Longtime ESPN anchor Stuart Scott died Sunday morning after a seven-year battle with cancer. He was 49.
Scott became a member of the ESPN team in 1993. His first on-camera work was on ESPN2’s SportsSmash, and not long after, when Keith Obermann left SportsNight and moved over to SportsCenter, Scott took his place as anchor on the ESPN2 show.
“He was like a ball of fire walking in the door,” ESPN SVP Mark Gross said about Scott joining the network. “I had never met anybody like Stuart Scott.”
In addition to his work on SportsSmash, SportsNight and SportsCenter, Scott was also a part of ESPN’s Monday Night Countdown and ABC’s NBA coverage. During his 21-year career on the network, he interviewed two different presidents, Bill Clinton and Barack Obama, and sat down with many iconic sports figures, including Tiger Woods and Michael Jordan.
However, Scott is probably most remembered for the personality that he brought to his coverage on ESPN. The infamous anchor coined numerous catchphrases throughout his career, including his trademark “Boo-Yah!” and “As cool as the other side of the pillow.”
“He didn’t just push the envelope,”sports radio host and former ESPN anchor Dan Patrick said. “He bulldozed the envelope.”
At this summer’s ESPYs awards ceremony in July, Scott accepted the the Jimmy V Award for Perseverance after having just recently undergone more surgery, but he was able to walk onto the stage and deliver a fantastic speech that received a standing ovation.
“When you die, it does not mean that you lose to cancer,” Scott said. “You beat cancer by how you live, why you live, and in the manner in which you live.”
Scott is survived by his two daughters, Taelor, 19, and Sydni, 15.
Below, SportsCenter anchor Hannah Storm emotionally delivers the news of Scott’s death on the air. Also, watch ESPN’s stunning tribute video to the late anchor, narrated by Good Morning America host and good friend of Scott’s Robin Roberts, right here.
Photo by Kevin Winter/Getty Images
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