Tom Goldman
Tom Goldman is NPR's sports correspondent. His reports can be heard throughout NPR's news programming, including Morning Edition and All Things Considered, and on NPR.org.
With a beat covering the entire world of professional sports, both in and outside of the United States, Goldman reporting covers the broad spectrum of athletics from the people to the business of athletics.
During his nearly 30 years with NPR, Goldman has covered every major athletic competition including the Super Bowl, the World Series, the NBA Finals, golf and tennis championships, and the Olympic Games.
His pieces are diverse and include both perspective and context. Goldman often explores people's motivations for doing what they do, whether it's solo sailing around the world or pursuing a gold medal. In his reporting, Goldman searches for the stories about the inspirational and relatable amateur and professional athletes.
Goldman contributed to NPR's 2009 Edward R. Murrow award for his coverage of the 2008 Beijing Olympics and to a 2010 Murrow Award for contribution to a series on high school football, "Friday Night Lives." Earlier in his career, Goldman's piece about Native American basketball players earned a 2004 Dick Schaap Excellence in Sports Journalism Award from the Center for the Study of Sport in Society at Northeastern University and a 2004 Unity Award from the Radio-Television News Directors Association.
In January 1990, Goldman came to NPR to work as an associate producer for sports with Morning Edition. For the next seven years he reported, edited, and produced stories and programs. In June 1997, he became NPR's first full-time sports correspondent.
For five years before NPR, Goldman worked as a news reporter and then news director in local public radio. In 1984, he spent a year living on an Israeli kibbutz. Two years prior he took his first professional job in radio in Anchorage, Alaska, at the Alaska Public Radio Network.
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Known as the "Say Hey Kid," Mays' career spanned more than two decades, from the 1950s to 1970s. He spent nearly all of those years with the Giants – first in New York and then in San Francisco.
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During his nine-year Hall of Fame career with the Cleveland Browns, Jim Brown averaged more than a hundred yards rushing in every regular season game. He's the only player in NFL history to do that. -
It's Opening Day for Major League Baseball. The league is hoping that some new rules this season will mean big changes for players — and for fans.
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Any team that can put together a four-game winning streak will become the next champions. Only two No. 1 seeds are alive in the tournament, and the highest-profile schools have already gone home. -
Damian Lillard has played his whole NBA career with the Portland Trail Blazers. Unlike other star players, he has wowed fans in the Northwest with his demeanor & wisdom - including NPR's Tom Goldman. -
Kamila Valieva helped Russia win gold in team figure skating at the 2022 Beijing Olympics. It wasn't until after the competition that it was learned she'd previously tested positive for doping. -
Skaters from Russia won the team event with the U.S. second and Japan third. But then it came to light that Russian Kamila Valieva had given a positive drug test weeks before the Olympics. -
The monthlong tournament in Qatar was filled with excitement, surprise and controversy. Argentina's victory in the final — which gave Lionel Messi his first title — cemented it as one of the best. -
Trouble brews in the run up to every global, mega sporting event — such as buses not running on time, or venues seemingly not ready for action. But it melts away when the games begin. But what lasts? -
While attention at the World Cup has mostly been on stars like Argentina's Messi, Brazil's Neymar, and Portugal's Ronaldo, goalkeepers have also shined — especially for the final four teams.
