ESPN co-founder Bill Rasmussen dies at 93 from the effects of Parkinson’s disease

Bill Rasmussen, who co-founded cable TV sports giant ESPN, has died at the age of 93 LAND O’ LAKES, Fla. -- Bill Rasmussen, who co-founded ESPN in 1979 after being fired from a public relations job in the World Hockey Association, died Tuesday. ESPN historian Mike Soltys said Rasmussen died at his Florida home from the effects of Parkinson’s disease. Rasmussen announced in 2019 that he had been diagnosed with the degenerative disease in 2014. “Bill was a remarkable man — a visionary and an innovator who conceived the idea of a network entirely devoted to sports,” ESPN chairman Jimmy Pitaro said in a statement. “Quite simply, none of us would be here today if it wasn’t for Bill’s passion and all the hard work and entrepreneurial spirit he put into building ESPN in the late 1970s — key aspects of our company culture that still carry on to this day.” Rasmussen and his son Scott came up with the idea of a network carrying sports around the clock, and it would revolutionize Americans’ TV-watching habits. ESPN was launched on Sept.

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