Rasmussen Announces He Has Parkinson's Disease

Four decades ago, Bill Rasmussen made a tremendous impact on the way people watch televised sports with the founding and launch of ESPN.

Today, he is attempting to make another beneficial impact by publicly announcing he is suffering from Parkinson's Disease. Diagnosed with the progressive brain disease in 2014, the sports entrepreneur revealed in a first-hand account published Monday on ESPN Front Row.

"I didn't feel anything different in my daily life and saw no reason to discuss the topic outside of normal family discussions about health matters. As the months and years passed though, I did indeed start to notice little differences in my physical abilities and learned more about PD – that's when I made the decision to share my story with fans, athletes, teams, sports, businesses and hopefully stir the collective, creative geniuses among us to successfully attack this progressive brain disease," said Rasmussen, 86, who lives in Seattle with his daughter, Lynn.

Rasmussen was in Connecticut in April to accept a Gold Key from the Connecticut Sports Writers Alliance. Read more in The Patch.

Photo: Bill Rasmussen, left, talks with Nathan Grube, director of the PGA Traveler's Championship, center, and Chris Palmer at the Gold Key banquet in April. Rasmussen and Palmer received Gold Key awards. (Photo by Gerry deSimas, Jr., Collinsville Press.com)