Hannah Storm

Hannah Lynn Storen Hicks (born June 13, 1962), known professionally as Hannah Storm, is an American television sports journalist, serving as the anchor of ESPN's SportsCenter.

She was also host of the NBA Countdown pregame show on ABC as part of the network's National Basketball Association (NBA) Sunday game coverage.

Storm was born in Oak Park, Illinois, and is the daughter of sports executive Mike Storen, who was a commissioner of the American Basketball Association, general manager of that league's Indiana Pacers, Kentucky Colonels and Memphis Sounds franchises, and president of the Atlanta Hawks in the NBA.

Her mother, Hannah G. Storen, is a real estate broker.

Storm took her on-air name during her stint as a disc jockey for a hard rock radio station in Corpus Christi, Texas, in the early 1980s.

While at Notre Dame, she worked for WNDU-TV, the then-Notre Dame-owned NBC affiliate in South Bend, Indiana.

After graduation, she took a job as a disc jockey at KNCN (C-101) in Corpus Christi, Texas.

Six months later, she got a job at a Houston rock station KSRR 97 Rock as the drive-time sportscaster and traffic reporter

Storm stayed in Houston for four years doing a variety of radio and television jobs, including hosting the Houston Rockets halftime and postgame shows and also hosted Houston Astros postgame shows on KTXH television.

Storm graduated from The Westminster Schools, in Atlanta, Georgia, and in 1983 from the University of Notre Dame.

She worked as a weekend sports anchor on WCNC TV 36 (formerly WRET) in Charlotte, North Carolina, from 1988 to 1989.

She transitioned to CNN from there.

Storm's national experience began as the first female host on CNN Sports Tonight from 1989 to 1992.

She also hosted Major League Baseball Preview and reported from spring training, the playoffs, and the Daytona 500.

In addition, she hosted the 1990 Goodwill Games for TBS.

In May 1992, Storm left CNN and was hired by NBC.

She hosted for the Olympic Games, as well as NBA and WNBA basketball, the National Football League, figure skating and Major League Baseball.

Storm became the first woman in American television history to act as solo host of a network's sports package when she hosted NBC Major League Baseball games from 1994 to 2000 (CBS' Andrea Joyce preceded her, but co-hosted the sports packages).

She then hosted The NBA on NBC from 1997 to 2002.

Storm also anchored NBC Sports coverage of Wimbledon, French Open, Notre Dame football, World Figure Skating Championships, NBC SportsDesk, Men's and Women's U.S. Open (golf) and various college bowl games.

Storm was also the first play-by-play announcer for the WNBA in 1997.

In October 2002, she moved to CBS News and became one of the hosts of The Early Show.

As co-host of The Early Show, she covered major news events, including the Iraq War, Hurricane Katrina, Super Bowls XLI and XXXVIII, the 2004 Democratic National Convention, the 2004 and 2008 presidential elections, and the 2005 London terrorist bombings.

Storm has interviewed major newsmakers such as President George W. Bush, First Lady Laura Bush, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Senators John McCain, Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, as well as many sports and pop culture icons, including Elton John, Paul McCartney, Peyton Manning, Tiger Woods, Jamie Foxx, Halle Berry and Jennifer Aniston.

In addition to her duties on The Early Show, Storm hosted shows for the award-winning CBS newsmagazine, 48 Hours.

She also served as co-host of the network's CBS Thanksgiving Day Parade for five years.

In 2007, Storm conceived and wrote a daily blog for CBSNews.com, which featured behind-the-scenes insight and stories of inspirational women.

During an Early Show on-air segment, Storm revealed on camera that she had a congenital defect known as port-wine stain under her left eye.

In November 2007, CBS announced that Storm was leaving The Early Show.

Storm's last day as an Early Show co-host was December 7, 2007.

Storm joined ESPN on May 10, 2008.

She anchors SportsCenter weekdays (except Fridays during the NFL season) from 9 am until noon and on Sunday mornings during the NFL season with Bob Ley.

Her duties are to deliver highlights and to question analysts about sports topics.

In August 2009, she added tennis host to her ESPN duties by co-hosting the 2009 U.S. Open with Mike Tirico and Chris Fowler.

She also co-hosted the 2010 U.S. Open, 2011 Wimbledon and the 2011 U.S. Open.

In February 2010, fellow ESPN colleague Tony Kornheiser criticized her outfit that day on his radio show, saying that her outfit looked like "a sausage casing", and was suspended from ESPN for two weeks.

He later apologized to her via a 15-minute phone conversation.

Beginning on April 3, 2010, Storm would host ESPN Sports Saturday, a show on corporate sibling ABC similar to that network's classic sports series, Wide World of Sports.

In June 2010, alongside fellow anchor Stuart Scott, Storm provided pregame coverage for the 2010 NBA Finals between the Boston Celtics and Los Angeles Lakers.

She later became host of the NBA Countdown pregame show for the 2010–2011 season, alternating with Stuart Scott, until the 2011–12 NBA season.