ESPN anchor Stuart Scott had a tremendous impact on each writer on The Carolinian sports staff

By Brandon Boyer, Staff writer

Published in print Jan 14, 2015.

Stuart Scott, a longtime anchor for the worldwide leader in sports, ESPN, died on Sunday, Jan.4.

As ESPN branched out and formed their second channel in 1993, ESPN2, they looked to offer a younger, “more hip” look at sports. On the inaugural episode of SportsNight, the show that launched ESPN2, Keith Olbermann, in a brightly colored button down that screamed of the fashion of the 1990’s, kicked it over to a young sportscaster by the name of Stuart Scott. In his first words on the channel, in a segment titled “sportsmash,” Scott said, “Keith. Please. I’m having fun. I like that shirt and the jacket together. That is hip. That is ESPN2.”

As I was just about to turn two years old at the time, I have no memory of this. However, on the Monday following the passing of the iconic anchor for the network, Olbermann dedicated the second half of his show to Scott’s first ever broadcast with the network, a fitting tribute.

Now, what makes Stuart Scott so special, particularly in my mind, was how accessible he was as a talking head on the TV. He didn’t just rattle off facts and figures, like many others did. He would blend a conversational style of speaking with catchphrases and the occasional statistic and scoreline, just to communicate the highlights of the game or the story in a language any person, new to a sport or not, could readily understand and appreciate. Often times when I was younger, I wouldn’t even watch SportsCenter unless he was at the desk. The other anchors bored me to tears, whereas Scott made sports more than games of numbers, facts, and figures. Largely, his way of communicating and decorating sports stories in his familiar and colorful lexicon is why I’m sitting here writing this column in the sports section of my university’s newspaper.

He will be missed.

By Terrence Hinds Jr

On January 4 the sports industry lost a pioneer and a legend in Stuart Scott. For any sports fan the show SportsCenter is the go to show for highlights and coverage of your favorite teams. I had to be sure to watch it every morning before school just to make sure I was updated on all sporting news.

Scott was an exciting and refreshing voice every morning.

It was always exciting to hear how he would narrate the highlights of your favorite team. He was the first SportsCenter anchor to really bring that urban flavor to a show where normally the anchors stay more on the conservative side. His sayings were legendary “Boo-Yah” and “As cool as the other side of the pillow” were staples during his reviews of games. Scott’s spirit truly touched a lot of people  (including myself) and that was evident by the outpouring of love that was showed to him from his contemporaries after his death. We lost a great one RIP.

By Daniel Johnson

At 9 a.m. on Sunday, January 4, I was in my bed, watching “Law and Order”, and waiting for the NFL Playoff games to start at 1. During the commercial, I flipped to recordings of “The Who at Kilburn” and poorly blowing what only I consider music in my harmonica. After the recording ended, and my ears stopped bleeding, for some unexplained reason, I turned to CNN to see read the bottom heading scrolling “ESPN analyst Stuart Scott has passed at age 49 from cancer”. I had to rewind to make sure I had properly read the scroll. Almost instantly, I thought back at my childhood in Connecticut. Sharing a room with my brothers, the show we enjoyed was “Stump the Schwab”, where Scott was the host. Growing up, when I thought of ESPN, his face and voice was the first to come to mind. Even in death, Stuart Scott will forever be an instrumental part of my childhood memory and is one of the reasons I am such a passionate sports fan.

By Matthew Johnson

Scrolling Twitter that fateful Sunday morning, I just could not believe that one of my greatest sports influences had passed away. As a young child, I did not dissect figures and athletes that I do now. Sports were as innocent as the large eye youth who religiously watch them. To me, athletes like Kobe Bryant, Peyton Manning and Derek Jeter were gods, and Stuart Scott was the ultimate mouthpiece to my heroes. His down-to-earth approach with his charming catchphrases and inclusion of hip-hop songs, spoken word poetry with old church adages such as “And the Lord said you got to rise Up!” spoke to me. This was someone who spoke the way I spoke, looked the way I looked. I was proud to watch him for so many years on one of my favorite shows. Scott changed the way I looked at sports and forever changed sports media. We will miss him and we own nothing but thanks for such a moving anchorperson. 

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