Loose Talk: The Editors’ Take
There have been plenty of noteworthy events around the sports world in the past couple of weeks. I could talk about the NFL playoffs, the College Football playoffs, the Bruins’ woes, the Hawks’ success or plenty of other things. But we reserve this space for the most important thing in sports each and every week, and this week, it’s a sad one. The legendary SportsCenter anchor Stuart Scott died of cancer on Jan. 4, 2015 at the age of 49. As someone who has lost a family member to cancer, my thoughts and prayers go out to his family along with so many others’.
Scott reached such a high level of success during his illustrious career that even President Obama released a statement following his death: “I will miss Stuart Scott. 20 years ago, Stu helped usher in a new way to talk about our favorite teams and the day’s best plays…Over the years, he entertained us, and in the end, he inspired us—with courage and love…”
Scott graduated from University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1983 and worked for several local sport’s television stations before arriving at ESPN in 1993. Scott brought a unique style of broadcasting by blending hip hop and sports together during his first ESPN stint on the SportsSmash segment and later on SportsCenter. He popularized the phrases "As cool as the other side of the pillow,” “Boo-Yah!” and “He must be the bus driver cuz he was takin' him to school” as well as many others during his broadcasts. Scott’s unique style was truly innovative on a station that was receiving flak for its stale commentary at the time. ESPN president John Skipper said that Scott “changed everything.” He appealed to the younger demographic of SportsCenter viewers, especially the black community. It was not all love for Scott, however. Many people criticized his style. In the end, ESPN stuck with him ,and he continually gained popularity. Scott went on to be a part of the ESPN Sunday and Monday Night Football crews as well as the studio host for NBA coverage on both ESPN and ABC. On top of his work for ESPN, Scott interviewed a number of national figures including Tiger Woods, Sammy Sosa, Bill Clinton and Barack Obama.
“When you die, it does not mean that you lose to cancer,” Scott told the audience. “You beat cancer by how you live, why you live and in the manner in which you live.”
Though he had a highly decorated career, Stuart Scott will forever be remembered for his inspirational fight against cancer. Scott was first diagnosed with the disease in 2007 when, on his way to appear on Monday Night Football, he got a stomach ache and eventually drove to the hospital to receive an appendectomy. The doctors later determined that the appendix was cancerous, and he received numerous other surgeries and then went through extensive chemotherapy. Just as he thought he was cancer-free, the cancer returned in 2011, but soon went back into remission. It returned again in January of 2013. Scott went back into chemotherapy, but never strayed from his normal, active life. He took up mixed martial arts in order to strengthen his body.
Though the cancer eventually took him only a couple of days into 2015, Scott never stopped battling the cancer, even refusing to acknowledge its existence most times. He never wanted to know what stage of cancer he was in. As he continued his work on SportsCenter and for MNF and the NBA on ABC, he never wanted to hear his colleagues’ sympathy, he only wanted to talk about sports. So he went on for the rest of 2013 and 2014, battling cancer while still being totally involved in his job. His condition was totally unnoticeable while he was on air. His fellow anchors revealed after his death, however, that he would try to sneak in even a two minute nap if he could during commercials. It was a strenuous effort for him to continue to work, but he would not have given it up for the world, even if it killed him.
Scott’s battle was one of the more legendary ones in recent memory. He inspired his coworkers, his audience, athletes around the world and President Obama. His devotion to his family was a heartwarming story. “I need to stay alive for my daughters,” Scott often said, “I want to be a parent for as long as I can.”
Scott won the Jimmy V award for Perseverance at the ESPYs in 2014, an award in honor of Jimmy Valvano, who delivered what is considered the most impactful speech for encouraging cancer patients ever in his “Don’t Give Up, Don’t Ever Give Up” speech. Scott delivered a speech of his own which will go down in history right next to Valvano’s. Scott went on stage and put the crowd in tears. “When you die, it does not mean that you lose to cancer,” Scott told the audience. “You beat cancer by how you live, why you live and in the manner in which you live.”
Rest in peace Stuart Scott, you were, are and always will, be an inspiration to everyone.