early 70's. The show ended production when Clark suffered his 2004 stroke. However, re-runs continue to air in syndication and on Clark's website "dickclarkonline.com".

Since 2009, Clark has merged elements of "Rock, Roll and Remember" with the syndicated oldies show, "Rewind with Gary Bryan". The new show is called "Dick Clark Presents Rewind with Gary Bryan". Bryan, a Los Angeles radio personality, serves as the main host. Clark contributes profile segments.

Other television programs

At the peak of his ''American Bandstand'' fame, Clark also hosted a thirty-minute Saturday night program called ''The Dick Clark Show'' (aka ''The Dick Clark Saturday Night Beech-Nut Show''). It aired from February 15, 1958, until September 10, 1960, on the ABC television network. It was broadcast live from the "Little Theater" in New York City and was sponsored by Beech-Nut Gum. It featured the rock stars of the day lip synching their hits, just as on ''American Bandstand''. However, unlike the afternoon ''Bandstand'' program which focused on the dance floor with the teen age audience demonstrating the latest dance steps, the audience of ''The Dick Clark Show'' (consisting mostly of squealing girls) sat in a traditional theater setting. While some of the musical numbers were presented simply, others were major production numbers.

The high point of the show was the unveiling with great fanfare at the end of each program, by Clark, of the top ten records of the coming week. This ritual became so embedded in popular culture that to this day it is satirized nightly by David Letterman. In the 1986 comedy-drama ''Peggy Sue Got Married'', Kathleen Turner's character after being transported back to the spring of 1960 is supposedly watching ''American Bandstand'' on television. The clip used in the movie, however, is actually of the Dick Clark Saturday night show, because the teen age audience is not dancing but sitting in a theater. In addition, members of the audience were wearing the "IFIC" buttons based upon the Beech-Nut Gum advertising slogan of the late 1950s ("It's FlavorIFIC"). Beech-Nut sponsored the Clark Saturday night show and sponsored the top 10 countdown board on ''American Bandstand''.

From September 27 to December 20, 1959, Clark hosted a thirty-minute weekly talent/variety series entitled ''Dick Clark's World of Talent'' at 10:30 p.m. on Sunday nights on ABC. A variation of producer Irving Mansfield's earlier CBS series, ''This Is Show Business'' (1949–1956), it featured three celebrity panelists, including comedian Jack E. Leonard, judging and offering advice to amateur and semi-professional performers. While this show was not a success, during its nearly three month duration, Clark was one of the few personalities in television history on the air nationwide seven days a week. Clark has been involved in a number of other television series and specials as producer and performer. One of his most well-known guest appearances was in the final episode of the original ''Perry Mason'' TV series ("The Case of the Final Fadeout") in which he was revealed to be the killer in a dramatic courtroom scene. In 1973, he created the American Music Awards show, which he produces annually. Intended as competition for the Grammy Awards, in some years it gained a bigger audience than the Grammys due to being more in touch with popular trends.

Clark attempted to branch into the realm of soul music with the series ''Soul Unlimited'' in 1973. The series, hosted by Buster Jones, was a more risqué and controversial imitator of the then-popular series ''Soul Train'' and alternated in the ''Bandstand'' time slot. The series lasted for only a few episodes. Despite a feud between Clark and ''Soul Train'' creator and host Don Cornelius, the two would later collaborate on several specials featuring black artists.

He hosted the short-lived Dick Clark's LIVE Wednesday in 1978. In 1984, Clark produced and co-hosted with Ed McMahon the NBC series ''TV's Bloopers & Practical Jokes.'' The series ran through 1988 and continued in specials hosted by Clark (sometimes joined by another TV personality) into the 21st century, first on NBC, later on ABC, and currently on TBS (the last version re-edited into in 15 minute/filler segments airing at about 5 A.M.). Clark and McMahon were longtime Philadelphia acquaintances, and McMahon praised Clark for first bringing him together with future TV partner Johnny Carson when all three worked at ABC in the late 1950s. The "Bloopers" franchise stems from the Clark-hosted (and produced) NBC "Bloopers" specials of the early 1980s, inspired by the books, record albums and appearances of Kermit Schafer, a radio and TV producer who first popularized outtakes of broadcasts.

For a period of several years in the 1980s, Clark simultaneously hosted regular programs on the 3 major American television networks: ABC (''Bandstand''), CBS (''Pyramid'') and NBC (''Bloopers'') and in 1993, he hosted ''Scattergories''. In 1990 and 1991, he hosted the syndicated television game show ''The Challengers'', which only lasted for one season. In 1999, along with Bob Boden, he was one of the executive producers of Fox's TV game show ''Greed'', which ran from November 5, 1999, to July 14, 2000, and was hosted by Chuck Woolery. At the same time, Clark also hosted the Stone-Stanley-created ''Winning Lines'', which ran for six weeks on CBS from January 8, 2000 – February 12, 2000.

Clark did a brief stint as announcer on The Jon Stewart Show, in 1995.

From 2001 to 2003, Clark was a co-host of ''The Other Half'' with Mario Lopez, Danny Bonaduce, and Dorian Gregory, a syndicated daytime talk show intended to be the male equivalent of ''The View''. Clark also produced the television series ''American Dreams'' about a Philadelphia family in the early 1960s whose daughter is a regular on ''American Bandstand''. The series ran from 2002 to 2005.

Other media appearances

Clark was featured in the 2002 documentary film ''Bowling for Columbine''. He was criticized for hiring poor, unwed mothers to work long hours in his chain of restaurants for little pay. The mother in particular works over 80 hours per week and is unable to make rent and gets evicted which results in her having her son stay at his uncle's house. At his uncle's house the boy finds a gun and brings it to school where he shoots another first grader. In the documentary footage featuring Clark, Michael Moore tries to approach him to inform him of the welfare policies that allow for these conditions, and questions him about the people he employs and the tax breaks he takes advantage of, in employing welfare recipients; Clark refuses to answer any of Moore's questions, shutting the car door and driving away.

Clark also appeared in interview segments of another 2002 film, ''Confessions of a Dangerous Mind'', which was based on the "unauthorized autobiography" of Chuck Barris. (Barris had worked at ABC as a standards-and-practices executive during "American Bandstand's" run on that network.)

In the 2002 ''Dharma and Greg'' episode "Mission: Implausible," Greg is the victim of a college prank, and devises an elaborate plan to retaliate, part of which involves his use of a disguise kit; the first disguise chosen is that of Dick Clark. During a fantasy sequence that portrays the unfolding of the plan, the real Clark plays Greg wearing his disguise.

