Stuart Scott

Stuart Orlando Scott (July 19, 1965 – January 4, 2015) was an American sportscaster and anchor on ESPN, including on SportsCenter.

Known for his hip-hop style and use of catchphrases, Scott was also a regular for the network in its National Basketball Association (NBA) and National Football League (NFL) coverage.

Scott was born in Chicago and resided in the back of London Towne Houses on Chicago's Southeast side.

After relocating to North Carolina in his youth, Scott graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Stuart Orlando Scott was born in Chicago, Illinois on July 19, 1965.

His parents were O. Ray and Jacqueline Scott.

When he was 7, Scott and his family moved to Winston-Salem, North Carolina.

Scott had a brother named Stephen and two sisters named Susan and Synthia.

He attended Mount Tabor High School for 9th and 10th grade and then completed his last two years at Richard J. Reynolds High School in Winston-Salem, graduating in 1983.

In high school, he was a captain of his football team, ran track, served as Vice President of the Student Council, and was the Sergeant at Arms of the school's Key Club.

In 1987, Scott graduated from the UNC with a B.A. in speech communication.

Following graduation, Scott worked as a news reporter and weekend sports anchor at WPDE-TV in Florence, South Carolina from 1987 until 1988.

Scott came up with the phrase "as cool as the other side of the pillow" while working his first job at WPDE.

After this, Scott worked as a news reporter at WRAL-TV 5 in Raleigh, North Carolina from 1988 until 1990.

WRAL Sports anchor Jeff Gravley recalled there was a "natural bond" between Scott and the sports department.

Gravley described his style as creative, gregarious and adding so much energy to the newsroom.

Even after leaving, Scott still visited his former colleagues at WRAL and treated them like family.

From 1990 until 1993, Scott worked at WESH, an NBC affiliate in Orlando, Florida as a sports reporter and sports anchor.

While at WESH, he met ESPN producer Gus Ramsey, who was beginning his own career.

Ramsey said of Scott: "You knew the second he walked in the door that it was a pit stop, and that he was gonna be this big star somewhere someday. He went out and did a piece on the rodeo, and he nailed it just like he would nail the NBA Finals for ESPN."

He earned first place honors from the Central Florida Press Club for a feature on rodeo.

Al Jaffe, ESPN's vice president for talent, brought Scott to ESPN2 because they were looking for sportscasters who might appeal to a younger audience.

Scott became one of the few African-American personalities who was not a former professional athlete.

His first ESPN assignments were for SportsSmash, a short sportscast twice an hour on ESPN2's SportsNight program.

After Keith Olbermann left SportsNight for ESPN's SportsCenter, Scott took his place in the anchor chair at SportsNight.

After this, Scott was a regular on SportsCenter.

At SportsCenter, Scott was frequently teamed with fellow anchors Steve Levy, Kenny Mayne, Dan Patrick, and Rich Eisen.

Scott was a regular in the This is SportsCenter commercials.

He began his career with various local television stations before joining ESPN in 1993.

Although there were already accomplished African-American sportscasters, his blending of hip hop with sportscasting was unique for television.

In 2001, Scott gave the commencement address at UNC.

In 2002, Scott was named studio host for the NBA on ESPN.

In 2007, Scott had an appendectomy and learned that his appendix was cancerous.

By 2008, he was a staple in ESPN's programming, and also began on ABC as lead host for their coverage of the NBA.

After going into remission, he was again diagnosed with cancer in 2011 and 2013.

Scott was honored at the ESPY Awards in 2014 with the Jimmy V Award for his fight against cancer, less than six months before his death in 2015 at age 49.

Scott was inducted into the Richard J. Reynolds High School Hall of Fame during a ceremony on February 6, 2015, which took place during the Reynolds/Mt.

Tabor (the two high schools that Scott attended) basketball game.

He attended the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where he was a member of the Mu Zeta Chapter of Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity and was part of the on-air talent at WXYC.

While at UNC, Scott also played wide receiver and defensive back on the football team.