RIP Howie Schwab
- Thread starter WalterMatthau
- Start date
Followed him on X (Twitter) appears he was hospitalized for foot infection for a few days RIP
sju2000alum
Well-known member
Very sad news my stepfather went to school with him and knew him well and we used to sit next to his parents at alumni hall every game such nice people.
jerseyshorejohnny
Well-known member
Catching up with Howie Schwab, the man ESPN turned into a trivia star
By Joe McDonald
May 27, 2020
12
In the days before smartphones, every sports department of every newspaper in the country would receive calls on a nightly basis from patrons at neighborhood bars, asking to answer a sports trivia question.
It would go something like this:
Editorial assistant: “Sports.”
A well-lubricated bar patron: “Yeah, what number did Pele wear?”
Editorial assistant: “No. 10.”
Then you would hear the excited callers arguing.
“He said No. 10. I told you. ‘Tell my buddy,’” patron No. 1 would say and he handed the payphone to his friend.
Patron No. 2: “Yeah, what number did Pele wear?”
Editorial assistant: “No. 10.”
Patron No. 2: “That’s baloney!”
In a newsroom full of sports nerds, someone would always have the correct answer. It was rare when it would have to be researched as the drunken callers were put on hold. And, they would wait for the answer.
Those types of phone calls dramatically decreased with the invention of the smartphone when sports fans could look up an answer in seconds.
But before the smartphone came along, ESPN made this back-and-forth into a game show called “Stump the Schwab,” built around the network’s Sultan of Sports Trivia, Howie Schwab. It aired for four seasons (80 episodes) from 2004 to 2006 and was hosted by Stuart Scott. Each episode had three contestants competing against Schwab.
Incredibly, Schwab posted a 64-16 record during the show’s run. It turned him into a niche superstar in the insular world of sports trivia. Even now, fans will recognize him on the street and attempt to stump him.
“I had one guy walk up to me in Atlanta and ask: ‘Who’s the only player to win the Heisman Trophy and play in a Final Four?’ He freaked out when I answered it,” Schwab said. “It was Terry Baker from Oregon State.”
OK, Schwab, who was the only player to win a World Series and NBA championship?
“Gene Conley, the pitcher,” he quickly answered.
Schwab, 59, lives in Fort Lauderdale with his wife. The sports trivia guru has a few things in the works but he’s still proud of his record from the show.
“I’m proud of that. Eighty percent is pretty darn good,” he said of the winning percentage he had on the show. “There were a couple of times when people were better. I’ll admit it. I had no problem with it. I remember one time I was disappointed because this guy was a cocky SOB who beat me and it bothered me a little. Bottom line is I’ve lived through so many things in sports and I’ve always been into sports, so (getting stumped) was fine.”
There were times when the network would tape four shows per day, so it didn’t take long for Schwab to suffer a bit of mental fatigue.
“But that’s no excuse,” he said. “Hey, I got beat sometimes and it’s OK. I’m a human being. It’s funny because everyone would say, ‘Oh, you think everybody is dumb.’ I’m a human being and it’s OK.”
At one point, Schwab and Dick Vitale were in Las Vegas when another man approached them on the street.
The man came up and told Schwab, “I can beat you.”
“Do you know how many times I’ve heard that?” Schwab said. “Oh, my God.”
ESPN hired Schwab in 1987 and during his 26-year career at the network he served in numerous roles, including coordinating producer for the website, along with studio shows “SportsCenter” and “Outside the Lines.” He was part of a massive layoff by ESPN in 2013.
His time on “Stump the Schwab” was the highlight. Every episode he would wear a different team’s jersey.
“I had a great time with it,” Schwab said. “It was good. I enjoyed it because people were competing and they enjoyed it.”
Scott, asking the questions from a podium, would dare contestants to “challenge the Socrates of the stat sheet” in a way only he could deliver that type of catchphrase.
Schwab enjoyed working with Scott.
“Stuart was great,” he said, “and we had such fun. It was great that I got to see his daughters grow up. They’re great people, great girls, and I’m happy I still periodically get to communicate with them.”
Schwab remembers one particularly funny story about Scott performing a gymnastics routine on the show.
“I remember it like it was yesterday,” Schwab said. “They were going to have a stunt double but Stuart actually did it. It was hysterical. We had such great times and I miss him terribly. He was just a great person, a caring person. Ah, memories.”
Scott passed away from cancer in 2015. He was 49.