He also made brief cameos in two episodes of the ''The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air''. In one episode he plays himself at a Philadelphia diner, and in the other he helps Will Smith's character host bloopers from past episodes of that sitcom.

Stroke and appearances since

Initial news

During an interview on Larry King Live in April 2004, Clark revealed that he had Type 2 diabetes.

On December 8 of that year, the then seventy-five year-old was hospitalized in Los Angeles after suffering what was initially termed a minor stroke. Clark's spokeswoman, Amy Streibel, said that he was hospitalized but was expected to be fine.

However, on December 13, 2004, it was announced that Clark would be unable to host his annual ''New Year's Rockin' Eve'' broadcast that had aired for all but one year since 1972 (in 1999, ''New Year's Rockin' Eve'' was preempted with the Peter Jennings-hosted ''ABC 2000 Today'' though Clark did perform his traditional countdown). For the 2004 show, Regis Philbin was the substitute host, and during the show on December 31, 2004, he gave his best wishes to Clark.

Return to television

Having not been seen in public anywhere since his stroke, on August 15, 2005, Clark announced in a statement that he would be back in Times Square for the annual tradition, bringing on Hilary Duff and Ryan Seacrest as co-hosts, in addition to the latter being co-executive producer. Also in the press release, it was announced that Seacrest would eventually take over as the sole host should Clark decide to retire, or be unable to continue.

On December 31, 2005, Clark made his return to television, returning to the ''Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve'' broadcast.

During the program, Clark remained behind a desk and was shown only in limited segments. Though Clark had noticeable difficulty speaking, he was able to perform his famous countdown to the new year.

On air, he stated, "Last year I had a stroke. It left me in bad shape. I had to teach myself how to walk and talk again. It's been a long, hard fight. My speech is not perfect but I'm getting there." Before counting down to 2006, he mentioned he "wouldn't have missed this for the world."

Reaction to Clark's appearance was mixed, reported CNN.com. While some TV critics (including Tom Shales of ''The Washington Post'', in an interview with the CBS Radio Network) felt he was not in good enough shape to do the broadcast, stroke survivors and many of Clark's fans praised him for being a role model for people dealing with post-stroke recovery.

Subsequent appearances

Clark also appeared on the 2006 Emmy Award telecast on August 27, 2006. He was introduced by Simon Cowell after the show paid tribute to his successful career that has spanned decades. He was shown seated behind a lectern, and although his speech was still slurred, he was able to address the audience and introduce Barry Manilow's performance.

For the 2006-07 and 2007-08 ABC New Year's Eves, Clark still exhibited noticeably slurred and somewhat breathless speech, but improved from previous years, in addition to using his arms again. For the 2008–09 broadcast, he increased his hosting duties to the point where he split duties roughly evenly with Seacrest during the half-hour leading up to the ball drop. For the 2009-10 countdown show, he spoke with improved verbal expression, as well as improved head and arm dexterity, but incorrectly counted down, counting "...14, 12, 10, 11, 10, 9...". In previous years following the stroke, Clark had only hosted the countdown and one brief segment. Clark returned for the 2010-11 ''New Year's Rockin' Eve'' and executed a perfect countdown from 25 seconds down to 1.

Clark was honored at The 37th Annual Daytime Emmy Awards on CBS TV. It was a tribute to his 40 years hosting American Bandstand.

Entertainment ventures

Restaurants

Clark has a stake in a chain of music-themed restaurants licensed under the names "Dick Clark's American Bandstand Grill", "Dick Clark's AB Grill", "Dick Clark's Bandstand — Food, Spirits & Fun" and "Dick Clark's AB Diner". There are currently three airport locations in Newark, New Jersey; Phoenix, Arizona; and Salt Lake City, Utah, one location in the Molly Pitcher travel plaza on the New Jersey Turnpike in Cranbury, New Jersey, and one location at "Dick Clark's American Bandstand Theater" in Branson, Missouri.

Theaters

"Dick Clark's American Bandstand Theater" opened in Branson in April 2006, and nine months later, a new theater and restaurant entitled "Dick Clark's American Bandstand Music Complex" opened near Dolly Parton's ''Dollywood'' theme park in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee. In October 2007, since nearby residents complained about the outside concerts performed at the new complex, it has been emptied of its contents and the box office closed temporarily. After eighteen months of extensive new renovations it was reopened for indoor concert performances.

Personal life

Clark has been married three times. His first marriage was to Barbara Mallery in 1952; the couple had one son, Richard, and divorced in 1961. He married Loretta Martin in 1962; the couple had two children, Duane and Cindy, and divorced in 1971. Since 1977, Clark has been married to Kari Wigton.

Youthful appearance references

Before his stroke, Clark's perennial youthful appearance, despite his advancing years, was a subject of jokes and commentary in the popular culture, most notably his nickname of "America's Oldest Living Teenager".

One of Gary Larson's ''The Far Side'' cartoons has the caption, "Suddenly, on a national talk show in front of millions of viewers, Dick Clark ages 200 years in 30 seconds."

In Episode 320 of Mystery Science Theater 3000, John Carradine - playing a mad scientist in the movie The Unearthly - is trying to get another character to consider eternal life when he says, "Suppose you could wake up every morning and see your face untouched by time.” Crow replies, "Like Dick Clark?"

In the ''Police Squad!'' episode "Testimony of Evil (Dead Men Don't Laugh)," Dick Clark, appearing as himself, purchases Secret Formula Youth Cream from street snitch Johnny the Shoeshine Boy. In the film ''Peggy Sue Got Married'' (1986), Kathleen Turner, who has time-traveled back to circa 1960, is watching Dick Clark on ''American Bandstand'' with her sister and says "That man never ages." Her sister doesn't seem to understand what she means.

In ''The Simpsons'' 1999 Y2K episode, at midnight a computer glitch causes Dick Clark to melt and he is revealed to be a robot.

In an episode of The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, Clark appears as himself. Carlton jokingly says "How come I got older and you stayed the same age."

Notable awards

Clark has received the following awards:

Emmy Awards (1979, 1983, 1985, and 1986)

Daytime Emmy Lifetime Achievement Award (1994)

Peabody Award (1999)

He is also an inductee at several Hall of Fame locations:

Hollywood Walk of Fame (1976)

National Radio Hall of Fame (1990)

Broadcasting Magazine Hall of Fame (1992)

Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (1993)

Academy of Television Arts & Sciences Hall of Fame (1993)

References

External links

Dick Clark Productions

Dick Clark's Rock, Roll and Remember newspaper comic strip series

Dick Clark interviewed on the Pop Chronicles (recorded 3.11.1968).

