As ESPN Celebrates Its 45th Anniversary This Week, Meet The Keeper Of The Historical Flame

The adventure classic Raiders of The Lost Ark premiered in movie theatres on June 12, 1981.

One year and nine days after Raiders’ fictional hero Indiana Jones’ debut as a swashbuckling archaeologist, Teri Couch joined ESPN as a full-time employee to ignite her own multi-faceted, 42-year career adventure.

To our knowledge, Couch has never circled the globe in a race to recover artifacts. But like Jones, she researches, explores, excavates, catalogs, and curates valuable historical items in her current role as ESPN Communications Manager, Archives.

While some of Jones’ most notable finds apparently are mothballed in a top-secret U.S. government warehouse in Nevada, some of Couch’s work is showcased in museums in and around ESPN’s Bristol, Connecticut, headquarters and even in various Smithsonian Museums in Washington, D.C.

In anticipation of ESPN’s celebration of its 45th anniversary on Saturday, Sept. 7, Front Row asked Couch about what her job entails and more.

How did your journey at ESPN begin?
It’s one of those “right place, right time” stories. I graduated a semester early [from Western New England College in Springfield, Mass.] and decided to work for a temp agency while I began my job search and waited to walk with my class in June.

A temp assignment brought me to ESPN in March 1982, working in program finance. By chance, this department was located next to affiliate marketing — an area that aligned perfectly with my marketing major.

Sensing an opportunity, I approached one of the managers to inquire about any current or future openings. He took my résumé and passed it along to human resources.

Little did I know that this temporary assignment would turn into my first – and only – full-time job. I officially started my career at ESPN on June 21, 1982 — the first day of summer.

Please describe a particularly memorable project or initiative you worked on as an archivist.
I collaborated on three significant projects with the Smithsonian National Museum of American History to secure ESPN footage for their exhibitions: “Many Voices, One Nation” (2017), “Sports: Breaking Records, Breaking Barriers” (2018), and “¡Pleibol! In the Barrios and the Big Leagues (2020).”

It was incredibly rewarding to know that our work would be seen by millions of visitors each year.

Also, ESPN contributed a SportsCenter desk and President Barack Obama’s “Bracketology” selections from the 2015 Men’s and Women’s NCAA Basketball Tournaments. These assets have been and will continue to be used in various exhibitions at the museum.

Additionally, we donated the complete portfolio of 40 photographs from The ESPYs Collection to the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery for their exhibit.

One of my favorite projects was the ESPN Museum for the company’s 40th anniversary. We invested considerable time and effort into gathering physical assets for display, curating photos and videos, building the timeline that is showcased on the catwalk [between ESPN Digital Centers 1 and 2], and installing a replica of ESPN’s original SportsCenter desk, which serves as a popular photo opportunity for visitors.

We also partnered with the Bristol Historical Society to provide them with a refurbished SportsCenter desk and installed lighting for an exhibit highlighting ESPN and its contributions to the city.

How has your role as an archivist evolved during your tenure? What have been some key challenges?
When I first stepped into the role in 2016, my primary focus was digitizing our department’s extensive collection of press releases, memos, clippings, and newsletters, which, thanks to the foresight of the Communications department and the dedicated efforts of my former colleagues, Dave Nagle, Laurel Daggett, and Ken Boudreau, all now retired, had been carefully preserved for historical purposes.

In 2018, we received funding to hire temporary workers to help tag and catalog our physical assets, a major leap forward in organizing the materials we had amassed over the years.

We had to devise an efficient system for storing and cataloging these assets, ensuring they would be easily navigable for future reference.

One advantage of working within ESPN is access to a wealth of internal knowledge, including books about ESPN and books authored by past and present employees. This insider perspective has been invaluable in understanding the company’s history and evolution.

What’s the “holy grail” of ESPN’s historical content you hope to find one day?
This is tough because there’s no telling what valuable items were created and never archived. There are many out there. I’m hoping we can reach out to past employees, particularly those from the early 1980s, who might have items in their possession that they’d like to donate to the ESPN archives.

These could be the hidden gems we’ve been searching for.

Vintage ESPN parkas are among the items in Couch's collection. (Teri Couch/ESPN)

There are thousands of pages of vintage press releases to account for and consult for record keeping. (Teri Couch/ESPN)

Some items do not make it to ESPN's Museum or the Smithsonian but still have historical value. (Teri Couch/ESPN)

Couch has turned a temporary gig into a 42-year career at ESPN. (Jon McLeod/ESPN)