Opportunity Knocked, Catalon Answered

Andrew Catalon, S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications '01 Grad

Opportunity Knocked, Catalon Answered  

Story by Erin Fish 

Photo from Andrew Catalon's Twitter

SYRACUSE, N.Y. – Working the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics changed Andrew Catalon’s life as a sports broadcaster, he says.

At the time Catalon was working as a local TV sports reporter for the NBC affiliate in Albany, N.Y. He says he loved his job there. The people were pleasant, he was gaining knowledge of the industry, and he also worked along side his wife, news personality, Jessica Layton. It seems he had it all. But Catalon had other aspirations. He wanted to do play-by-play.

By phone from Burlington, Vermont where he was attending a wedding, Catalon described the road that led him to his goal.

A push from a mentor

Working for an NBC affiliate, Catalon had covered the 2008 Summer Olympic Games in Beijing. In 2010, he was asked to cover the Vancouver Winter Olympics. While in Vancouver, he went to dinner with his mentor and fellow sports anchor, Fred Roggin, a veteran sports anchor for the KNBC-TV in Los Angeles. At dinner they discussed Catalon’s potential in the play-by-play business.

“He just told me, ya know look, you're really good at doing play-by-play and you should pursue this full time," Catalon said. "He said there's not as many opportunities anchoring maybe as there would be in play-by-play and if you're scared, don't be.” 

Catalon says the advice from Roggin was some of the best he has ever received in this business and the conversation gave him the confidence and the push he needed to move forward with play-by-play.

Never pass on an opportunity

From that moment on, Catalon says he has taken every opportunity that has come his way. He says he believes that no opportunity is a wasted opportunity. He has worked in sports that he knew very little about such as curling, luge and equestrian. These jobs have led him to meet great people and some have even led him to other job opportunities such as play-by-play for the NCAA Division I Men’s College Basketball Tournament and the NFL.

Catalon is now working for CBS sports as a play-by-play announcer. He says he still works with great people, he is still learning, and his wife Jessica now works at WCBS-TV in New York, and they live in New Jersey together with their son CJ.

When asked what advice he would give to someone in the shoes he was once in, Catalon passionately replied to never say no to an opportunity.

“It might seem ridiculous, it might be a far drive, it might not be worth a lot of money, and it might be worth no money," he says. "But you just never know where that could potentially lead you.”

Below is the full interview transcription with Andrew Catalon:

For the audio version click here.

Q: When you were at Syracuse, what do you think best prepared you for the industry?

A: I just think that from the professors, to the students, to the equipment, to everything we had access to. it really prepared me for the competitive environment that is this business. So I think the professors were pretty straightforward about how tough it is. The students all had that same drive and mentality of wanting to succeed. And the equipment that we had I think is second to none when you look at other communications schools around the country. So I just think that the environment, the culture of Syracuse and Newhouse is really what has helped prepare me most for this business.

Q: You started out in local TV because that's how I first started following your career. Do you think working for an affiliate of NBC at a local level helped you work your way up to where you are now?

A: Without a doubt. I feel that my first couple of jobs in television, you really learn, ya know, that a lot of things can go wrong because everyone is starting out new, some of the equipment is not as good as what we had in Syracuse. I think it was one of my teachers at Syracuse that said ya know, you're not any good until after you make your first one thousand mistakes. Those are the types of stations and opportunities where you can learn on the job and make some mistakes. So I think that it served me so well to this day being in, ya know my first job I was shooting, I was editing, I was writing, I was producing, I was anchoring, I was doing everything! And I think that really helped me to this day.

Q: So I was doing a little bit of research on you, and I read an article that said you had dinner with Fred Roggin at the Vancouver Winter Olympics and you told him that you were at a career crossroads of sorts and you liked your job at the local TV station, but you also felt like you wanted to do more with play-by-play. What ultimately led you to branching out and doing what you wanted to do?

A: That's some good research you did there! You had to dig that one up I'm impressed! No, there's no doubt that Fred was a big part of pushing me more towards play-by-play. I think of him as a mentor. We got to know each other pretty well through the Olympics. He just told me, ya know, look you're really good at doing play-by-play and you should pursue this full time. He said there's not as many opportunities anchoring maybe as there would be in play-by-play and if you're scared don't be. That was kind of what was holding me back. I mean I had some opportunities to do play-by-play but I was kind of hesitant to go full all out and leave local TV. He was the one that really helped kick me out the door and told me to go for it. It's definitely been some of the best advice I've received in this business.

Q: Coming from the Albany area, I'm a huge fan of the Andrew Catalon, Jessica Layton love story. So can you just tell me how important she has been to you and your career path? Because I know you both have had similar career paths, so.

A: Yeah, no absolutely. Look, it's a tough business. You gotta work weekends, you gotta work holidays, and you gotta work nights. And not everyone in a relationship can understand that. So what better person to be married to than someone who does the same exact thing or pretty close to what you do. I think that's really worked well for us. She knows that I have to travel during football and basketball season. I know if there's a big breaking story, even if we're sitting at a restaurant, she's gotta get up and go. And I think that understanding that we have about what our jobs and our careers are like has certainly made it a lot easier when she's running off or I'm on a plane traveling somewhere so it serves us very, very well.

Q: What has been the most exciting moment in your sports career?

A: What has been the most exciting moment? Um. I would say that a couple of years ago in the NCAA tournament. Georgia State upset Baylor and the coach's son, RJ Hunter, hit a game winning 3-pointer with less than a second to go and just the story of that was crazy. It was the coach's son; the coach was on a scooter because he had torn his Achilles the week before celebrating. It was a 14 seed beating a 3-seed. It was the excitement of the NCAA tournament and I was really happy with the way the call came out and the just the whole moment was pretty neat. So I would certainly think of that one as one of the better ones that I've had.

Q continued: Yeah, they've been telling us "It's all about story, it's all about story."

A: Yeah, I mean its true. If it wasn't the coach’s son, maybe if the coach hadn't fallen off his stool when his son hit the shot. There's just things that you can't make up that really added to how awesome that moment was.

Q: You've been an inspiration to me, seeing how hard you've worked to get to the top. What is the best advice you would have for the Newhouse sports student now, including myself?

A: Well, thank you for the kind words. That means a lot to me to be honest with you. My advice would be, something that served me well, is just never to say no to an opportunity. It might seem ridiculous, it might be a far drive, it might not be worth a lot of money, it might be worth no money. But you just never know where that could potentially lead you. Whether it's a job, or someone you meet who can help you get a job. I've done a lot of different sports that I didn't know hardly anything or nothing about at the time. Luge to equestrian to curling to ya know, things that I didn't even really know what they were until after I agreed to do them. It certainly helped me in many ways to do all of these different things and it has led me to meet a lot of great people and led me to certainly some jobs as well. I think that has been the best thing that I followed and the thing that I can pass along is that you never know where something’s going to lead so you should always just go for it.