Notes

Category:1929 births Category:Living people Category:American game show hosts Category:American radio personalities Category:American television producers Category:Daytime Emmy Award winners Category:Peabody Award winners Category:National Radio Hall of Fame inductees Category:People from Burbank, California Category:People from Westchester County, New York Category:Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductees Category:Syracuse University alumni Category:Stroke survivors

de:Dick Clark es:Dick Clark fr:Dick Clark id:Dick Clark ja:ディック・クラーク pt:Dick Clark ru:Кларк, Дик simple:Dick Clark fi:Dick Clark sv:Dick Clark

Coordinates	24°6′″N97°12′″N
name	Andy Rooney
birth name	Andrew Aitken Rooney
birth date	January 14, 1919
birth place	Albany, New York, U.S.
occupation	Writer, humorist, television personality
nationality	American
period	1949–present
citizenship	United States
alma mater	Colgate University
spouse	Marguerite Rooney (1942-2004, her death)
children	Brian, Emily, Martha, Ellen
influences	Harry Reasoner, Mike Wallace, E. B. White
awards	{{awd|awardEmmy| year2003 |titleLifetime Achievement| year2 1980| title2 "Tanks"| year3 1980| title3 "Grain"| year4 1978| title4 "Who Owns What in America"| year5 1968| title5 "Black History: Lost, Stolen, or Strayed"}}

| signature = | website = | portaldisp = }} Andrew Aitken "Andy" Rooney (born January 14, 1919) is an American radio and television writer. He is most notable for his weekly broadcast "A Few Minutes with Andy Rooney," a part of the CBS News program ''60 Minutes'' since 1978.

Youth

Andrew Rooney was born in Albany, New York, the son of Walter Scott Rooney (1888–1959) and Ellinor (née Reynolds) Rooney (1886–1980). He attended The Albany Academy, and later attended Colgate University in Hamilton in Upstate New York, where he was initiated into the Sigma Chi fraternity, until he was drafted into the U.S. Army in August 1941. Rooney began his career in newspapers while in the Army when, in 1942, he began writing for ''Stars and Stripes'' in London during World War II. He later published a memoir, ''My War'' (1995) about his war reporting. In addition to recounting firsthand several notable historical events and people (like the entry into Paris, the concentration camps, etc.), Rooney describes how it shaped his experience both as a writer and reporter.

In February 1943, flying with the Eighth Air Force, he was one of six correspondents who flew on the first American bombing raid over Germany. Later, he was one of the first American journalists to visit the Nazi concentration camps near the end of World War II, and one of the first to write about them. During a segment on Tom Brokaw's "The Greatest Generation," Rooney confessed that he had been opposed to World War II because he was a pacifist. He recounted that what he saw in those concentration camps made him ashamed that he had opposed the war and permanently changed his opinions about whether "just wars" exist.

CBS career

Rooney joined CBS in 1949, as a writer for ''Arthur Godfrey's Talent Scouts'', when Godfrey was at his peak on CBS radio and TV. It opened the show up to a variety of viewers. The program was a hit, reaching number one in 1952, during Rooney's tenure with the program. It was the beginning of a close life-long friendship between Rooney and Godfrey. He wrote for Godfrey's daytime radio and TV show ''Arthur Godfrey Time''. He later moved on to ''The Garry Moore Show'', which became a hit program. During the same period, he wrote for CBS News public affairs programs such as ''The 20th Century''.

According to CBS News's biography of him, "Rooney wrote his first television essay, a longer-length precursor of the type he does on ''60 Minutes'', in 1964, 'An Essay on Doors.' From 1962 to 1968, he collaborated with another close friend, the late CBS News correspondent Harry Reasoner — Rooney writing and producing, Reasoner narrating — on such notable CBS News specials as 'An Essay on Bridges' (1965), 'An Essay on Hotels' (1966), 'An Essay on Women' (1967), and 'The Strange Case of the English Language' (1968). 'An Essay on War' (1971) won Rooney his third Writers Guild Award. In 1968, he wrote two CBS News specials in the series 'Of Black America', and his script for 'Black History: Lost, Stolen, or Strayed' won him his first Emmy." Rooney also wrote the script for the 1975 documentary ''FDR: The Man Who Changed America''.

In the 1970s, Rooney wrote and appeared in several prime-time specials for CBS, including ''In Praise of New York City'' (1974), the Peabody Award-winning ''Mr. Rooney Goes to Washington'' (1975), ''Mr. Rooney Goes to Dinner'' (1976), and ''Mr. Rooney Goes to Work'' (1977). Transcripts of these specials, as well as of some of the earlier collaborations with Reasoner, are contained in the book ''A Few Minutes with Andy Rooney''. Another special, ''Andy Rooney Takes Off'', followed in 1984.

''A Few Minutes with Andy Rooney''

Rooney's "end-of-show" segment on ''60 Minutes,'' "A Few Minutes with Andy Rooney" (originally "Three Minutes or So With Andy Rooney"), began in 1978 as a summer replacement for the debate segment "Point/Counterpoint" featuring Shana Alexander and James Kilpatrick. The segment proved popular enough with viewers that beginning in the fall of 1978, it was seen in alternate weeks with the debate segment. At the end of the 1978-79 season, "Point/Counterpoint" was dropped altogether.

In the segment, Rooney typically offers satire on a trivial everyday issue, such as the cost of groceries, annoying relatives, or faulty Christmas presents. Rooney's appearances on "A Few Minutes with Andy Rooney" often include whimsical lists (e.g., types of milk, bottled water brands, car brands, sports mascots, etc.). In recent years, his segments have become more political as well. Despite being best known for his television presence on ''60 Minutes'', Rooney has always considered himself a writer who incidentally appears on television behind his famous walnut table, which he made himself.

Rooney's shorter television essays have been archived in numerous books, such as ''Common Nonsense'', which came out in 2002, and ''Years of Minutes'', released in 2003. He pens a regular syndicated column for Tribune Media Services that runs in many newspapers in the United States, and which has been collected in book form. He has won three Emmy Awards for his essays, which now number close to 1,000. He was awarded a Lifetime Achievement Emmy in 2003. Rooney's renown has made him a frequent target of parodies and impersonations by a diverse group of comedic figures, including Frank Caliendo, Rich Little and Beavis.

