Kirk Herbstreit shares hilarious story with Pat McAfee about Emmy Awards taken from his house

Craig Meyer, USA TODAY NETWORK
·2 min read
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Kirk Herbstreit has been a fixture of ESPN’s “College GameDay” program for close to 30 years, a time in which the former Ohio State quarterback has established himself as one of the country’s best sports broadcasters and one of the faces of college football as a whole.

Until this year, however, he didn’t have an Emmy Award. The organization that distributes the physical awards made sure of it.

In January, investigations conducted by the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences and ESPN found that the network had submitted made-up names to the Emmys in order to obtain more than 30 extra trophies for broadcast personalities, like Herbstreit, who were ineligible to receive them.

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Herbstreit, who was unaware of the scheme, eventually had to have the Emmy Awards he had in his home taken away from him, an experience he discussed in an appearance this week on “The Pat McAfee Show” on ESPN.

Describing himself as “naïve,” Herbstreit said he thought that everyone on the show received an award when it won an Emmy, but later learned that wasn’t the case and that the organization that gives them out need to retrieve his falsified trophies.

When it came time to collect them, though, Herbstreit wasn’t at home.

“Two years ago they said, ‘That was not supposed to go to you guys on the set, so we’ve got to take them all back.’ And I was like, ‘Well, I’m not in my house in Nashville. You’re going to have to go get them,’” Herbstreit said. “And they were like ‘Okay. No problem.’ They went down and got them and took 8 of my 13 of them out of the house.”

Thankfully for Herbstreit, rules regarding who can receive an Emmy has changed, meaning that he and other on-air talent like McAfee can now get trophies. Earlier this month, “College GameDay” won an Emmy for outstanding weekly sports studio show, meaning Herbstreit’s home will have a rightfully earned Emmy – one that can’t be snatched away from him.

“I think after that they changed the rule, and now if GameDay wins one, now I think guys like me and you and Des and Rece and coach, we legally get one now,” Herbstreit said. “I think technically it’s our ninth, but it’s our first one we can actually have in our house.”

This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Kirk Herbstreit shares hilarious story about Emmy Awards taken from his house