Turn on the television to ESPN's Sportscenter and not only can you catch the latest on sports but you can check out Dartmouth graduate Brett Haber '91, the show's anchor. Haber, who has been an anchor for Sportscenter for about a year-and-a-half, graduated from Dartmouth with an English degree and went straight to work for the networks.
Haber became interested in broadcast journalism before his days at Dartmouth. While still in high school, Haber took a job with NBC that put him on the air as a correspondent on "Main Street," a news show for kids. This job led to an internship at the Today Show his senior year of high school. "I started at the networks and worked backwards from there," he said, laughing.
Arriving at Dartmouth, Haber pursued the journalism beat right from the start.
At the beginning of his freshman year, while his peers were still worrying about locating 106 Steele or figuring out when a 9S class meets, Haber had already landed himself a job at Channel 31 out of White River Junction.
"I just went in and said, 'Hey, I'll do anything' and believe me there was nothing glamorous about what I did," he said. Haber worked as a floor manager during that year, but with his foot in the door, there would be more to follow.
Meanwhile, Haber became "very involved" with the radio station, working as a disc jockey and as a director. He co-anchored the 1988 Election Network as well. Haber's involvement lasted only one year, though, because of opportunities that opened up at Channel 31.
"It snowballed. When people left my sophomore year, they knew that I had experience on air and told me to show up with a jacket and tie [to audition]."
And how did it go?
"I was horrendous. They gave me the job anyway. I was on and off the air for the rest of college."
Although busy at Channel 31, Haber made the most of his Dartmouth years.
He played baseball for a year, became a brother in Sigma Nu fraternity and sang in the Dodecaphonics his senior year. He majored in English to prepare himself for a career in journalism, but also briefly considered corporate recruiting as a possible path after Dartmouth.
"I got kind of caught up with the moral imperative to make $40,000 in my first year out of college. For five days, I walked from the River cluster in my boots and suit and realized it wasn't for me. It was the greatest decision I ever made. Three years later these people are making 60 grand but they aren't happy. I was only making 14 grand but I couldn't have been happier. The success and compensation comes later. You have to do something you love. If it's just for the money, you lose interest quickly."
Haber chose English as a major realizing the potential of such a degree. "No matter what you get involved in, if you can write well you can use it to go any avenue. All editors and news directors agree, a journalism degree is a big waste of time. If you bring the writing skills, you are a marketable commodity."
Haber's plan worked well as WCAX, a CBS affiliate out of Burlington, Vt. hired him upon graduation.
He stayed with WCAX for a little less than a year when he signed a contract with WCPO in Cincinnati, also a CBS affiliate. After a year-and-a-half there, Haber moved again, this time to Connecticut to work as an anchor for ESPN.
There, Haber does more than just read the sports. "I do a lot of the writing for the show. Writing what you read is one of ESPN's policies. It requires staying on top of every aspect of professional, college and amateur sports teams. I have to be familiar with everything."
As an anchor, Haber has also had the opportunity to interview such sports legends as Pete Rose, Darryl Strawberry, Mike Keenan and Andre Agassi. He has done field reporting and covered the US Tennis Open.
Does he feel that Dartmouth prepared him well for his career? "Academically, no. In experience, yes. I loved Dartmouth. I live for the place. I just think that in a professional sense I wasn't as fully prepared as I could have been."
As for the future, Haber does not know where he will be in a few years.
"It's so hard to predict. If you had asked me if three years out of Dartmouth would I be anchoring on Sportscenter, I wouldn't have thought so. There are things that don't exist now that will exist then. I could be here. We'll see."
