Keynote Speaker
Ernie Johnson, Jr.
Emmy Award Winning Sports broadcaster, Author
Three-time Sports Emmy Award winner Ernie Johnson Jr. is in his 28th year with Turner Sports, serving as host and play-by-play announcer across Turner’s NBA, MLB, NCAA March Madness and PGA coverage. As host of TNT Sports’ Emmy Award winning Inside the NBA studio show with analysts Charles Barkley, Kenny Smith and Shaquille O’Neal, Ernie Johnson Jr. is certainly no stranger to sports enthusiasts.
When it comes to sports broadcasting, Ernie is a chip off the old block. His dad was Braves Hall of Famer Ernie Johnson Sr., who helped lead the Milwaukee Braves on the mound to a World Series Championship in 1957, and later announced games for the Milwaukee and Atlanta Braves until 1999. Ernie Johnson Jr. began his broadcasting career while attending the University of Georgia, as news and sports director for Athens-based WAGQ-FM. Following graduation in 1978, summa cum laude, Ernie joined WMAZ-TV in Macon, Ga. as news anchor, then served as a news reporter in Spartanburg’s WSPA-TV. He eventually made his way home to Atlanta in 1982 to work as a weekend sports anchor and reporter for WSB-TV. From 1993 to 1996 Ernie had the distinct honor of calling Atlanta Braves baseball games alongside his dad and hero.
In 2007 Ernie was presented with the first-ever honorary “John Wooden Keys to Life Award,” presented by Athletes in Action, which is awarded to individuals who exemplify Wooden’s “Seven Keys to Life” including character, integrity and faith. In 2016 Ernie was honored with the John Holiman Award by the University of Georgia’s Grady College of Journalism for lifetime achievement.
Ernie recently authored his first book: Unscripted: The Unpredictable Moments That Make Life Extraordinary. He currently lives in Braselton, Georgia with his wife Cheryl and son Michael. He has three other grown children.
