Stuart Scott’s Legacy of Great Sportscaster, Human will Live on

Every Monday morning, Section 215’s Akiem Bailum gives an in-depth and unfiltered look at all of the latest sports news in The Monday Morning Realist. You can follow Akiem on Twitter @AkiemBailum.

With four NFL playoff games having taken place this past weekend, usually this is where I give my recap of those football games.

But, football was rendered meaningless, yesterday. In fact, all sports were rendered relatively meaningless yesterday.

Because it was yesterday morning that the sports world received shocking news that ESPN’s Stuart Scott, who was in the midst of a long battle with cancer, had passed away. Even worse is that cancer took Scott away from us at the young age of 49 years old—way too soon.

First, to start off, on behalf of everyone here at Section 215, I offer my deepest of condolences to his family, friends, everyone at ESPN, and those who had the opportunity to interact with him throughout his 49 years of life.

This one had to be one that hit hard for sports fans of this generation. Because Stuart Scott was one of those very few sports personalities that began the trend for where sports broadcasting has evolved into today.

ESPN may have began operations in 1979, but it was in the early 1990s when he first arrived at ESPN that it began the course that it has continued on with to this day. He was one of the personalities that had a hand in launching ESPN2, which was supposed to be a younger alternative to the older-skewing ESPN.

The ESPN of the 1980s is nowhere near the ESPN of the 1990s, 2000s, and 2010s. That is in large part to Scott. This man was a trailblazer in the sense that he allowed himself to show his personality on air as opposed to being the same as everyone else.

He was relatable to the young fan. It is safe to say that if it was not for Stuart Scott proving those who did not believe that his delivery could work on television wrong, Stephen A. Smith would not be on ESPN today. Because Scott’s on-air delivery made us remember that sports, underneath all of the money, business and politics of major sports, is entertainment and is meant to be fun.

Nowadays, those sportscasters that are able to make the big time now emulate Stuart Scott because of how much of a game changer he was. One cannot merely just be a sports expert on television, deliver highlights, and expect to be relatable to an audience.

Sports journalism is better because of it. Some media personalities when they go on air are sometimes more concerned with being more credible on-air (which is important) but it comes at a price. Some personalities can be credible, but not too relatable. Others are relatable but not exactly the most credible.

Scott managed to do both with efficiency and mastery. From the catchphrases to the aura he delivered on-air, to his memorable ESPYs speech regarding how people live with cancer. Stuart Scott was the total package.

As a personal aside, he was one of those on-air personalities who you automatically associate with ESPN over the years.

I remember in my younger years as an ESPN aficionado dating back to when I was in grade school. I associated several names with ESPN. Among them were Dan Patrick, Rich Eisen, Linda Cohn, Peter Gammons, Chris Berman, and Stuart Scott.

Eisen, who co-anchored SportsCenter with Scott in the 1990s and is a longtime friend, delivered a heartfelt tribute to Stuart Scott on Sunday’s edition of NFL Gameday Morning prior to that day’s pair of playoff matchups.

After the conclusion of the Cincinnati Bengals-Indianapolis Colts matchup from Lucas Oil Stadium, Eisen paid tribute once more when he used some of Scott’s signature catchphrases when delivering the game’s highlights.

Hannah Storm also was on-air on ESPN shortly after the news broke that Scott had passed away due to cancer. She was also doing her best to hold back tears as she was on-air. This is surreal, even for those that never met him but appreciated to different style he brought to sports broadcasting.

Know this: sports broadcasting is much better today because of Stuart Scott. As one of ESPN’s signature personalities, at least some part (or whole) of the Bristol campus deserves to be named after him in his memory.

Because, again, he steered ESPN more in the direction of catering to the contemporary sports fan. Shows on ESPN such as First Take, SportsNation, and His and Hers already are geared towards the contemporary sports fan, one has to wonder if those shows would have even existed if not for the vision that Scott made ESPN consider.

Unfortunately, even as a young journalist, I never had the opportunity to meet him. I and many others who did would have loved to have that chance. It is always a cliché thrown around (even in sports) as to “Who will be the next (insert name).”

In terms of Stuart Scott, there are and will continue to be others that will emulate him, which is a testament to his legacy. But even those that do will likely tell you that he cannot be duplicated.

Scott was masterful in his on-air delivery and had an infectious personality—all while being as cool as the other side of the pillow.

Beloved. Personality. Legend. He is missed already and will continue to be so.