Minnesota State University - Mankato Athletics

1977 MSU graduate Brad Nessler is one of the leading television sports play-by-play commentators in the business, calling games for both ESPN and ABC.

As a college student, it was at MSU were Nessler got his start by handling radio broadcasts for the school's sports teams on the campus radio station.

Nessler began his professional career as a sports anchor and talk show host for WGST-Radio in Atlanta in 1980. In 1985, he became sports director at WSB-Radio, also in Atlanta. While at the Atlanta stations, he handled radio play-by-play of Georgia Tech basketball (1980-85) and the Atlanta Falcons (1982-88) before assuming the same duty for the Minnesota Vikings on WCCO (1988-89). He has worked for ESPN since 1992, and added ABC assignments in 1997 while continuing to handle college football and basketball games for ABC and ESPN. He’s also the play-by-play voice of EA Sports NCAA Football and college basketball March Madness video games.  Nessler also has served as play-by-play announcer for Miami Dolphins preseason telecasts.  Nessler joined CBS in 1990 and worked on college football and men’s and women’s basketball, including the NCAA Division I Women’s Championship game, and NFL games. He also was the network’s host for speed skating coverage at the 1992 Olympic Winter Games in Albertville, France. 

Since 1992, Nessler has returned each year to his hometown of St. Charles, Minn., to host The Nessler Memorial, a charity golf tournament named after his late father, Bob. All proceeds from the annual event go toward cancer research.