13 Facts About Bill Rasmussen

1.

William F Rasmussen was born on October 15,1932 and is an American sports director, and one of the founders of ESPN, along with Scott Rasmussen and Ed Eagan.

2.

Bill Rasmussen was born in Chicago, Illinois, where he attended Gage Park High School.

3.

Bill Rasmussen received a scholarship to attend DePauw University in Indiana, where he met his future wife Mickey.

4.

Bill Rasmussen played baseball with the hopes of going pro.

5.

Bill Rasmussen then attended Rutgers University to get his MBA.

6.

Bill Rasmussen's son Scott was born in 1956, the year he was discharged from the military.

7.

Bill Rasmussen paid $18,000 for the first acre of ESPN's campus.

8.

On September 30,1980, ESPN officials announced that Bill Rasmussen was leaving the company by agreement.

9.

Rasmussen had to split the $6,000,000 with numerous other investors and funders such as his brother Don Rasmussen, with Bill Rasmussen ending up with an estimated $1.2 million and a little over $740,000 after taxes.

10.

The all sports radio network Enterprise Radio Network was founded in January 1981 by Scott Rasmussen, the son of Bill Rasmussen, and was shuttered by September 1981.

11.

Bill Rasmussen was sued by the labor department along with Scott for allegedly violating the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938.

12.

Bill Rasmussen became involved in plans to build a 12,000-seat golf stadium in Naples, Florida.

13.

In July 2019, Bill Rasmussen disclosed that he had been diagnosed with Parkinson's disease.