Russ Thaler

Sports broadcaster Russ Thaler became a regular face of Washington's sports coverage before making the move to national TV as the anchor of nightly news show, "NBC SportsTalk" (NBC Sports, 2011-). Born and raised in Fair Lawn, NJ, Thaler spent his childhood playing and watching various sports, and competed in tennis and baseball at school level before attending Emory University where he graduated with a degree in Political Science. Thaler's first broadcasting job was as the weekend sports anchor for WHIZ-TV-AM-FM in Zanesville, OH, and after taking a similar role at KLKN-TV in Lincoln, NE, briefly went on to work as a reporter for Fox SportsNet. In 2001, Thaler joined Comcast SportsNet Mid-Atlantic in the Washington market, where he earned a Capital Region Emmy Award for his reporting work, served as a chief digital correspondent and play-by-play basketball and soccer announcer, and hosted "Washington Post Live!" (Comcast SportsNet Mid-Atlantic, 2007-2014) Thaler also anchored daily news program "SportsNite" (Comcast SportsNet Mid-Atlantic, 2001-2014), a role which helped him make the step up to national TV in 2011 with a similar gig on NBC SportsTalk (NBC Sports, 2011-). Thaler also covered the NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs, boxing at the 2012 London Olympics, the MLS, and ice-skating at the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics before leaving the network in 2015. Thaler was subsequently hired as a studio host for mlssoccer.com and Tennis Channel.