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Rex Lardner, Jr. - Dead at 79
Sports programming pioneer, Rex Lardner, a veteran broadcast executive who worked for NBC, CBS, TBS and other sports entitles, has died after a brief stay in hospice care in Tucson, Arizona.
Rex was a sports programming savant who was first to put Larry Bird on national television during Bird’s senior year at Indiana State. In February of 1979, Bird wasn’t “known” to the general sports public, but Rex knew he was a phenom. In 1979 there was only one nationally televised college basketball game per week as there was no ESPN or cable tv sports. He made the decision to put the undefeated Sycamores on NBC against Wichita State and Bird did not disappoint with 49 points and 19 rebounds in the ISU win.
Unfortunately, the game didn’t get a decent rating and his boss Don Ohlmeyer chastised him saying he could have put on an average Notre Dame game to generate a higher number. A few weeks later, Rex was exonerated when Bird’s team remained undefeated and advanced to the historic NCAA Championship Game against Magic Johnson’s Michigan State Spartans. NBC enjoyed its highest rating to date prompting Ohlmeyer to pat Rex on the back and ask, “Indiana State — who knew?” Rex Lardner knew.
Lardner comes from a long line of prominent news, sports, and media professionals. His grandfather, also named Rex, was a 12-year member of the Editorial Staff of The New York Times. His father, Rex Sr., was the head comedy writer for the Ernie Kovacs Show and later a staff writer for Sports Illustrated. He also authored over a dozen books on a variety of sports. His great uncle, Ring Sr. is considered one of the greatest humorists of 20th century, and best known for his coverage of the 1919 Black Sox scandal and his character-driven short stories on baseball. Cousin Ring Jr. was an Academy Award-winning screenwriter who won Oscars for the films, “Women of the Year” and “M.A.S.H.” A member of the blacklisted “Hollywood Ten.”
Rex is survived by his wife, Carolyn, his sons Christopher, and Sean (Melissa) and his granddaughters, Ryan, Sienna and Milly-Grace, his brother Michael (Leandra) and sister Lonnie (Josh Kaplan).
Donations welcomed in Rex’s honor to The Pancreatic Cancer Action Network: https://pancan.org https://everloved.com/life-of/rex-lardner/obituary/
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Rick Steinberg
So sad to lose such an accomplished classmate. My memory of Rex centers on when we played football, where if memory serves, he played tailback. I seem to recall a particularly successful play labeled LT 18, where the quarterback handed off to the tailback, who ran parallel to the line of scrimage to the left side of the line, and then turned upfield, often going for a big gain. Other classmates might have a better recollection of all this, and if so, please chime in. In any event, it was wonderful to know Rex back at GNN -- Rex, we will miss you! Rick Steinberg