Since the two had solid chemistry on set and played off one another well, some accused them of getting the answers ahead of time. Schwab’s success probably fueled those conspiracy theories too.
“No, they never gave us the answers,” Schwab said. “I’ve heard that one, too. ‘Oh, they must’ve given you the answers.’ No. Never. Believe me when you’re doing a game show, they had security around and they made sure no one came into our dressing rooms. They were very, very tight-lipped.”
Recently, a former high school classmate contacted Schwab and asked if he would be interested in working on the new sports trivia app.
He couldn’t wait to get started.
Now two companies, ACCESSWIRE and Clickstream Corp., have signed Schwab to host a digital trivia program. The sides are developing an app where users will be able to compete against Schwab in real time for a chance to win cash and prizes.
“It’ll be fun,” Schwab said. “I’m excited because it’ll be challenging. This thing is going to be great. I’m having fun setting this up and looking forward to hosting some shows. I just hope people want to compete and see how they do.”
Along with the app, Schwab still works with Vitale and the two are thinking about writing a possible book.
If you happen to challenge Schwab on his new app, or see him in public, just don’t choose his strongest sport – college basketball.
jerseyshorejohnny
Well-known member
Howie Schwab, legendary ESPN behind-the-scenes producer, dies at 63
By Mark Puleo and Mike Smeltz
Apr 20, 2024
21
Howie Schwab, a longtime ESPN producer and host of “Stump the Schwab,” died Saturday, the network announced. He was 63.
Schwab worked for the company for 26 years before spending time at Fox Sports. In the early years of ESPN’s now-famous show “First Take,” Schwab often appeared as a guest.
Schwab rose to prominence with the trivia show “Stump the Schwab,” which ran from 2004 to 2006. During the show, Schwab would face off against sports fans in a trivia contest. In 2020, Schwab told The Athletic he had a 64-16 record across the show’s 80 episodes.
“I’m proud of that. Eighty percent is pretty darn good,” he said of his winning percentage on the show. “There were a couple of times when people were better. I’ll admit it. I had no problem with it. I remember one time I was disappointed because this guy was a cocky SOB who beat me and it bothered me a little. Bottom line is I’ve lived through so many things in sports and I’ve always been into sports, so (getting stumped) was fine.”
Schwab’s impact on the industry
Growing up a sports-loving, mostly unathletic kid in the ’90s and early 2000s, ESPN was the primary source of entertainment in my life.The anchors on “SportsCenter” not only told you what happened during the games. They taught you how to be funny when talking about those games. Stuart Scott, Dan Patrick, Linda Cohn and Chris Berman were my Avengers (trust me, I know how nerdy that sounds).
For me, what was happening in the remote outpost of Bristol, Conn., was more magical than anything Disney World could offer. There was something confounding about it all. Wait, there’s a place I could work, where everyone loves sports as much as I do? And they talk about it all day?
No one better represented that ethos of “I LOVE SPORTS” than Schwab.
GO DEEPER
Catching up with Howie Schwab, the man ESPN turned into a trivia star
ESPN viewers probably should never have known who Schwab was. He was a TV producer, a behind-the-scenes person who handed the pretty on-air people notes and statistics. But yet there he was, on our TVs, as the star of a show named after him — “Stump the Schwab.”
Seeing Schwab in all his brainy glory was a peek behind the curtain for kids like me who grew up obsessing over ESPN. It revealed the type of people that filled the halls and cubicles of the Worldwide Leader in Sports. Nerds. More specifically, sports nerds.
“Stump the Schwab” ran for only three years but the impact of Schwab’s on-air career far outlived that brief window. In his way, he broke the mold of what type of person got to talk about sports on television. You could be a geek. You didn’t have to be a former athlete. And most importantly — the way you could win was through information, not by speaking the loudest.
Since his passing, remembrances for Schwab poured in from ex-ESPNers like Mike Tirico, Bruce Feldman and Doug Gottlieb. Schwab was so beloved that his kind nature is probably just about the only thing Dan Dakichand Keith Olbermann agree on these days.
There are times today when you watch sports TV talking heads and wonder whether they even like the sports they’re talking about. Schwab was the antithesis of that. He represented a joyfulness and pure love of sports that is more connected to the everyday fan. Rest easy, Schwab, and keep stumping those competitors during trivia night in the great beyond. — Mike Smeltz, executive producer
RIP Howie Schwab, you will be missed by Johnny Nation.
