Branford’s Jim Bell Heads Up NBC’S Olympic Games

When Jim Bell, executive producer of the NBC Olympic games, unveils the XXXI Olympics from Rio de Janeiro this weekend, he will remember his Branford High singing group experience ​“that has served me well to this day.”

Bell will oversee his 11th Olympics and will lead a team of over 3,000 people who are tasked with broadcasting nearly 7,000 hours of Olympic coverage worldwide. He is seen in the photo above at NBC’s control center in Rio getting ready for the Opening Ceremonies tonight at 7:30 p.m. on NBC.

Bell is an accomplished producer, guiding some of the highest profile sports and news programming worldwide on television. The 2012 London Olympics became the most watched event in U.S. history with more than 217 million viewers.

When asked if he had any unusual concerns or fears about producing the Olympics, Bell said, ​“There are always concerns about security and readiness. Unfortunately in today’s world, whether you’re at the Boston Marathon or enjoying Bastille Day in Nice, you just don’t know. But it’s important that the Olympics take place. As much as anything these days, the games offer the potential for unity, healing and hope.”

The games actually began before the torch was lit on Wednesday with a number of women’s soccer games, including a game in which the USA defeated New Zealand 2 – 0.

The XXXI Olympiad will include a record number of countries and a record number of sports. There will be 10,500 athletes competing and 28 sports. Golf and Rugby are new to the games this year.

Outside His Comfort Zone

Bell is a 1985 graduate of Branford High School, where he was an outstanding scholar and athlete. He said in an interview with the Eagle via email, ​“To this day, I remain humbled, grateful and amazed at the quality of teachers I had at BHS. Their level of instruction and passion for teaching was simply remarkable.”

He continued, ​“And I took a chance going out of my comfort zone to join a group called the Ensemble Singers. It was unusual for an athlete to be in a singing group but I felt tremendous support and the teacher of the singing group, Tahme Adinolfi. She was something of a seminal figure for me in high school, and she made it not just easy but fun.” Adinolfi, a retired music teacher, taught at Guilford High School as well.

“I also got to compete in sports with great coaches and teammates,” Bell said in his email interview. As an athlete Bell played both football and basketball for the Hornets. Over three varsity seasons the Hornet football team went 22 – 8 in the former Housatonic League. In his senior year he was a captain and was selected First Team All-Housatonic and First Team All-State.

On the basketball court Bell played all four years. He was a captain his senior year and selected All Housatonic and Most Valuable Player in the Branford Holiday Festival Basketball Tournament.

After high school Bell went to Harvard College where he played football for coach Joe Restic and was a member of the 1987 Ivy League championship team that finished with an 8 – 2 record. In his senior year he was named All Ivy First Team and All New England First Team.

After graduating from Harvard in 1989 he went to Barcelona, Spain, and played football for the Barcelona Boxers from 1989 to 1992. While working as a translator there he became a coordinating producer of NBC’s Olympic coverage of the Barcelona games, profiling athletes. Over the following 14 years he produced NBC broadcasts of the NFL, MLB, and the NBA and won Emmys for the 1997 NBA Finals and Wimbledon tennis in 1998.

From 2005 until 2012 Bell was the executive producer of the ​“Today” Show. His tenure there earned seven Emmys, seven Edward R. Murrow Awards, and nine Headliner Awards. Bell also won Emmys for his work on the 1992, 1996, 2000, 2002, and 2012 Olympics and a Peabody for NBC’s coverage of the 2008 Beijing Olympics Opening Ceremony.

Another high honor for the former Branford standout athlete was his induction into the Branford Sports Hall of Fame in 2005. Here he is receiving his Branford Sports Hall of Fame plaque in 2005 from founder and co-chairman Bill O’Brien.

Bell, 49, often vacations in Branford with his wife, Angelique, and their four sons, Jimmy, Lucas, Emmett and Nicky.

When asked what he remembered most about his days in Branford he said, ​“I remember a wonderful, loving and supportive community of family, friends, neighbors, teachers and coaches. It’s not that each of these departments didn’t have their challenges from time to time. Of course, they did. But with apologies to Goldilocks, I always felt that Branford’s porridge was just right, for me at least.” 

Go, Jim!
###