Words and Images by Todd Williams
ESPN has changed a lot in the last decade and a
half. More than just the titles and theme music, more
than just the names behind the desks of such popular
shows as "NFL Primetime" and "Baseball Tonight."
The shift at the world's top sports network was much
more subtle and gradual, a shift of mind-set. In 1992,
the landscape of sporting news was largely dominated
by white males, both in front and behind the camera.
If the changes since the early '90s can be traced to
one 'tipping point,' that point is Stuart Scott. Scott
started at ESPN in 1993, and - at the risk of being
hyperbolic - the world of sporting news hasn't been
the same since.
"I think the job for African American sportscasters
14 years ago was tougher because there weren't that
many," Scott says. But Scott humbly disregards his
own significance in the changes since then; instead,
he praises those who laid the groundwork for him to do
what he does. "Whenever I see Jim Hill, a sportscaster
in L.A. [who's] been local [in] L.A. for a long time, I
thank him," he continues, acknowledging that this
thing didn't begin with Stuart Scott. "I thank James
Brown, who's with CBS now; I thank John Saunders,
who works here, I thank Robin Roberts. Those are the
people on a national level who opened doors for me
to come here. I hope that we are all opening doors for
everyone else."
Scott started working in Florence, S.C., his first
year out of college and had stints in Raleigh, N.C.,
and Orlando, Fla., prior to setting up shop at the
ESPN campus in Bristol, Conn. His career wasn't
without naysayers, however, and Scott is thankful
for them. He's equally appreciative of the support
that he received from some not-so-famous mentors
during his formative years in front of the camera. "I
never really had early inspirations and influences as
a sportscaster - I didn't grow up wanting to be a
sportscaster, all I wanted to do was play [football].
The only sportscasters who influenced me weren't
people that I necessarily wanted to be like per se, but
just people who believed in me when I was young
in the business starting out," he explains, smiling
nostalgically as he reminisces. "Names you may never
know, like Rick Henry, who I worked under in my first
job, Denise James, Ron Savage, Jeff Bradley, Miriam
Thomas - people who, when I was interning, helped
me and gave me inspiration to not give it up when 25
different networks were saying, 'We don't have a job
for you' and two or three were saying, 'You stink [and]
you'll never work in this business.' "
Obviously, Scott didn't allow early hurdles to break
his sprint for the finish line. ESPN grabbed him,
and Scott quickly became one of the networks most
visible personalities. "[I've] been here at the network
for almost 13 years - which means I'm old," he
says, before sarcastically clarifying, "but actually I
started when I was 12 - so I'm 25 this year, that's
the story we're going to go with." His sense of humor
and commitment to providing the most informative,
in-depth analysis became his calling cards, and since
coming to the network, he has created a trademark
brand of "Stuartspeak" that's as identifiable as
SportsCenter's theme music. The phrases "Boo-
Yah!" and "As cool as the other side of the pillow," are
etched into every sports fan's consciousness - and
more than a few sportscasters'. Scott downplays his
influence on the younger personalities at ESPN and in
sportscasting in general, he sees it as a cultural shift,
more than the direct influence of one man.
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