Bob Walsh (sports executive)

He was a producer of the Al Capp syndicated television show (RKO General) and Program Director of KABC Radio in Los Angeles from 1967 to 1973.

At KABC he programmed shows hosted by Regis Philbin, Patty Morrow (Peyton Place), Mr. Blackwell, Keith Jackson, David Cassidy, Marv Gray, Bob Arthur, Army Archerd, Robert Vaughn (Man from U.N.C.L.E.)

In 1971 he hired journalist Joe Ortiz, the first Mexican American to host an English-language talk show on a commercial radio station.

He handled marketing for coaches Lenny Wilkens, Bill Russell and Jack Ramsey, movie producer Stanley Kramer, and Olympic gold medalists Tracie Ruiz (synchronized swimming) and Olga Korbut of the Soviet Union (gymnastics).

[4][3] Walsh has produced many major sporting events, the NCAA credits him with starting the March Madness celebration in 1984 in Seattle when he was executive director of the Final Four Host Committee.

His company, Bob Walsh Enterprises, was responsible for the 1995 successful bid for the Vancouver Grizzlies franchise in the National Basketball Association.

[13] He directed the first Western relief efforts at the request of Soviet General Secretary Gorbachev after the 1988 Armenian earthquake, the first time American citizens and aircraft were allowed behind the Iron Curtain without visas since World War II.

[19] Walsh received the Supreme Soviet Award from the Chairman of the USSR for his humanitarian activities during the Cold War[5][6] and was named an "Honorary Citizen of the Republic of Georgia" by former President Eduard Shevardnadze.