Episode 18 – In Memory of Barry S. Sacks (November 22, 1959 to February 12, 2023).
Garrett Boorojian and his former ESPN / ABC College Football Live colleague, Barry Sacks, discussed relationship building in a team environment.
A 33–year veteran and Emmy Award winning producer at ESPN, who was known universally throughout the ESPN community as a legendary figure at The Worldwide Leader in Sports, Barry was one of the key founders of the iconic ESPN shows, “SportsCenter” and “College Gameday.”
Garrett, as the ABC / ESPN Studio Project Production Assistant, and Barry, as the ESPN / ABC Senior Coordinating Producer, worked together during the 2011 ESPN / ABC College Football Live season in Bristol, Connecticut.
During their one–hour plus long interview on December 29, 2021, Barry and Garrett talked about a lot of different topics, from the time Barry started at ESPN, highlighting some of the life–changing sporting events he covered, to what his current roles were at the time of the interview, which were serving as the Executive Producer at the WNBA’s Connecticut Sun Basketball and a journalism professor at Quinnipiac University.
Also, in his conversation with Garrett, Barry talked about his hopes for the future in the broadcast journalism industry, the challenges with social media and COVID-19 in their profession, and what young people should prioritize to become successful professionals. Toward the conclusion of their interview, Barry emphasized his interest to connect with and help others in any way possible.
Their Zoom interview was the first time seeing each other in 10 years. They would hear from each other in that 10–year period, but in 2022 they kept in more frequent contact via several communication channels (such as via phone call, LinkedIn, and Facebook).
As Garrett has said before, relationship building is the essence of humanity. Barry was the epitome of relationship building. He showed everyone what humanity is all about by bringing people together to build relationships with one another, as a family.
Barry’s mindset was for teams to achieve common goals in order to celebrate collective success.
There are many others at ESPN, past and present, who worked with Barry a lot longer, and knew him a lot longer, than Garrett. Garrett’s thankful for and humbled by the time he and Barry knew each other.
Barry always referred to Garrett as “G,” which symbolized their friendship in time.
Rest in eternal peace, Barry.