Many Huskers who have taken Bill Doleman’s classes in the College of Journalism and Mass Communications have likely heard him return to a couple favorite kernels of wisdom throughout the semester.
Things like — "Know a lot about a little and a little about a lot," and, "Sport is the grand stage for storytelling."
These mottos have carried Doleman across his career spanning most of sports media, starting from his beginnings covering Husker sports for Nebraska Public Media to doing play-by-play coverage for NBC Sports during four different Olympic games.
And while “knowing a little about a lot” has helped Doleman cover a staggering array of sports across his career and reinforced the importance of doing his homework for each individual broadcast, Doleman maintains that the most important thing for students — and working broadcasters — to learn is how to find the human story behind each game, match and event.
“I think I've called 35 different sports across my career,” Doleman said. “I’ve loved every assignment — don’t get me wrong — but there's just something special about being able to tell the stories of the athletes that don’t often get told. Hopefully my students understand that, too.”
Doleman's reputation and passion for digging in and telling the stories of lesser-known athletes while also deep-diving into the granular details of any sport is what helped land him a job with NBC Sports before the 2016 Olympics in Rio.
“It was taking me back to my early days as a Nebraska student covering all kinds of different sports and learning how to do your homework,” Doleman said and cited his time working under longtime sports information director Don Bryant as a hugely formative experience as a Husker student. “I just applied those same skills I learned to the opportunities I got with NBC.”
From the biathlon (cross-country skiing combined with rifle shooting) and curling to the 50K race walk, Bill has studied and covered it all across four Olympics.
His biggest takeaway? All sports are captivating.
“If you allow yourself to be open to new sports and embrace the human element, it can be really, really inviting,” he said. “What people do to compete at that level and the drama it creates is incredible. I tell students, ‘You never know what story is going to unfold.’”
