Co-Author of “Sports Heaven,” a book on the birth of ESPN, to speak at Tolland Public Library on O

Mike Soltys, the co-author of “Sports Heaven: The Birth of ESPN,” will discuss the origin story of the sports network on Monday, Oct. 26 at the 6:30 p.m. at the Tolland Public Library at 21 Tolland Green in Tolland.
Soltys wrote the book, a companion to the documentary of the same name that was released in April, with ESPN founder Bill Rasmussen and Garrett Z. Sutton, the documentary’s executive producer. Soltys was hired at ESPN as a college intern in 1980 while a University of Connecticut student and spent 43 years in corporate communications for the network. He returned to ESPN in 2024 as a part-time historian.
Rasmussen founded the network dubbed the “worldwide leader in sports” with his son Scott in 1979. He died on Aug. 18 at age 93.
The free book talk is being sponsored by the Tolland Public Library Foundation as part of its Eaton-Dimock-King Authors Series, which is now beginning its 16^th year.
Space is limited for Soltys’ talk, and registration is required. Register at https://tollandct.libcal.com/event/17372083.
The book is based on the diary that Bill Rasmussen kept in 1978-79. Shortly after being fired from the New England Whalers in 1978, Bill Rasmussen developed his ambitious plan for a 24/7 sports network. At a time when national sports coverage was limited and cable television was still emerging, Rasmussen’s vision challenged conventional thinking about how sports could reach fans.
“Only Bill Rasmussen can take you back, back…to the beginning of the greatest success story in the history of sports television,” ESPN anchor Chris Berman writes in the book’s foreward. “His ideas, his fierce determination and belief in success changed the way we all watch television and televised sports today.”