Views

He has claimed on ''Larry King Live'' to have a liberal bias, stating, "There is just no question that I, among others, have a liberal bias. I mean, I'm consistently liberal in my opinions." Though in a controversial 1999 book Rooney self-identified as agnostic, Rooney has, as of 2008, come out as an atheist. Over the years many of his editorials have poked fun at the concept of God and organized religion. Increased speculation on this was brought to a head by a series of comments he made regarding Mel Gibson's film ''The Passion of the Christ'' (2004).

Though Rooney has been called Irish-American, he once said "I'm proud of my Irish heritage, but I'm not Irish. I'm not even Irish-American. I am American, period."

In 2005, when four people were fired at CBS News perhaps because of the Killian documents controversy, Rooney said, "The people on the front lines got fired while the people most instrumental in getting the broadcast on escaped." Others at CBS had "kept mum" about the controversy.

Andy Rooney was briefly interviewed on HBO's ''Da Ali G Show'', where he became one of the only guests to be so annoyed by Ali G that he furiously ended the interview several minutes into it. Before ending the interview, he repeatedly corrected Ali G when he used "does" as the conjugation of the verb "to do" in the second-person singular when addressing Rooney. When Ali G said, "I think that's an English/American thing going on," Rooney replied, "No, no. That's English. The English language is very clear. I have fifty books on the English language if you'd like to borrow one." Near the beginning of the interview, Rooney misspelled his own last name as ''Runey'' when Ali G asked him how it was spelled.

Racial remarks

Andy Rooney wrote a column in 1992 that it was "silly" for Native-Americans to complain about team names like the Redskins saying, "The real problem is, we took the country away from the Indians, they want it back and we're not going to give it to them. We feel guilty and we'll do what we can for them within reason, but they can't have their country back. Next question."

In a recent column for ''Tribune'' media services, he wrote, "I know all about Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig, but today's baseball stars are all guys named Rodriguez to me." Rooney later commented, "Yeah, I probably shouldn't have said it, [but] it's a name that seems common in baseball now. I certainly didn't think of it in any derogatory sense."

Rooney has always denied that he is a racist. In the 1940s, he was arrested after sitting in the back of a segregated bus in protest. Also, in 2008, Rooney applauded the fact that "the citizens of this country, 80 percent of whom are white, freely chose to elect a black man as their leader simply because they thought he was the best choice." He said that makes him proud, and that it proves that the country has "come a long way - a good way."

Suspension by CBS

In 1990, Rooney was suspended without pay for three months. It is believed that this punishment was for saying that "too much alcohol, too much food, drugs, homosexual unions, cigarettes [are] all known to lead... to premature death." He wrote an explanatory letter to a gay organization after being ordered not to do so. After only four weeks without Rooney, ''60 Minutes'' lost 20 percent of its audience. CBS management then decided that it was in the best interest of the network to have Rooney return immediately.

After Rooney's reinstatement, he made his remorse public:

Remarks on Kurt Cobain's suicide

In a 1994 segment, Rooney attracted controversy with his remarks on Kurt Cobain's suicide. He expressed his dismay that the death of Richard Nixon was overshadowed by Cobain's suicide, stating that he had never heard of Cobain nor his band, Nirvana. He went on to say that Cobain's suicide made him angry. "A lot of people would like to have the years left that he threw away," Rooney said. "What's all this nonsense about how terrible life is?" he asked, and he added, speaking rhetorically to a young woman who had wept at the suicide, "I'd love to relieve the pain you're going through by switching my age for yours." "What would all these young people be doing if they had real problems like a Depression, World War II or Vietnam?" "If he applied the same brain to his music that he applied to his drug-infested life, it's reasonable to think that his music may not have made much sense either." Later, Rooney admitted that he might have been "unfair" and apologized on air.

Family life

His wife, Marguerite "Margie" Rooney (née Howard), died in 2004 of heart failure, after 62 years of marriage. Rooney later wrote, "her name does not appear as often as it originally did [in my essays] because it hurts too much to write it." He has four children, including a daughter, Emily Rooney, who is a TV talk show host and former ABC News producer; she currently hosts a nightly Boston-area public affairs program, ''Greater Boston'', on WGBH. Emily's identical twin, Martha, is Chief of the Public Services Division at the National Library of Medicine in Bethesda, Maryland. The third daughter, Ellen, is a photographer based in London. His son, Brian Rooney, has been a correspondent for ABC since the 1980s.

Rooney currently lives in the Rowayton section of Norwalk, Connecticut and in Rensselaerville, New York, and is a longtime season ticket holder for the New York Giants.

Awards

2001 – Emperor Has No Clothes Award from the Freedom From Religion Foundation.

Books

Books written by Rooney:

''A Few Minutes With Andy Rooney'', 1981 (ISBN 0-689-11194-0)

''The Complete Andy Rooney'', 1983 (ISBN 0-446-11219-4)

''And More by Andy Rooney'', 1985 (ISBN 0-517-40622-5)

''Pieces of My Mind'', 1986 (ISBN 0-689-11492-3)

''The Most of Andy Rooney'', 1986 (ISBN 0-689-11864-3)

''Word for Word'', 1988 (ISBN 0-399-13200-7)

''Not That You Asked...'', 1989 (ISBN 0-394-57837-6)

''Most of Andy Rooney'', 1990 (ISBN 0-88365-765-1)

''Sweet and Sour'', 1992 (ISBN 0-399-13774-2)

''My War'', 1997 (ISBN 0-517-17986-5)

''Sincerely, Andy Rooney'', 1999 (ISBN 1-891620-34-7)

''Common Nonsense'', 2002, (ISBN 1-58648-144-4)

''Years of Minutes'', 2003 (ISBN 1-58648-211-4)

''Out of My Mind'', 2006 (ISBN 1-58648-416-8)

''60 Years of Wisdom and Wit'', 2009 (ISBN 1-58648-773-6)

See also

List of newspaper columnists

References

External links

CBS Biography

Archive of previous "A Few Minutes..." segments

Andy Rooney Podcast among other CBS podcasts

Snopes.com on Rooney E-Mail Snopes.com's article on false e-mail claims

Potential Racialism from Rooney

Category:1919 births Category:American atheists Category:American humorists Category:American television journalists Category:American military personnel of World War II Category:American memoirists Category:Colgate University alumni Category:Commentators Category:American people of Irish descent Category:Living people Category:Recipients of the Bronze Star Medal Category:People from Albany, New York Category:People from Norwalk, Connecticut Category:United States Army soldiers Category:War correspondents

de:Andy Rooney id:Andy Rooney no:Andy Rooney pt:Andy Rooney fi:Andy Rooney zh:安迪·朗尼

