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Wow. Really brings mortality into focus for those of us in similar stages of life.
Below is Stuart Scott's unforgettable speech from the ESPYS which captured his unique and inspiring spirit. http://t.co/iC4rxUxcgg
— Outside The Lines (@OTLonESPN) January 4, 2015
Hannah Storm’s one-minute eulogy linked here.
I have some very sad news to report to you this morning. Our colleague, or friend, and our inspiration Stuart Scott passed away earlier today.
At July’s ESPY awards, Stuart Scott told the audience: ‘When you die, it does not mean that you lose to cancer. You beat cancer by how you live, why you live, and in the manner in which you live.’”
Since 1993, those of us here at ESPN fortunate enough to work with Stuart saw how he lived. And in the past seven years as he fought cancer, we saw why he lived. For his daughters, Taelor and Sydni. And so today we choose not to say that Stuart lost to cancer at the age of 49. Instead, we’ll simply say we all lost Stuart.
Scott had fought cancer since a diagnosis in late 2007, the network said, but remained dedicated to his craft even as he underwent chemotherapy, radiation and surgery.
ESPN President John Skipper said in a statement that Scott was “a true friend and a uniquely inspirational figure” and that his “energetic and unwavering devotion to his family and to his work while fighting the battle of his life left us in awe, and he leaves a void that can never be replaced.”
Scott accepted the Jimmy V Perseverance Award at the ESPYs in July. During his speech, he told his teenage daughters: “Taelor and Sydni, I love you guys more than I will ever be able to express. You two are my heartbeat. I am standing on this stage here tonight because of you.”
Born in Chicago, Scott attended high school in North Carolina. After graduating from the University of North Carolina in 1987, Scott worked at three TV stations in the southern U.S. before joining ESPN for the 1993 launch of its ESPN2 network. He often anchored the 11 p.m. “SportsCenter,” where he would punctuate emphatic highlights with “Boo-ya” or note a slick move as being “as cool as the other side of the pillow.”
Scott went on to cover countless major events for the network, including the Super Bowl, NBA finals, World Series and NCAA Tournament. He also interviewed President Barack Obama, joining him for a televised game of one-on-one. In 2001, Scott returned to Chapel Hill as the university’s commencement speaker.
Scott was first diagnosed with cancer in November 2007 after he had to leave the “Monday Night Football” game between Miami and Pittsburgh to have his appendix removed. Doctors discovered a tumor during surgery. He underwent chemotherapy again in 2011.
Scott made a point of continuing to live his life – at work and outside of it.
“Who engages in mixed martial arts training in the midst of chemotherapy treatments?” Skipper said in ESPN’s statement. “Who leaves a hospital procedure to return to the set?”
Scott is survived by his parents, O. Ray and Jacqueline Scott; siblings Stephen Scott, Synthia Kearney and Susan Scott; his daughters Taelor, 19, and Sydni, 15; and girlfriend Kristin Spodobalski.
As he accepted the award named for former N.C. State coach Jim Valvano, who died of cancer in 1993, Scott noted: “When you die, that does not mean that you lose to cancer.
“You beat cancer by how you live, why you live, and the manner in which you live,” Scott said. “So live. Live. Fight like hell.”
Video from Rich Eisen at NFL Network linked here.
Very moving and interesting.
A UNC grad who was awarded Jimmy V’s perseverance award. Some things transcend all rivalries. RIP Stuart Scott.
Very sad to hear about Stuart Scott yesterday. I met him a few times at the Jimmy V golf tournament, since the tourney was in August one year I got to talk a little good natured junk about State vs UNC football (probably back in the Rivers era) and he had some fun with it. In retrospect that’s a pretty cool moment.
Before the tourney they would have a reverse raffle for a new BMW. Towards the end people would make offers to buy up the final tickets. Stuart would be one of the MCs and when the price got a little too steep he would chip in hundreds of dollars out of his own pocket to sweeten the pot and keep things moving and a little more interesting. I will definitely remember that generosity.
If you haven’t seen Rich Eisen do the Colts/Bengals highlights with all of Stuart’s catchphrases, it’s pretty cool
http://screengrabber.deadspin.com/rich-eisen-fills-whole-highlight-package-with-stuart-sc-1677442800/+bubbaprogWV Wolf thank you for sharing very cool. Its funny I can to this day not be that big of a Jordan fan because he went to the hill… but I can’t find one thing not to like about Stuart Scott. He is also in a rival fraternity and I’m still like dah well I still like the guy. Only way to explain it, is he was a great human being per just about every reference including SFN and he was great at what he did which I witnessed with my own eyes and ears.
Here is Jason Whitlock “pretending to like & respect Stuart Scott”. Interesting intel in there…but it feels to me as though dead spend is taking one point that Whitlock made about a single situation when trying to apply it to Whitlock’s overall view of Scott.
To be fair, I think you can like someone without necessarily respecting their work or having to think that everything they ever did was without fault. We’re all talking about Stuart as being this amazing sports media talent… and, to be fair, the jury would never come back unanimous on that point because of his unique style. Scott’s catchphrases and style were not appealing to everyone when he first hit the airwaves — to be honest, I couldn’t stand it. I lived with five other guys in the late 90s and they couldn’t stand it. either. It felt contrived and like he was trying too hard. We didn’t want all that crap in our news… We just wanted the news. And no one should have to apologize for that.
But Scott clearly grew and matured into someone very good at their trade as opposed to just a goofy guy on TV with a shtick. And, evidently, one of the things made him so unique is that he genuinely did not care about the folks who did not love his style. At the end of the day, he and his style had a tremendous impact on sports media and our culture.
I think it is perfectly fine for someone to hold the opinion that Scott wasn’t greatest sportscaster of all time but still have a high opinion for him and the way he lived his life.
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