Who is Donald Tirico?
Donald Tirico was the father of an American sports commentator, Mike Tirico. Donald’s son, Mike Tirico is known to have worked with ESPN for 25 years, but currently works with NBC, as a play-by-play announcer on their Sunday Night Football. He has been active in the sports broadcasting industry from 1987 to date.
Biography
Donald Tirico was born in the United States of America, in 1942, the exact date unknown. He was born into an African-American family in New York City. Though his family was basically African-American, most of them were white. Donald was an American by nationality and belonged to the black race.
Information with regard to his educational background is unavailable on the Internet. He lived a private life and did not disclose any details about his family background.
He passed away on December 11, 2022, in New York City. He was 81 years old. He was succeeded by his son, Mike Tirico.
Career
Donald has not revealed anything concerning his career path.
However, his son, Mike Tirico has a career in the broadcasting field, sports to be precise. He started out by being a sports news anchor at ESPN in 1991. Around that time, he was an undergraduate student at Syracuse University. He stayed working with the company after he graduated from university.
Mike was made to host various sporting shows on ESPN, including Thursday Night college football, which covered college basketball coverage and golf coverage. Twenty-five years after working for ESPN, he left the company.
He currently works at NBC Sports. Aside from television shows, Donald Tirico’s son, Mike, has worked on radio. He had his own radio show on WAER, a radio station at Syracuse University. He left the show in May 2009.
Who was Donald Tirico married to?
Donald Tirico was married to Maria Tirico. There is little information with regard to their marriage. Together as a couple, they gave birth to Mike Tirico. According to Mike Tirico’s Wikipedia page, it is noted that Maria Tirico is an Italian-American. “The only contact I had growing up was with my mom’s side of the family. And they are all as white as the refrigerator I’m standing in front of right now.” Mike disclosed about Maria.
Their marriage ended when their son, Mike was only four years old. The reason for their divorce remains unknown.
Mike Tirico does not have a good relationship with his parents, especially his father, Donald. In most of his interviews, he rarely talks about his father. It seems Donald left his family behind, after the divorce.
Both Donald and Maria Tirico, Mike Tirico’s parents are hardly in the news. Their claim to fame is their son’s frequent appearance in the limelight.
Donald’s son, Mike Tirico, has been invloved in a lot of controversies
Aside from being a famous sports broadcaster, Donald Tirico’s son, Mike has a lot of dark issues associated with his name. Some of which nearly ended his career.
In 1992, he was suspended for three months by EPSN for three months. The suspension came when news of his involvement in several cases of sexual harassment. This happened during his second year at ESPN. Many women came out to share stories of their own experiences with Mike. Two books were even written to shed more light on the scandal of sexual harassment.
Another of Mike’s controversies is, his claim that he does not see himself as a black man. In one interview, he disclosed that he was raised in New York by his Italian mother, and all of her family members were white. Due to this, he sees himself as white and black as many see him to be. Many people saw his claims to be racially demeaning to the black race and took to various social media platforms to bash him.
This controversial side of Mike made his employment with NBC unwelcome news. The network took a lot of heat for bringing a man with a ”dark” side to be on their platform.
How much is Donald Tirico worth?
Donald Tirico has no disclosed net worth. However, his son, Mike Tirico has an estimated net worth of $14 million, with an annual salary of $4 million, according to celebritynetworth.com