Coordinates	24°6′″N97°12′″N
name	George Takei
birth name	George Hosato Takei
birth date	April 20, 1937
birth place	Los Angeles, California, U.S.
years active	1958–present
occupation	Actor
spouse	Brad Altman (2008–present)
website	http://www.GeorgeTakei.com }}

George Hosato Takei Altman ( ; born April 20, 1937) is an American actor, best known for his role in the television series ''Star Trek'', in which he played Hikaru Sulu, helmsman of the . He is a proponent of gay rights and active in state and local politics as well as continuing his acting career. He has won several awards and accolades in his work on human rights and Japanese American relations, including his work with the Japanese American National Museum.

Early life

Takei was born George Hosato Takei in Los Angeles, California, the son of Fumiko Emily (née Nakamura) and Takekuma Norman Takei, who worked in real estate. His parents were Japanese American. His father was an Anglophile, and named him ''George'' after George VI of the United Kingdom, whose coronation took place in 1937. In 1942, the Takei family was originally housed in the horse stables of Santa Anita Park before being sent to the Rohwer War Relocation Center for internment in Arkansas. The family was later transferred to the Tule Lake War Relocation Center in California. Despite this experience, the family developed a renewed dedication and remained involved in the American democratic process. He and his family returned to Los Angeles at the end of World War II. He attended Mount Vernon Junior High School, where he served as student body president, and Los Angeles High School. He was a member of Boy Scout Troop 379 of the Koyasan Buddhist Temple.

Upon graduation from high school Takei then enrolled in the University of California, Berkeley where he studied architecture. Later he attended the University of California, Los Angeles, where he received a bachelor of arts in theater in 1960 and a master of arts in theater in 1964. He attended the Shakespeare Institute at Stratford-upon-Avon in England, and Sophia University in Tokyo, Japan. In Hollywood, he studied acting at the Desilu Workshop. Takei is fluent in English, Japanese and Spanish.

Early career

Takei began his career in Hollywood in the late 1950s, at a time when Asian faces were rarely seen on television and movie screens. His first role was providing voiceover for several characters in the English dub of Japanese monster films such as ''Godzilla Raids Again'' and ''Rodan'', followed by an appearance in the Emmy award winning television series ''Playhouse 90'' and Perry Mason ''The Case of the Blushing Pearls''. Takei subsequently appeared alongside such actors as Richard Burton in ''Ice Palace'', Jeffrey Hunter in ''Hell to Eternity'', Alec Guinness in ''A Majority of One'', James Caan in ''Red Line 7000'' and Cary Grant in ''Walk Don't Run''. He played Captain Nim, an ARVN LLDB (Luc Luong Dac Biet- Special Forces) officer alongside John Wayne's character in the 1968 Vietnam War era film, ''The Green Berets''. He starred in "The Encounter", a controversial episode of the Emmy Award winning television show ''The Twilight Zone''.

He had an uncredited role in the 1963 film ''PT-109'' as the helmsman who steers the Japanese destroyer over John F. Kennedy's PT-109. He appeared in ''Walk Don't Run'' (1966) with Cary Grant and Samantha Eggar and he starred in an episode of ''Mission: Impossible'' during that show's first season in 1966. He also appeared in two Jerry Lewis comedies, ''The Big Mouth'' and ''Which Way to the Front?''

''Star Trek''

In 1965, producer Gene Roddenberry cast him as Mr. Sulu in the second ''Star Trek'' pilot and eventually the ''Star Trek'' television series. While working on the show he appeared as Captain Nim in ''The Green Berets''. It was intended that Sulu's role be expanded in the second season, but due to Takei's part in ''Green Berets'', he only appeared in half the season, with his role being filled by Walter Koenig as Pavel Chekov. When Takei returned, the two had to share a dressing room and a single episode script. Takei admitted in an interview that he initially felt threatened by Walter's presence, but later grew to be friends with him as the image of the officers sharing the ship's helm panel side-by-side became iconic.

Takei has since appeared in numerous TV and film productions, including the first six ''Star Trek'' motion pictures, and today he is a regular on the science fiction convention circuit throughout the world. He has also acted and provided voice acting for several science fiction computer games, including ''Freelancer'' and numerous ''Star Trek'' games. In 1996, in honor of the 30th anniversary of Star Trek, he reprised his role as Captain Hikaru Sulu on an episode of ''Star Trek: Voyager'', appearing as a memory of Lt. Tuvok, who served on the USS ''Excelsior'' under Sulu, during the events of ''Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country''.

Takei is one of a number of ''Star Trek'' supporting cast members whose difficulties with William Shatner have become public. However, in an interview in the 2004 DVD set for the second season of ''Star Trek: The Original Series'', Takei said of Shatner: "He's just a wonderful actor who created a singular character. No one could have done Kirk the way Bill did. His energy and his determination, that's Bill. And that's also Captain Kirk." He appeared alongside Shatner on the Comedy Central ''Roast of William Shatner'' in which the two mocked each other in good humor and embraced, Takei noting that he was "honored" to be there "despite our past tensions".

In a radio interview on ''The Adam Carolla Show'' on June 19, 2008, Takei implied that part of his problems with Shatner began when he came out of the closet for the first time and his sexuality was accepted by almost everyone on the cast and crew of ''Star Trek'' except Shatner. Shatner was a guest on the same radio show some weeks earlier and expressed complete bewilderment as to why George Takei has such difficulties with him. According to Shatner, he has asked Takei repeatedly over the years to discuss his differences with him, but has been repeatedly rebuffed.

Takei is also one of six actors (the other actors being Jonathan Frakes, Kate Mulgrew, Michael Dorn, Avery Brooks and Majel Barrett) to lend his voice to ''Star Trek: Captain's Chair'', reprising his role of Captain Hikaru Sulu when users visit the bridge of the original ''Enterprise'' in ''Star Trek: Captain's Chair''.

In the summer of 2007, Takei reprised his role of Sulu in the fan-made Internet based series ''Star Trek New Voyages: Phase II''.

After ''Star Trek''

1960s

Takei played Captain Nim in the 1968 film ''The Green Berets''.

