
Tom Goldman
Tom Goldman is NPR's sports correspondent. His reports can be heard throughout NPR's news programming, including Morning Edition and All Things Considered, and on NPR.org.
With a beat covering the entire world of professional sports, both in and outside of the United States, Goldman reporting covers the broad spectrum of athletics from the people to the business of athletics.
During his nearly 30 years with NPR, Goldman has covered every major athletic competition including the Super Bowl, the World Series, the NBA Finals, golf and tennis championships, and the Olympic Games.
His pieces are diverse and include both perspective and context. Goldman often explores people's motivations for doing what they do, whether it's solo sailing around the world or pursuing a gold medal. In his reporting, Goldman searches for the stories about the inspirational and relatable amateur and professional athletes.
Goldman contributed to NPR's 2009 Edward R. Murrow award for his coverage of the 2008 Beijing Olympics and to a 2010 Murrow Award for contribution to a series on high school football, "Friday Night Lives." Earlier in his career, Goldman's piece about Native American basketball players earned a 2004 Dick Schaap Excellence in Sports Journalism Award from the Center for the Study of Sport in Society at Northeastern University and a 2004 Unity Award from the Radio-Television News Directors Association.
In January 1990, Goldman came to NPR to work as an associate producer for sports with Morning Edition. For the next seven years he reported, edited, and produced stories and programs. In June 1997, he became NPR's first full-time sports correspondent.
For five years before NPR, Goldman worked as a news reporter and then news director in local public radio. In 1984, he spent a year living on an Israeli kibbutz. Two years prior he took his first professional job in radio in Anchorage, Alaska, at the Alaska Public Radio Network.
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U.S. sprinter Sha'Carri Richardson was poised to be a breakout star at the Tokyo Summer Olympics until a positive test for marijuana disqualified her from the 100 meter race.
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The Portland Trailblazers and Dallas Mavericks have hired new coaches with stellar records as players — but questionable off-court problems. The moves have roiled the typically progressive NBA.
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Laws take effect this week in seven states that allow college athletes to be compensated for their name, image and likeness. It opens the door for collegians to make money off endorsement deals.
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The delayed Tokyo Olympics will begin in July. Despite continued COVID-19 uncertainty surrounding the games, U.S. athletes are going through the Olympic trials for the right to compete in Tokyo.
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Nearly 20 states will soon allow NCAA athletes to accept cash for the use of their image, name and likeness. Many say the result will be unfair advantages for some schools unless Congress acts.
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The NBA playoffs are in full swing — and some of the excitement has spilled over into ugly fan incidents directed at players. Several fans have been ejected and, in some cases, arrested.
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The drumbeat for canceling the Tokyo Summer Olympics gets louder every day. There are also strong calls to boycott the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics because of China's alleged human rights abuses.
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The NFL Draft is in person again, and after last year's virtual event, the league wants it to represent a return to normal. But there will be plenty of reminders of a still present pandemic.
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The Gonzaga Bulldogs went into the men's championship basketball game undefeated. After the final buzzer, it was the Baylor Bears who were victorious. Baylor beat Gonzaga 86-70.
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The game should be two complete, deep basketball teams going at each other. Fans hope that's how it turns out.