The mailman delivers: George Bodenheimer, a quiet innovator who rose from the mailroom to president of ESPN, gets our stamp as the most powerful man in sports.(The Power 100)(Biography)

A wide shot: elegant Mice Tully Hall at Lincoln Center in Manhattan. Advertising big shots, journalists and guest panelists such as NBA legend Bill Russell arrive for the third annual ESPN up-front presentation, at which the network celebrates with, and sells itself to, media buyers and opinion makers.

Zoom in: downstairs, into the greenroom, behind that dosed door. There, in a restroom, John Saunders, Bob Ley and Chris Berman chat, talk sports and briefly relax. Most ESPN viewers--and aren't we all, at some point, ESPN viewers?--would love to eavesdrop here. But for anyone interested in truly understanding ESPN, the most compelling conversation in the building is back in the greenroom. Scan past Charlotte Bobcats owner Robert Johnson and advertising guru Dan Weiden to those chairs against the wall where a man discusses sotto voce the future of television with Stephen Burke, president of Comcast, the leading cable operator in the country.

Meet ESPN president George Bodenheimer, the most powerful person in the room, the building and, by the SPORTING NEWS' measure, in all of sports for 2003: No. 1 in the Power 100, our annual ranking of sports industry heavyweights.

Unlike a certain other George whom TSN ranked numero uno last year, Bodenheimer doesn't constantly remind you that he's the boss. In fact, his power style is the polar opposite of George Steinbrenner's. Bodenheimer, who was ranked fourth last year, doesn't dominate a room--he can be so soft-spoken that his conversations can't be heard 2 feet away. Ask ESPN senior vice president for consumer communication Chris LaPlaca for a Bodenheimer press kit, and he'll confess that there isn't one because Bodenheimer is oft-quoted on business matters but rarely profiled. Spend an hour in Bodenheimer's modestly decorated office, and he'll flood you with quotes reflecting ah unstinting"we, not me" attitude.

But don't underestimate Bodenheimer, who started at ESPN in 1981 by driving mail around the Bristol, Conn., complex and picking up tapes and talent at the airport. Beneath his nice-guy smile and sense of humor, says senior vice president John Walsh, is someone "who can be demanding and make tough decisions, someone who understands that everything doesn't go the way you hoped it would." He is, senior V.P. Lee Ann Daly says, extremely thorough, doesn't assume he knows everything and never leaves a meeting until he "understands it all."

Says NBA commissioner David Stern, himself a former No. 1 in the Power 100: "He's a good manager who understands the evolution and history of his company as well as any CEO in the country."

Bodenheimer, who took that first job in Bristol after being rejected by every major league baseball team and Madison Square Garden, got promoted to affiliate sales when he was the only staffer willing to more to Texas. He moved up the ESPN ladder, adding affiliate marketing and then all sales and marketing before becoming president in 1998.