1970s

In 1972, Takei was an alternate delegate from California to the Democratic National Convention. The following year, he ran for City Council of Los Angeles, finishing second, losing by just 1,647 votes. During the campaign, Takei's bid for the city councilman's seat caused one local station to stop running the repeats of the original ''Star Trek'' series until after the election and KNBC-TV to substitute the premiere episode of the ''Star Trek'' animated series scheduled by the network with another in which his character did not appear, in attempts to avoid violating the FCC's equal-time rule. The other candidates in the race complained that Takei's distinctive and powerful voice alone, even without his image, on television every week created an unfair advantage.

Los Angeles Mayor Tom Bradley later appointed Takei to the board of directors of the Southern California Rapid Transit District, making him part of the team that initiated and planned the Los Angeles subway system. Takei was called away from the set of ''Star Trek: The Motion Picture'' in 1978 to cast the tie-breaking vote for the creation of the Los Angeles subway system. He served eleven years on the board.

Also during this period Takei began his friendship with the future Mayor of West Hollywood and current member of the Los Angeles City Council Paul Koretz.

In 1979, Takei with Robert Asprin co-wrote the science-fiction novel ''Mirror Friend, Mirror Foe''.

1980s

In 1986, Takei was featured in the comic strip ''Bloom County'' in a Binkley Bulletin report that Takei was to wed singer Marie Osmond.

In 1986, Takei starred in "The Wish Child", a second season episode of ''MacGyver''.

In 1987, Takei guest starred in "By Hooker By Crook", a third season episode of ''Miami Vice''. He played sushi-eating drug lord Kenneth Tagaru, whose office was filled with large fish tanks stocked with koi. This episode is noteworthy for the love scene between Don Johnson and Melanie Griffith, as well as the shoot-out finale where Tagaru is killed and several fish tanks are shot open, spilling out hundreds of gallons of water and dozens of fish.

In 1989, Takei played Lieutenant Tanaka in Return from the River Kwai.

He has also done voice-overs for two Hanna-Barbera shows. One of them include ''The New Adventures of Jonny Quest'' and the final season of ''The Smurfs''.

1990s

In the 1990s and early part of the 21st century he had guest star appearances on some science fiction television series. He played himself in a ''3rd Rock from the Sun'' episode about a science fiction convention, and an episode of ''Malcolm in the Middle''. In 1998, he was the voice of First Ancestor Fa in Disney's Chinese-themed Mulan animated feature. He also played the villainous Mr. Fixx in the premiere episode of the acclaimed DC Animated Universe animated series, ''Batman Beyond''. Takei has also done a voice appearance in the Spider-Man animated series in 1994 as Wong.

In 1990, Takei appeared in the Australian film ''Prisoners of the Sun'' as a Japanese vice-admiral being tried for war crimes. The film also featured Takei's friend, Russell Crowe.

In the NBC TV series ''Brotherly Love'', Joey goes to a science fiction/comics convention and runs into a man dressed in a ''Star Trek'' original series uniform, who claims he is a fan of ''Star Trek'', and of Takei himself. The man is played by Takei.

In 1993, Takei reprised his role again in the ''Star Trek'' video game ''Star Trek: Judgment Rites''.

In 1994, Takei published his autobiography, "To the Stars." At one point he had hoped to do a movie or telefilm based on chapters dealing with the internment of Japanese-Americans during World War II, of which he had personal experience.

In 1998, Takei supplied the voice of Ptolemy in an episode of the popular Disney TV series ''Hercules''.

Also in 1998 Takei appeared in the 11th episode in season two of ''Muppets Tonight'' as a parody of himself when Beaker goes on a Star Trek cruise.

Takei appeared as Warlord Shank on the hit Nickelodeon TV show ''Space Cases''.

He has also appeared in ''The Simpsons'' three times, voicing Akira in "One Fish, Two Fish, Blowfish, Blue Fish" and "The Old Man and the Key" and voiced Wink in "Thirty Minutes over Tokyo".

2000s

He provided the voice of his own head in a jar in the ''Futurama'' episodes "Where No Fan Has Gone Before" (in which he had his body reconstituted in order to reprise his Mr. Sulu role for a ''Star Trek''-obsessed amorphous cosmic being) and "Proposition Infinity". In an episode of ''Scrubs'' aired May 4, 2004 entitled "My Best Friend's Wedding" Takei appeared as a clergyman who looked like Mr. Sulu. He also provided the voice for The Warden on the ''Avatar: The Last Airbender'' episode "Imprisoned." He also guest starred on an episode of ''Will & Grace'' as himself, after he came out for the first time on television.

In 2002, Takei guest starred on the comedy show ''Son of the Beach'' as a grandfather telling a bedtime story to his grandson.

In 2003, Takei voiced the part of Lord Hakkera, a Japanese-themed lord, in Microsoft and Digital Anvil's space-based video game ''Freelancer''.

Takei appeared on the NBC show, ''Thank God You're Here'', an improvised comedy program, in the episode originally airing on April 18, 2007. Takei walked onto the set, and after a few seconds when none of the other actors uttered the standard first line ("Thank God you're here!"), Takei began the scene with "Thank God I'm here!"

In March 2006, Takei played himself again in an episode of ''Will & Grace'' entitled "Buy, Buy Baby" during the show's eighth, and final, season.

In the ''Cory in the House'' episode "Air Force One Too Many", Takei plays the Steward on Air Force One, Ronald, and utters his catchphrase when he experiences stomach problems.

In an episode of the TV series ''Psych'', Takei guest-starred as a mildly exaggerated version of himself at a sci-fi convention, and the two main characters pose as his personal assistants in order to solve a murder mystery at the convention later becoming his personal assistants for the length of the convention.

In August 2006, Takei was a guest on the Comedy Central Roast of William Shatner. He sat on the dais, and was one of the many people who took part in the roasting, in which he took the time to verbally poke fun at Shatner.

Also in 2006, Takei played the role of the psychiatrist in a Los Angeles, Calif revival of ''Equus'', done at East West Players.

In January 2007, Takei began appearing on ''Heroes'', as a successful business man and also the father of one of the main characters Hiro Nakamura, who also happens to be an obsessive fan of ''Star Trek''. In the first episode Takei is portrayed, "Distractions", the license plate of the limo he arrives in is NCC-1701, another reference to the ''Star Trek'' series. He has appeared in seasons one, two, three and four.

