Fox Sports announcer Gus Johnson spends year at Harvard (and reflects on Detroit) in 'Back to School'

Fox Sports broadcaster Gus Johnson, who’s best known for his ultra-energetic play-by-play coverage, reveals a more serious side in a new documentary.

The one-hour special, which airs Saturday night on Fox right before the Michigan State-Michigan basketball game in Ann Arbor that Johnson will be calling, was produced and scheduled long before the tragic events of this week’s mass shooting at Michigan State University.

But its topic resonates with the need to address the huge problems that are plaguing America — and the importance of offering help and support to young people.

“Back to School with Gus Johnson” follows the iconic announcer as he enrolls at age 55 in Harvard University’s Advanced Leadership Initiative. The yearlong program at the Ivy League school gives accomplished people from a wide range of careers a chance to step back and learn more about society’s most crucial challenges. Its goal is described as unleashing the potential of participants to help solve these issues.

In the film, Johnson describes how quarantining during the COVID-19 pandemic was a rough, depressing period for him and how spending 2022 studying at Harvard was healing. He spent most of each week in Cambridge, Massachusetts, as a student, while still maintaining his job as lead college football and basketball announcer for Fox Sports on the weekends.

“Back to School” offers glimpses of Johnson in classrooms and discussion groups, plus appearances by University of Michigan head football coach Jim Harbaugh and Harvard men’s basketball head coach Tommy Amaker. Speaking to Amaker at one point, Johnson shares how proud his parents would be of him, saying: “Coach, I’m at Harvard. My mama is in heaven and she’s doing the salsa.”

Johnson spends time reflecting on his childhood in Detroit and the role that education played in his journey to broadcasting fame. In one segment, he visits the Foreign Language Immersion and Cultural Studies School (or FLICS, for short) in Detroit to inspire its students to reach for Harvard or any other dream they’re pursuing.

More:'Super Cities! Detroit' mixes facts with fun in children's book by hometown author

More:Crisis therapists cleared their schedules to help MSU students, faculty

In a powerful segment, Johnson talks about wanting at first to sound like Bob Costas, Jim Nance and Al Michaels, all top sportscasters in an era when the field was mostly reserved for white men. Then, one day, he got a note from an acting instructor who advised him to be himself.

“She said, ‘You’re doing well now, but once you let that little Black boy from Detroit out of his cage, then you’ll be a star.’”

During a phone interview that took place before Monday’s mass shooting claimed the lives of three students on the East Lansing campus, Johnson spoke to the Free Press about why he was drawn to spending a year at Harvard.

“I want to … always forward myself and just keep moving and keep striving and think about the things my dad said in terms of there being no finish line. Don’t stop. Try to improve. Try to do something for someone else as opposed to just yourself,” said Johnson. “I get a lot of attention and, sometimes, it’s a lot.  But when I can focus on those kids and their faces at Detroit Public Schools and the class of FLICS and the hope that they have in their hearts and their eyes, to me, that makes everything worth it.”

Growing up on Detroit’s west side, Johnson was encouraged by both of his parents to make school a priority. “Daddy was a great dancer and a great singer. He could dance! ... Mama was the athlete, She played softball, field hockey, basketball. Later in her life, she became a golfer and would bring home trophies,” he said, describing how his mother encouraged his interest in sports.

“Daddy was the artist and Mama was the athlete, and both of them stressed, ‘You’ve got to get an education.’ I always like to say Daddy was the head coach and defensive coordinator, Mama was the assistant head coach and the offensive coordinator.”

Another big influence was the University of Detroit Jesuit High School, where he excelled at football, basketball and baseball. Johnson earned the prestigious Said Rahaim Award for athlete of the year in 1985 and was voted into the Detroit Jesuit High School Hall of Fame’s inaugural class.

Johnson credits U-D Jesuit with giving him a template for learning. “U of D was way harder than Harvard, I’ll tell you that,” he said with a laugh. ”Oh my gosh, harder than Harvard and harder than Howard, and I went to both of them. It was rigorous. And, you know, you’re 14 to 18 years old, so you’re a baby. You have five subjects you're studying every night … and they drove you hard. You ask any kid who goes to U of D High and they’ll tell you it’s no joke. But it’s so enriching down the road, when you know that you know.”

After graduating from Howard University, Johnson worked at several local TV stations and ESPN before moving to CBS, where he was a top college basketball play-by-play announcer from 1996 to 2011 and also did play-by-play for everything from NFL games to boxing to the bobsled and luge races at the 1998 Olympic Winter games. In 2011, he joined Fox Sports, where his fame as a college football and basketball announcer (and an online viral star for his exuberant on-air calls) only grew.

Such success might have been fulfilling enough for some, but as Johnson puts it: “I got tired of me. Me, me, me, me. … I’m more conscious  (with age) of my soul, and what kind of contribution I can make, what kind of mark I can leave to maybe help someone else.”

According to Johnson, being on campus with what he calls rock-star professors and the equally talented members of the leadership program (who included Renee Hall, a former Detroit deputy police chief) has had a significant impact on him. "It informed me about things and sparked my curiosity ... whether it be (about) climate change or race or human rights or mental health or gun control, gun safety, the opioid crisis,” he said.

Though Johnson’s experience at Harvard was meaningful, he says it didn't make him more optimistic about the future. “Actually, it was the total opposite. It made me sad to see what is happening and how we aren’t doing what we can. Climate change really scared me. A lot of people don’t think it’s a real issue. I disagree based on the facts that I learned. Race? I mean, we’ve still got George Floyd, we’ve still got Black people getting murdered in the streets by police officers, most recently with (Tyre Nichols)."

Said Johnson, "Some of the things (we covered) were horrifying to me ... to the point where I had to get up sometimes and walk out just to get my head together."

One antidote to worrying about the future is working to improve the present. In “Back to School,” Johnson is shown speaking to students at Ohio State University and passing out backpacks filled with Harvard gear to students at Detroit’s FLICS school.

"I’m in the third chapter of my life. Sixty is right around the corner," he said, reflecting on what matters at this point in his life. "I kind of think: 'What do you stand for, Gus? What are you trying to do to help somebody like those little babies we saw in that class at the Detroit Public Schools?' You look in their eyes and look in their faces and you just say, 'Wow.' They’re just looking at you and basically, in so many words, they’re saying: 'Tell me what to do. Help me survive.'”

Along with stressing the importance of education for young people, Johnson also is enthusiastic about the idea of lifelong learning for adults. "What else is there but to continue to grow, continue to learn, continue to be curious? My father was always talking about that. ... And remember, my dad never went past third grade. He said: 'Son, a body in motion stays in motion. A body at rest stays at rest.' He had been telling me that all my life, and then I realized that’s, like, a Newtonian theory. My father’s quoting (Isaac) Newton, and he never read Newton. But he knew.”

Said Johnson, “I just want to continue to keep my mind active. If I can keep my mind active, I think I’ll keep my youth. The body fades, but the mind has a chance to continue to expand.”

Contact Detroit Free Press pop culture critic Julie Hinds at jhinds@freepress.com.

'Back to School with Gus Johnson'

7 p.m. Sat.

Fox

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Gus Johnson of Fox Sports fame goes to Harvard and Detroit in new film