When Discovery Communications President and CEO David Zaslav showed up wearing a sweater vest at a sports business conference in the fall of 2014, he smiled and described it as his sports “uniform.”
Zaslav, who worked with Dick Ebersol from 1989 until he left NBC in 2007, wanted to dress like his mentor at any gathering of the sports community. For Zaslav, that meant dressing in comfort and donning, of course, a sweater vest.
“This is the kind of impact that he’s had on me,” Zaslav said of Ebersol. “He wears what he likes, and we all copy him. In our own way, we all want to be Dick. Who wouldn’t want to be Dick?”
 |
Ebersol is known for taking fashion chances, such as this coat (below) in 1987, as well as for wearing a sweater vest no matter the work occasion.
Photos by: GETTY IMAGES (2)
|
Ebersol set his own fashion rules, akin to the one that says you’re not allowed to wear white after Labor Day. For Ebersol, that meant he would complement his sweater vest and button-down collared shirt with cargo shorts well into October, “even in places like Green Bay,” he said.
Of course, there is no tie.
During the winter, Ebersol would add a little more flair to his ensemble, as NBA Commissioner Adam Silver remembers. “Dick Ebersol is
the only one I ever knew who wore a cape,” said Silver, with a laugh. “He literally wore a cape in the winter. And he pulled it off. Everyone else wore a coat, but Dick wore a cape.”
Ebersol said he bought the cape — “a classic Austrian coat” — on a 1993 trip to see a preseason NBA game in Munich.
Ebersol didn’t seem to change his garb for anyone, regardless of that person’s position. He recalled one time in the spring of 1996 when he was preparing for a meeting with General Electric Chairman and CEO Jack Welch. Before meeting with Welch — one of the most respected businessmen in U.S. history — Ebersol met with Ken Schanzer, his top lieutenant, in the executive dining room on the 52nd floor of 30 Rock. Ebersol’s outfit: brightly colored slacks, a button-down collared shirt and, you guessed it, a sweater vest.
Schanzer, who was dressed much more conservatively, took one look at Ebersol and laughed. “Welch is going to kill you when you walk into the room like that,” he said.
They went to the meeting, and before Welch opened the meeting, he looked at Ebersol, turned to Schanzer and said, “What, Schanzer? You don’t have Ebersol’s balls?”
“That was the beginning of the end of the dress code at NBC Sports for people who had balls,” Ebersol said with a laugh.
