Witnessing History: Glenview Native Covering Bucks' NBA Title Run

MILWAUKEE, WI — If the NBA Finals come to an end Tuesday night in Milwaukee, amid all the champagne, cigars and hoopla for the home team will be a Glenview native. Scott Grodsky, a 2007 graduate of Glenbrook South High School, is covering the game for CBS affiliate WDJT-TV.

"It's been a pretty awesome series. You heard enough times going in about how it was going to be one of the worse Finals because people don't like the smaller markets," Grodsky said of the matchup between the Milwaukee Bucks and Phoenix Suns. "It turned out to be between two incredibly evenly-matched teams."

Heading into Tuesday night's tilt in Milwaukee, the Bucks hold a 3-2 lead over the Suns in the best-of-seven affair. It's been 50 years since Milwaukee last won an NBA title, so Grodsky is expecting the city to be in a very celebratory mood if things go according to plan. While some experts think the series might go seven games, he thinks the Bucks are in the driver's seat to hoist the championship trophy at home.

"I think they have all the momentum in the world. I think the way Jrue Holiday snatched the ball away from Devin Booker [in Milwaukee's Game 5 victory] sort of snatched the hopes away from the Suns," said Grodsky, who will be covering the game in-person at the Fiserv Forum.

For Grodsky, the dream to cover sports on the big stage came about while attending GBS. Doing a little bit of everything, he worked at the school's own radio station, WGBK. The station gave Grodsky the opportunity to do sports talk shows and play-by-play. He did the latter for all the football games, most basketball games and some other sports from time to time.

"It was an opportunity that I was very lucky to have. There are not many schools in the country that have radio programs, let alone very strong radio programs," Grodsky said.

He dipped his toes in the sports broadcasting world as a freshman at GBS and knew that it was what he wanted to do for a living by his sophomore year.

Though admitting he was never the greatest athlete, Grodsky got into sports at an early age, and the love for them was passed down through his family, especially by his father. His rooting interests varied, sometimes determined by a team's colors or logo, but he did find himself cheering on the Chicago Blackhawks locally.

"Chicago is a great sports town. It's a great place to root for sports, whether you're a fan of the Chicago teams or any others," Grodsky said. "It's a great place to realize the importance of sports and how powerful sports can be in connecting a community."

Following graduation from GBS, Grodsky went on to study broadcasting at Syracuse University. From Bob Costas to Mike Tirico, the school has produced a who's who of famous sports broadcasters over the years.

Before making it to Milwaukee, he had stints at television stations in Grand Forks, North Dakota, and at a CBS affiliate in Rockford, Illinois. He has been awarded as the best sportscaster in Illinois, Wisconsin and North Dakota. Grodsky has also been honored for his news writing and storytelling.

Since 2016, he has worked for WDJT-TV. Grodsky said the sports scene in Milwaukee and Wisconsin is electric right now between the first-place Brewers in baseball, the run by the Bucks and the always popular Green Bay Packers in the NFL. For the latter, he has covered three NFC Championship games. Grodsky said fans in the state are hungry for a championship.

"Since the Packers won Super Bowl XLV (2011), there have been an insane amount of close calls for Wisconsin. Usually, the teams have lost in the conference championship games," Grodsky said.

Grodsky said covering the Bucks, especially superstar Giannis Antetokounmpo, has been especially rewarding the last few seasons. He called the team "down-to-earth," mild-mannered and business-focused, but also realize that what they're doing in special.

For CBS, Grodsky also does a feature series called, "Play It Forward," where he features coaches and athletes giving back to the community. He started it right before the pandemic and said it continues to grow into what he envisions it will eventually be.

"There are so many of these athletes who are doing phenomenal work in the community," Grodsky said. "[I think] sometimes it goes unnoticed. I sometimes think we focus on all the horrible things that happen when it comes to athletes ... The number of athletes that have their own foundations that people don't know about is astounding."

Saying an internship with a newspaper after his freshman year made him realize what he did and didn't want to do for a career, Grodsky had some advice for people looking to get into the broadcasting profession.

"Get as involved as you can, whether it's in school, out of school, internships, student stations. Anything you do in this business, though it applies to all, but especially this one, there is no one thing you'll do and it's a mistake," Grodsky said. "The worse case scenario is you realize something isn't for you."

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