Takei made an appearance on ''Jimmy Kimmel Live'' in a mock public service announcement to show his disappointment over basketball star Tim Hardaway's homophobic remarks. Takei, speaking for the gay community, explained "We don't hate you. As a matter of fact, we like you. We like you very much." Takei then compliments Hardaway's calves and shaved head, letting his hand linger over the crotch of Hardaway's image. Takei ends by letting it be known that one day, when Hardaway least expects it, Takei will have sex with him.

Takei appeared regularly on the ''Howard Stern Radio Show'', making quarterly week-long appearances and is credited as the show's announcer. Running themes involving Takei are plays on his deep voice, prank phone calls made with clips of his laughter, and jokes about Takei's sexuality. Takei has been welcomed to the show by its fans and he has won a loyal following with his good-natured participation in the show and his openness and candor.

It is urban legend that visitors to the Memphis International Airport can hear Takei's unmistakable voice over the intercom system. Ruth Greene, an administrator at the airport, verifies this urban legend as false.

Takei made a small cameo as himself in the 2008 movie ''You Don't Mess with the Zohan''.

Takei played the role of a ninja trainer in the 2008 film ''Ninja Cheerleaders''.

In 2008 Takei appeared in the short film Showdown of the Godz (a comedy about a man's obsession with a certain gigantic Japanese monster) as Ono, the owner of a sushi restaurant.

Takei serves as chair of the Council of Governors of East West Players, considered the foremost Asian Pacific American theater in the United States.

Takei appeared on the first episode of ''Secret Talents of the Stars'', singing country music but was not selected to proceed to the next stage. However the point became moot as the series was abruptly cancelled after the opening episode.

He also played the role of the Emperor Yoshiro of the Empire of the Rising Sun in the 2008 video game ''Command & Conquer: Red Alert 3''.

He had a voice role as Lok Durd in ''Star Wars: The Clone Wars'', making him the first and, so far, only ''Star Trek: The Original Series'' cast member to have a role in the ''Star Wars'' franchise.

In 2008, Takei appeared as himself in ''The Great Buck Howard''.

In April 2009, he voiced a fictitious version of himself in the NASA animated short "Robot Astronomy Talk Show: Gravity and the Great Attractor", part of the web-series IRrelevant Astronomy produced by NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope. Later that year, he voiced another fictitious version of himself in a downloadable add-on available for the Playstation Network's ''Pain''.

In 2009, Takei voiced an Old Man Samurai in ''Scooby-Doo and the Samurai Sword''.

In 2009, Takei and his husband Brad Altman appeared in a documentary short titled ''George & Brad in Bed'' that profiled their relationship. He also voiced several additional characters in other animated shows and films including ''Samurai Jack'', ''Kim Possible'', ''Jackie Chan Adventures'', ''The X's'', ''The Super Hero Squad Show'', ''Mulan II'', ''Transformers: Animated'', ''Adventure Time'' and ''El Tigre: The Adventures of Manny Rivera''.

In 2009, Takei was a guest on NPR's ''Wait, Wait...Don't Tell Me!''

2010s

In 2010, Takei appeared uncredited as a technician in an advertisement for the Sharp Aquos Quattron television line, where he uses the phrase "Oh my!"

Meanwhile, Takei guest starred in ''The Suite Life on Deck'' in the episode "Starship Tipton", a ''Star Trek'' parody, as Rome Tipton, London Tipton's descendant. He mentions "Oh my, how many times must I go through this?", a reference to his career in ''Star Trek''.

Also in 2010, Takei played himself in an episode of the Starz! Original comedy ''Party Down'', in which he is stalked by Roman at a gay wedding and eventually suffers an allergic reaction after ingesting shellfish.

Takei made a guest appearance on ''The Tonight Show with Jay Leno'' in the second half of the monologue called "Craigslist Confidential", reciting a poem from an advertisement from Craigslist.

He appeared in an episode of ''The Big Bang Theory'' on October 14, 2010. The episode included a brief skit where Takei appeared after a character said he was "a little confused".

In 2010, Takei did a voiceover for the Halloween episode of the show ''Community'', aired by NBC.

In 2010, Takei recorded a series of PSAs for the Social Security Administration to help promote applying online for benefits.

In 2011, Takei appeared in the Tom Hanks film ''Larry Crowne''.

As of 2011, Takei currently stars in ''Supah Ninjas''.

In 2011, Takei voiced in the Disney show ''Fish Hooks'' as "The Bird" in the episode "Flying Fish."

He also starred in All Star Mr and Mrs, a show on ITV in Britain presented by Philip Schofield and Fern Britton in 2011, with partner Brad Altman.

Later career

''The Howard Stern Show''

Takei's first appearance on ''The Howard Stern Show'' was in late 1990 and was featured in ''The History of Howard Stern'', a radio show documenting the life and career of Howard Stern. On September 27, 1994, Takei would appear via satellite feed to promote his book ''To the Stars...''. Clips of Takei from his audio book and television interviews would later be played on the show, with prank calls and comedy bits being made using them.

On January 9, 2006 it was announced that Takei would be the new announcer for the show when it show moved to Sirius XM Radio. Takei sat in the studio for the first week of broadcasts, and to this day sits in for a week of shows every few months.

In June 2006, Takei accepted a Freedom of Speech Award on behalf of Stern, with the award being presented by ''Talkers Magazine''. Takei was in the studio again for two days in late September 2006 where he discussed his participation in an episode of ''Star Trek: New Voyages'' as well as his participation in the film ''The Great Buck Howard''. In a visit in December 2007, Stern stated that Takei was the only cast member who got universally positive feedback from audience e-mails; even listeners who claim to dislike ''Star Trek'' enjoy Takei's contributions. The show staff has stated that they like his upfront sense of humor and his willingness to talk about almost any issue openly and freely, particularly now that the show is uncensored on Sirius XM.

Takei has developed a friendly relationship with Stern cast member Artie Lange, whom Takei affectionately calls his "cuddly muffin." The two have become friends despite Lange's notorious penchant for his supposedly "homophobic" humor. Lange revealed on the air that George sent him a "lovely card" praising his guest performance on a 2007 episode of ''Entourage'', in which Takei expressed the desire to one day act alongside Lange, and that the two talk at least once a week by telephone.

''I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here!''

Takei appeared on the 2008 season of the UK version of reality TV series ''I'm a Celebrity... Get Me out of Here!'' He lived in the Australian bush for 21 days and nights, doing tasks along with fellow campers in order to gain better meals and survive eviction from the show. His politeness and calmness made him popular with the other campers. Out of 15 participants the British public voted him into 3rd place behind 2nd placed Martina Navratilova and winner Joe Swash.

