Stuart Scott Passes Away at 49 From Cancer Battle, Watch ESPN Anchor Hannah Storm Break News On Air (VIDEO)
Stuart Scott, the longtime ESPN anchor died on Sunday morning (Jan 4) at the age of 49. He had been battling cancer for several years but the news was still very hard to take for his peers at ESPN. Above you can see Hannah Storm break the news officially live on air for the first time and her raw emotion is evident.
"ESPN and everyone in the sports world have lost a true friend and a uniquely inspirational figure in Stuart Scott," ESPN president John Skipper said in a statement. "Who engages in mixed martial arts training in the midst of chemotherapy treatments? Who leaves a hospital procedure to return to the set?"
He continued, "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."
As his peers share about him all over ESPN and other sports networks today, you can tell how great of a man Stuart was. His strong will, work ethic and positive attitude was contagious.
Scott joined ESPN2 at the network's launch in 1993 as the host of SportsNight. He worked for ESPN as an anchor for SportsCenter episodes as well as National Football League and National Basketball Association programming.
Scott appeared in each issue of ESPN the Magazine, with his 'Holla' column. In his work at ESPN, he interviewed top professional athletes such as Tiger Woods and Michael Jordan, as well as two American Presidents: then-Senator Barack Obama and Bill Clinton.
On SportsCenter Scott was frequently teamed with fellow anchor Rich Eisen. He became well known for his use of unique catch phrases, following in the SportsCenter tradition begun by Dan Patrick and Keith Olbermann, such as "holla at a playa when you see him in the street!", "call him butter, he's on a roll" and "Boo Yah!" and "as cool as the other side of the pillow." In 1999 he was parodied on Saturday Night Live by Tim Meadows.