Stuart Scott: Fan, Father, Fighter

On the morning of January 4th, the sports world lost one of its biggest heroes — Stuart Scott. A long time anchor for ESPN, Scott died in his home after a long battle with cancer. He was a revolutionary figure who changed the way people look and talk about sports. Scott brought a unique voice to the industry by bringing the mentality of a sports fan into the broadcaster profession. 

Scott was raised in North Carolina and went on to attend University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Once out of college, Scott worked at a few local television stations in the south such as WPDE-TV and WRAL-TV in South Carolina, and was later hired by ESPN in 1993. During this time, ESPN was looking to broaden their audience and appeal to a younger audience with the launch of ESPN2. ESPN brought in some new broadcasters including Scott for the kickoff of ESPN2, and Scott was an immediate hit.

According to ESPN’s Scott Van Pelt, Scott had a very unconventional way of reporting sports that changed the rules, boundaries and expectations of the way sport journalism was portrayed. Scott told the news with his own flare to it. Scott was know for the passion that he brought to the studio. He brought diversity to ESPN in through his delivery, his excitement and his pure love for sports. He was famous for his catchphrases such as “BOO-YA” and “as cool as the other side of the pillow.”

After Keith Olbermann left SportsNight Scott took his place and became a regular on SportsCenter, where he partnered up with Rich Eisen, current NFL Network host for Gameday Morning. The two broadcasters became very close and Scott often referred to Eisen his “TV Wife.”

In 2008, Scott was supposed to cover a Monday Night Football game featuring the Miami Dolphins and the Pittsburgh Steelers, but complained of a stomachache before the game that got worse as the night progressed. Scott was rushed to the hospital to have his appendix removed shortly after. After the operation was over however, the doctors had discovered that Scott had cancer. Two day later, he went into surgery and doctors removed part of his colon and some of his lymph nodes. Scott was also told to start chemotherapy to prevent the further spread of the cancer.

According to ESPN’s Steve Levey, even while undergoing chemotherapy, Scott refused to slow his life for his illness. During the transfusions Scott still went to work everyday but it was apparent that he wasn’t quite himself. However, Scott still hosted Friday night ESPN NBA coverage every week.

After his cancer had been in remission for two years, it returned in 2011 but once again Scott fought and the cancer went back into remission. But that wasn’t the end — the cancer returned once more in January of 2013 and Scott continued to battle. However through all this fighting Scott never wanted to find out what stage of cancer he was in. He said he wanted to live his live and not let his illness define him. Scott said he was living for his daughters, Sydni and Taelor and according to ESPN’s tribute video to Scott, many of his colleagues believed that they were the reason he was able to fight for so long.

On Jan. 14, 2014, Scott was presented the Jimmy V Perseverance Award for his outstanding career in sports broadcasting as well as his phenomenal battle against cancer. On that night, Scott said something on his speech that many people will never forget.

“When you die, that does not mean you lose to cancer,” Scott said. “You beat cancer by how you live, why you live and in the manner in which you live, I can’t ever give up, because I can’t leave my daughters.”

Stuart Scott not only made a big difference in the sports world, but he also had a big impact on me as a journalist. Ever since I was a little kid, I’ve stayed up late to watch SportsCenter. Through the years of watching sports, nobody told the story quite like Scott. I loved how much fun he had doing his job, and he’s one of the reasons why I want to become a sports broadcaster.

Scott lived an exemplary life. Those facing conflict should look to Scott because he proved that despite obstacles, there is always a way to succeed.

Scott brought a new level of livelihood to  SportsCenter­ — his fiery, animated sportscasting revolutionized the way we experience the sports we thought we knew so well.

Scott, you’ll always be as cool as the other side of the pillow.