{{Short description|American sportcaster}} {{Use American English|date=January 2026}} {{Use mdy dates|date=December 2024}} {{Infobox person | name = Tom Rinaldi | image = Tom Rinaldi 2009 CROP.jpg | image_size = | caption = Rinaldi in 2009 | birth_name = | birth_date = | birth_place = Brooklyn, New York, U.S. | death_date = <!-- {{Death date and age|YYYY|MM|DD|YYYY|MM|DD}} (DEATH date then BIRTH date) --> | death_place = | other_names = | alma_mater = University of Pennsylvania Columbia University | years_active = 1983–present | website = | signature = | module = {{ infobox sports announcer details | team = | genre = Studio host, play-by-play | sport = College football, college basketball, soccer | employer FOX SPORTS ]] }} }}
[[File:2020-0113-RinaldiOrgeron02.png|thumb|Rinaldi interviews LSU head coach Ed Orgeron immediately after the 2020 College Football Playoff National Championship. ]]'''Tom Rinaldi''' is an American reporter for Fox Sports.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web | last=Gleeson | first=Scott | title=ESPN reporter Tom Rinaldi signs with Fox Sports | date=December 17, 2020 | url=https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/media/2020/12/17/espn-reporter-tom-rinaldi-leaving-network-sign-fox-sports/3938039001/ | access-date=2020-12-18 | website=USA TODAY | language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite magazine | last=Traina | first=Jimmy | title=ESPN Stars React to Tom Rinaldi's Shocking Departure | date=December 17, 2020 | url=https://www.si.com/extra-mustard/2020/12/17/tom-rinaldi-leaves-espn-for-fox-sports-colleagues-react | access-date=2020-12-18 | magazine=Sports Illustrated | language=en-us}}</ref> He previously contributed to ESPN's tennis coverage at Wimbledon and the US Open, ESPN's golf coverage, ''SportsCenter'', ''Outside the Lines'', ''College GameDay'' and ''Sunday NFL Countdown''. He also did features for the horse racing telecasts.
==Professional career==
Rinaldi joined ESPN in May 2003 following a four-year stint as a reporter for CNN/SI from 1998 to 2002. He worked as a reporter for KATU-TV in Portland, Oregon from 1996 to 1998 and for WNDU-TV in South Bend, Indiana from 1993 to 1996. In December 2020, it was announced that he had left ESPN to sign with Fox Sports, where he is expected to cover major sporting events, including the Super Bowl, World Series, World Cup and major college football games.<ref name=":0" />
From 2006 to 2020, Rinaldi was the lead interviewer and feature reporter for ESPN and ABC's coverage of golf. In this capacity, he has been praised for many of his essays, especially those following the conclusion of major events. Rinaldi conducted the first interview of Tiger Woods after the incident on November 27, 2009, which led to Woods' public disclosure of his extra-marital affairs.
In 2017, Rinaldi served as a sideline reporter for the NBA playoffs on ESPN.
In June 2025, Rinaldi wrote and narrated the introduction for WWE's Night of Champions (2025) event in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
==Personal life==
Rinaldi was born in Brooklyn, New York and grew up in Cresskill, New Jersey, graduating from Cresskill High School.<ref>Stapleton, Art. [https://www.northjersey.com/story/sports/nfl/super-bowl/2023/02/08/kevin-burkhardt-greg-olsen-tom-rinaldi-fox-super-bowl-tv-crew-from-nj/69880109007/ "'Don't sleep on Jersey': Why NJ will be front and center for 100 million Super Bowl TV viewers"], ''The Record'',February 8, 2023. Accessed February 8, 2023. "Rinaldi went to Cresskill High School and has lived in Tenafly for 20 years."</ref><ref name=":1">{{Cite web |last=Gronauer |first=Marcus |date=2020-06-15 |title=ESPN's Tom Rinaldi: A journey like few others; From teacher to TV interviewer on sports' center stage |url=https://www.sportsbroadcastjournal.com/espns-tom-rinaldi-a-journey-like-few-others-from-teacher-to-tv-interviewer-on-sports-center-stage/ |access-date=2024-08-31 |website=Sports Broadcast Journal |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Tom Rinaldi Bio & Career Accomplishments |url=https://www.foxsports.com/personalities/tom-rinaldi/bio |access-date=2024-08-31 |website=FOX Sports |language=en-US}}</ref>
A first-generation college student, Rinaldi originally attended Fordham University, before transferring to University of Pennsylvania, where he was on the parliamentary debate team and earned an undergraduate degree in English.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Himmelsbach |first=Adam |title=Adam Asks {{!}} ESPN's Tom Rinaldi |url=https://www.courier-journal.com/story/adam-himmelsbach/2014/08/12/adam-asks-espns-tom-rinaldi/13945045/ |access-date=2024-08-31 |website=The Courier-Journal |language=en-US}}</ref> He received his graduate degree at Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. He lives in nearby Tenafly, with his wife, Dianne, their son, Jack, and daughter, Tessa.<ref>{{cite book | url=https://www.amazon.com/Red-Bandanna-Life-Choice-Legacy-ebook/dp/B01CDVCAZQ/ref=sr_1_16?crid=1AJNRI9UF4UCQ&keywords=college+lacrosse&qid=1650630043&s=digital-text&sprefix=college+lacrosse%2Cdigital-text%2C50&sr=1-16 | title=The Red Bandanna: A Life. A Choice. A Legacy | date=6 September 2016 | publisher=Penguin Books }}</ref><ref>Kramer, Peter D. [http://www.northjersey.com/news/9-11-man-in-the-red-bandanna-s-finest-hour-1.1655090 " 9/11: Man in the red bandanna's finest hour"], ''The Record (Bergen County)'', September 6, 2016. Accessed September 7, 2016. "This week will find Tom Rinaldi pingponging from his home in Tenafly, New Jersey — less than a mile from the Cresskill home he grew up in — to the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in Flushing, Queens, to cover the U.S. Open."</ref><ref name=":1" />
In 2016, he wrote a book called ''The Man in the Red Bandanna'', about Welles Crowther, an NYC volunteer firefighter, who rescued 18 people before losing his own life when the World Trade Center collapsed after the September 11 attacks.
Prior to his career in journalism, Rinaldi was a high school English and English as a Second Language teacher in addition to being a handball coach at Morris High School in The Bronx. He had also taught at Shady Side Academy in Pittsburgh.<ref name=":1" />
==Achievements==
Rinaldi has won 16 Sports Emmy Awards, 7 Edward R. Murrow Awards, 3 Associated Press Awards and a USA Today Feature-of-the-Year Award.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.foxsports.com/personalities/tom-rinaldi/bio | title=Tom Rinaldi Bio & Career Accomplishments }}</ref>
==References== <references/>
==External links== * [https://www.foxsports.com/personalities/tom-rinaldi/bio Rinaldi's bio at foxsports.com] * {{IMDb name|3352270}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Rinaldi, Tom}} Category:Living people Category:American horse racing announcers Category:College football announcers Category:Cresskill High School alumni Category:ESPN people Category:Fox Sports 1 people Category:NFL announcers Category:Major League Baseball broadcasters Category:American television sports commentators Category:American tennis commentators Category:American golf commentators Category:NBA broadcasters Category:Year of birth missing (living people) Category:People from Cresskill, New Jersey Category:People from Tenafly, New Jersey Category:Competitive debaters Category:American sideline reporters