About Barry Tompkins biography
Barry was born and raised in San Francisco and began his career in local television there at KPIX-TV in 1968. Since then he has spent five years at NBC, ten years at HBO, eight years at ESPN, and the past fourteen years at Fox Sports.
His credits include play-by-play commentary of The Super Bowl, the Rose Bowl, the NCAA Final Four, eight Olympic Games, The Tour de France, Wimbledon, the French Open and the U.S. Open Tennis, the World Gymnastics Championships, World Swimming and Diving Championships, World Figure Skating Championships, and horse racing’s Triple Crown, World Cup Skiing, San Francisco Giants baseball, and over 100 World Championship fights.
In addition he has covered the Masters, U.S. Open, British Open, and PGA golf events, The Indy 500, Baseball World Series, hockey’s Stanley Cup, and the Soccer World Cup.
Barry is in his 30th year as the voice of Pac-10 Conference Football and Basketball for Fox Sports Net and continues to broadcast a wide variety of events on national television.
In addition to his broadcasting work, Barry writes a humor column for the Marin Independent Journal and is a contributing columnist for Comcast Sports News Bay Area.
He is married to author Joan Ryan. They live in Marin County, California with their son Ryan, 22, and their dog Rosie.
Marin Independent Journal columns
- 5/12/13
- Who says a gerbil isn't beautiful?
- I MUST ADMIT to never having been much of a fan of beauty contests. The Miss America Pageant lost its appeal for me when Bert Parks was removed as host, and despite all the promises and wish lists of the contestants we have never once seemed able to attain world peace.…more (Marin IJ)
- 4/28/13
- hank sequestration for all these flight delays
- SO THERE I was – jaunty, jolly – sitting on the Riverwalk in San Antonio sipping a coffee, catching up on the news online and thinking to myself that despite the fact that I was in Texas instead of at a farmers market in Marin County someplace, life is pretty good.…more (Marin IJ)
- 4/21/13
- Finally, a club that will have me
- I'VE NEVER BEEN a club sort of guy. I don't play golf and, therefore, have no reason to wear polyester pants with chrysanthemums on them. I don't own a pink sport jacket, and that eliminates me from any country club entirely.…more (Marin IJ)
- 4/14/13
- Whatever happened to a simple coffee?
- I WAS SUDDENLY struck today by the Starbucks phenomenon. Not so much for the wonderfulness of its coffee, but for the fact that it has created its own genre.…more (Marin IJ)
- 4/07/13
- I can't escape a world of boxes
- BOXES. I'm living in a world of them. I see them everywhere. I dream about them. …more (Marin IJ)
- 3/24/13
- Humans are way overrated these days
- WE LEFT OUR HOUSE on Friday pretty much the way we found it 14 years ago — an empty, rather barren, shell. Its memories all now packed away or, in some cases, thrown away. It's back to what it was — an empty canvas, to be filled with new memories by the young family that bought it. A house that within its much-abused walls somehow now seems like the box our adult lives came in. …more (Marin IJ)
- 3/24/13
- Humans are way overrated these days
- I CAN USUALLY manage to navigate my way through life not concerning myself with the impersonal world we live in until something pushes my "You've got to be kidding" button. And two things did this week. …more (Marin IJ)
- 3/17/13
- A lot has changed, but it's still spring training
- I'VE BEEN IN the desert for the past several days taking in the sun — and sometimes the freezing cold — of an Arizona spring. I've been coming down here at this time of year for the past 45 years.…more (Marin IJ)
- 3/10/13
- Dennis Rodman and new era of U.S. diplomacy
- I HAD THIS REALLY strange dream this week. I dreamt that Dennis Rodman was sitting with Kim Jong Un watching the Harlem Globetrotters play basketball in Pyongyang, North Korea. …more (Marin IJ)
- 2/24/12
- A shove that pushed a lot of buttons
- IT'S BEEN A WEEK now since the "shove heard round the world," and I find myself bothered on about it on 100 different fronts. …more (Marin IJ)
Read earlier columns at marinij.com and csnbayarea.com.