ESPN Promotional Posters Collection

Collection

Identifier: MSSP 10084

Staff Only

Scope and Contents

The ESPN Promotional Posters Collection contains six promotional posters printed in about 1982 for the television network ESPN. Each full-color poster depicts a different sport televised by ESPN. The bottom of each poster features the tagline “The Total Sports Network” and the logo for ESPN.

Dates

Creation: c. 1982

Creator

Fuchs, Bernie, 1932-2009 (Person)

Conditions Governing Access

There are no access restrictions on this collection.

Conditions Governing Use

Copyright status for collection materials is unknown. Transmission or reproduction of materials protected by U.S. Copyright Law (Title 17, U.S.C.) beyond that allowed by fair use requires the written permission of the copyright owners. Works not in the public domain cannot be commercially exploited without permission of the copyright owners. Responsibility for any use rests exclusively with the user.

Biographical / Historical

Founded in 1978, ESPN pioneered the concept of a television channel devoted solely to sports programming. The cable network first went on the air on September 7, 1979, and began broadcasting 24 hours per day in September 1980. In the early years of ESPN, network executives used promotional material like posters to raise awareness of the network, to convince cable companies to carry the channel, and to inform viewers about the network.

Illustrator Bernard “Bernie” Fuchs (1932-2009) was well known for his work in national advertising campaigns and for popular magazines. He also frequently created illustrations depicting sports, including more than 50 covers for Sports Illustrated. In the early 1980s, he created six promotional posters for ESPN.

Fuchs’s peers regularly recognized his work. The Society of Illustrators named Fuchs to its Hall of Fame in 1975, and, in 1991, the American Sport Art Museum recognized Fuchs as its Sports Artist of the Year.