Personal life

In October 2005, Takei revealed in an issue of ''Frontiers'' magazine that he is gay and had been in a committed relationship with his partner, Brad Altman, for eighteen years. He said, "It's not really coming out, which suggests opening a door and stepping through. It's more like a long, long walk through what began as a narrow corridor that starts to widen." Nevertheless, Takei's sexuality had been an open secret among Star Trek fans since the 1970s, and Takei did not conceal his active membership in LGBT organizations including Frontrunners where he developed public friendships with fellow Frontrunners Kevin Norte and his partner Don Norte prior to coming out in 2005. In an on-air telephone interview with Howard Stern, in December 2005, Takei explained, "[LGBT people] are masculine, we are feminine, we are caring, we are abusive. We are just like straight people, in terms of our outward appearance and our behavior. The only difference is that we are oriented to people of our own gender." Takei also described Altman as "a saint" for helping to take care of Takei's terminally ill mother.

Takei currently serves as a spokesperson for the Human Rights Campaign "Coming Out Project." In 2006 he embarked on a nationwide "Equality Trek" speaking tour sharing his life as a gay Japanese American, his eighteen year relationship with Altman, Frontrunners, and ''Star Trek'', encouraging others to share their own personal stories. In the wake of the 2007 controversy over ex-NBA player Tim Hardaway's anti-gay statements, Takei recorded a mock public service announcement (PSA) which began as a serious message of tolerance, then turned the tables on Hardaway by proclaiming that while he may hate gay people, they love him and other "sweaty basketball players." This was aired on ''Jimmy Kimmel Live''. Takei also appeared on the Google float at San Francisco Pride 2007.

On May 16, 2008, Takei announced that he and Brad Altman would be getting married. They were the first same-sex couple to apply for a marriage license in West Hollywood. On June 17, shortly after Takei and Altman obtained their marriage license, they spread the news by holding a press conference outside the West Hollywood city auditorium. They were married on September 14, 2008 at the Democracy Forum of the Japanese American National Museum in Los Angeles, of which Takei is one of the founders. Walter Koenig was his best man, and Nichelle Nichols was the matron of honor. Reverend William Briones of the Nishi Hongwanji Buddhist Temple of Los Angeles presided. William Shatner has stated that he was not invited to the wedding. Takei claims Shatner was invited, but did not RSVP. Takei's friend, author Peter David, corroborated Takei's account, relating a conversation he had with the couple the previous July in which both Takei and Altman stated their intention to invite Shatner. During the December 26, 2009 episode of the NPR program ''Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me'', Takei repeated his assertion that Shatner had been invited and did not respond to the invitation.

Takei's marriage is one of thousands of same-sex marriages that took place at a time when same-sex marriage was legal in California. The California Supreme Court ruled that Proposition 8, which banned same-sex marriage in California, did not affect Takei's marriage and other same-sex marriages entered into before its passing on 4 November 2008.

Takei and Altman appeared in a celebrity edition of ''The Newlywed Game'' TV show, which the GSN cable network aired October 13, 2009. They were the first same-sex couple to be featured on the show. Takei and Altman won the game, winning $10,000 for their charity, the Japanese American National Museum.

In February 2010 Takei and Altman became the second same-sex couple to appear on British game show ''All Star Mr & Mrs'' , losing to rugby star Phil Vickery and wife Kate.

In November 2010, George Takei released another PSA blasting former Arkansas school board member Clint McCance. In the video, Takei repeatedly calls McCance “a douche bag.” Takei's video was made as a response to McCance making blatantly homophobic remarks, stating that he “enjoys the fact that [homosexuals] give each other AIDS and die.” McCance went on to encourage homosexuals to commit suicide, and stated that he would disown his children if they were gay. Clint McCance has since resigned from his job at the Arkansas school board. Takei, who has long been an advocate for gay rights and an active participant in LGBT organizations, has been praised for his in-your-face response to McCance and garnered much media attention with his most recent PSA.

In May 2011, in response to a Tennessee State Legislature bill that prohibited school teachers or students from using any language that alludes to the existence of homosexuality (the "Don't Say Gay" bill), George Takei released another PSA in which he offered up his name, suggesting that people could just substitute that for 'gay'. For example, they could support ''Takei Marriage'' or watch ''Takei Pride Parades''; or even use slurs like ''That's so Takei''.

Takei is a Buddhist.

Takei is an avid Anglophile. On his personal website he had this to say: 'Those who know me know that I am an inconvertible Anglophile – or more broadly, a Britanophile, which includes my affection for Scotland and Wales as well. I love things British. My car is British. My wardrobe, to a good extent, is British. I even love the food in London – I think British food has shaken its prevailing perception as indigestible and become quite wonderful. I try to get to Britain for holidays as often as I can. I love things British.'

Awards and recognition

In 2004, the government of Japan conferred the Order of the Rising Sun, Gold Rays with Rosette, which represents the fourth highest of eight classes associated with the award. This decoration was presented in acknowledgment of his contributions to US-Japanese relations.

Asteroid 7307 Takei is named in his honor.

:(7307) Takei = 1994 GT9 Discovered 1994 Apr. 13 by Y. Shimizu and T. Urata at Nachi-Katsuura. George Takei (b. 1937) is an actor best known for his role as Mr. Sulu in the original Star Trek television series. He also has a lengthy record of public service through his involvement with organizations such as the Japanese American Citizens League and the Human Rights Campaign. The name was suggested by T. H. Burbine.

Upon learning of the decision to name the asteroid after him, he said, "I am now a heavenly body. ... I found out about it yesterday. ... I was blown away. It came out of the clear, blue sky—just like an asteroid."

Bibliography

References

External links

George Takei biography at StarTrek.com

George Takei Interview at the Archive of American Television portal

Category:1937 births Category:Living people Category:Actors from California Category:American Buddhists Category:American people of Japanese descent Category:American actors of Japanese descent Category:American artists of Japanese descent Category:American bloggers Category:American film actors Category:American male singers Category:American television actors Category:American voice actors Category:Gay actors Category:I'm a Celebrity…Get Me out of Here! contestants Category:Japanese-American internees Category:LGBT Asian Americans Category:LGBT Buddhists Category:LGBT rights activists from the United States Category:Recipients of the Order of the Rising Sun Category:People from Los Angeles, California Category:University of California, Los Angeles alumni Category:Video game actors

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