By Daniel Johnson, Sports Editor
CBS Sports coordinating producer and ACU alumnus Lance Barrow has seen his fair share of great sports moments.
From witnessing Tiger Woods’ first Masters win in 1997 to ACU’s own Danieal Manning’s first Super Bowl in January, Barrow, a 1978 graduate, has produced sports for CBS for more than 25 years and has won eight Emmy awards for his work.
But Wednesday, Barrow modestly accepted an honor of his own when the ACU athletics program named the classroom inside Teague Special Events Center where the football coaching staff does the most of its film work the “Lance Barrow Football Film/Editing Classroom.”
“Wait until Phil Simms finds out I have a film room named after me,” Barrow said, alluding to the former NFL quarterback and CBS announcer in front of a crowd of ACU administrators, coaches and his family Wednesday.
Barrow was presented with a plaque that will hang outside the video-editing classroom. The plaque thanked Barrow for his contributions to the athletics program and congratulated the Emmy-award winning producer for his heralded career, which began as a spotter/researcher in 1975 for CBS golf coverage. From there, Barrow has worked his way up the CBS sports ladder and attributed some of his success to being, “at the right place, at the right time,”
“To have my name on a plaque especially with a classroom involved in it is something else,” Barrow said.
But Barrow’s connection to the ACU athletics program extends well beyond the new plaque and classroom carrying his name. A former ACU football and baseball player during the 70s, Barrow’s ties to the athletics program run deep, and athletics director Jared Mosley said he has been instrumental in helping the athletics program grow.
“Thirty years ago I was running you up and down this field, but we’re not going to do that today,” athletic director emeritus and Barrow’s coach during the 70s Wally Bullington said jokingly to the producer during the presentation.
Barrow’s career includes producing coverage of the 1994 Olympics, numerous PGA tournaments, the 1998 Daytona 500 and his latest achievement was producing Super Bowl XLI, his first to produce and a game in which Manning started for the Chicago Bears. As an associate producer for CBS Barrow’s resume includes the Masters and PGA championship; NCAA Men’s Final Four; Daytona 500; the U.S. Open Tennis Championships; “The NFL Today” and six Super Bowls.
But regardless of his success in the sports production world, he said it’s always great to come “home,” to ACU.
