Fox Sports has announced a new special documentary “Back to School With Gus Johnson,” a one-hour celebration of its very own announcer Gus Johnson. The doc will premiere Feb. 18 at 7 p.m. EST on Fox.
The upcoming documentary provides a look into how fan-favorite sports announcer Johnson has navigated both the broadcast booth and Harvard lecture room. “Back to School” invites audiences to peek into Johnson’s journey, from his childhood in Detroit and the rise of his broadcasting career to his most recent venture — returning to academia. For one year, the man in the broadcasting booth held two full-time jobs: a student at Harvard during the week and Fox Sports’ lead college football and basketball announcer on the weekends.
Johnson’s latest venture involves his recruitment by Harvard for the university’s Advanced Leadership Initiative (ALI), an innovative academic program designed to unleash the potential of experienced leaders to help solve society’s most pressing challenges. “At 55 years old, I don’t want to just be a voice. I can contribute more,” Johnson said of the pivot. “So I decided it was time to get my butt back in school.”
He added, “I was nervous about letting people into my life, but I thought if I could show kids through my journey that education is cool, it was worth it. I think this is a really good story and hope that it inspires. I also hope fans enjoy watching some fantastic folks at a great school, and get new insights into sports as well as the pursuit of lifelong learning.”
This once-in-a-lifetime opportunity allowed the sports personality to meet with a diverse group of global leaders, as well as enabled Johnson to utilize his voice beyond the game to affect change in the lives of others. “The subtext of this program is social change and having a social impact on the world,” explained Johnson. “We’ve had deep dives on race, human rights [and] mental health.”
Johnson admits maintaining both full-time professional and academic careers wasn’t easy. As the documentary’s trailer concludes, Johnson signs offand then abruptly turns the camera and says: “Now let me go back and write a paper. I have to write a paper now! What was I thinking!”
“Back to School With Gus Johnson” is directed and produced by Chris Weber. Johnson, Craig Robinson and Jay Sharman serve as the executive producers, while Eric Shanks, Mark Silverman, Charlie Dixon and Barry Nugent serve as producers.
Watch the trailer for the special below.
