Who is on ESPN’s Mount Rushmore?
As Karl Ravech called his final assignment for ESPN, his longtime Baseball Tonight colleague Tim Kurkjian gave him the ultimate praise — that he belonged on the Mount Rushmore of the worldwide leader in sports. Ravech served ESPN as an anchor, studio host, and play-by-play man for well over 30 years. He was one of the most identifiable people on the network and a bridge to what many might consider the network’s peak, when it was at its highest cultural significance, and cable television ruled the world.
Naturally, that assessment raises the question of who has really earned their place in the most exclusive club in sports media. The great thing about these debates is that there are only four spots on the mountaintop. That means tough decisions about who makes it and who does not.
Unfortunately for Karl Ravech, he did not make the official Awful Announcing declaration for the ESPN Mount Rushmore. But before we unveil the four legends of Bristol, Connecticut, here are others who were considered honorable mentions.
HONORABLE MENTION
Bob Ley – The General was ESPN’s north star for decades. While recent generations see him as the face of the network’s journalism coverage, he did much more for ESPN as a SportsCenter anchor and soccer host, among many duties. He joined the network just two days after launch in September 1979 and retired in 2019 after 40 years as one of ESPN’s key figures.
Linda Cohn – If you asked someone who holds the record for most SportsCenter episodes, Linda Cohn’s name might not be the first that came to mind. But over the course of 34 years in Bristol, Connecticut, she proved to be the best possible teammate at the anchor desk that anyone could have. Cohn mutually agreed to recently part ways with ESPN and is now hosting her own podcast.
Lee Corso – Lee Corso was the face of the network’s college football coverage as the sport has continued to rise in popularity. His sendoff in the middle of The Horseshoe in Columbus, Ohio, in front of 100,000 people with his final mascot headgear pick was one of the best sports media moments of all time. His College GameDay picks became the stuff of legend as he was on ESPN’s flagship college football show for almost 40 years.
Dick Vitale – Like Lee Corso on the football side, Dick Vitale was the face of ESPN’s college basketball coverage. The recently fired Detroit Pistons coach called ESPN’s first broadcast in December 1979. And from that day forward, he never looked back. Vitale’s enthusiasm and energy were one of a kind, even if it didn’t always resonate with some fans. But in his later years, especially as he has heroically battled cancer, he has received proper recognition as one of the greatest ambassadors ever for college sports.
Tony Kornheiser and Michael Wilbon – It’s now almost impossible to imagine ESPN without the two former Washington Post columnists as part of the daily lineup. The hosts of Pardon the Interruption have been mainstays in the weekday lineup since first debuting 25 years ago. Although Wilbon and Kornheiser had varying degrees of success elsewhere at the network, their PTI partnership is the stuff of legend and still continues to this day.
Dan Patrick and Keith Olbermann – Another iconic duo, Olbermann and Patrick have long been held as the greatest SportsCenter duo of all time, marking the absolute height of ESPN’s flagship show. Both also had pretty great individual careers in their own right, with Patrick hosting NBA coverage and his own radio show (that he has carried elsewhere for years now) and Olbermann making multiple returns after a bombastic exit and his political career.
And now, the official quartet who will forever be enshrined on ESPN’s Mount Rushmore…
Chris Berman
The only unanimous choice from the Awful Announcing staff. And who else could it be? Nobody else has symbolized the rise of ESPN and the force that it would become quite like Chris Berman. “Boomer” began his journey as a SportsCenter anchor just a month after the network launched in October 1979. Over the following decades, he became a fixture in sports media.
While Berman started as a news anchor, his NFL coverage made him a cultural phenomenon. His longtime hosting of NFL Primetime and unique way of calling highlights has never been duplicated before or since. The nicknames, sound effects, energy, and excitement were appointment viewing for years. In some respects, Chris Berman became bigger than ESPN itself. His work went beyond the NFL with contributions to the network’s baseball and golf coverage as well.
It’s been a decade since Berman stepped down from full-time duties at ESPN and moved into an emeritus role. However, he still occasionally appears on NFL programming and hosts a streaming version of NFL Primetime on ESPN+. When ESPN broadcasts its first Super Bowl next February, it would be only fitting if he were there in some capacity. And he has already set an end date in mind for when he will hang up the mic for good following the 2029 season, when he will mark 50 years with ESPN.
Stuart Scott
If you asked most sports fans who the most iconic, memorable, and impactful ESPN anchor would be, odds are that there would be one clear answer at the top of the list — Stuart Scott. He first joined ESPN in 1993 to help launch ESPN2 and assist the network in reaching a younger demographic. As he rose to prominence, Scott’s journey at ESPN wasn’t always easy, as he helped move the presentation of sports on television in a new direction. But the road is not always straight and smooth when blazing a new trail.
Scott opened up doors for others who would follow in his footsteps, making sports cool, fun, and relatable for an entirely new generation. Many of his favorite catchphrases are still in use as part of the sports lexicon today. He tragically passed away at just 49 years of age in January 2015 after a battle with cancer. Before his passing, he delivered an inspirational message at the ESPYs, where he received the Jimmy V Perseverance Award, moving the nation. The New York Times obituary called him ESPN’s “voice of exuberance.” And the sports world is a much more joyful place because of his presence.
Scott Van Pelt
Just this week, Scott Van Pelt began his 12th year of SportsCenter with SVP as the lead personality of ESPN’s nightly version of its most famous and consequential show on record. SportsCenter now is not the same as it was in the days of Stuart Scott and Chris Berman. It can’t be, not with the changes in how we consume sports, news, and media. The industry has shifted toward a more personality-driven approach, and ESPN needed someone they could trust to help lead them into a new era.
And when you think of Scott Van Pelt, trust is the word that comes to mind. ESPN has trusted him with making its flagship show his own, and it also trusts him to host coverage of nearly every major sporting event in the country. And each time he does so, SVP shows an ability to connect with athletes, coaches, and viewers that few people have ever enjoyed.
Van Pelt first came to ESPN in 2001 from Golf Channel. And while he still anchors the network’s coverage of major championships, he has expanded his portfolio far beyond golf. Among sports fans, colleagues, and others around the industry, it’s hard to find someone whose work is more appreciated than Scott Van Pelt. In a world of division and polarization, his work seems to be the one thing everyone can agree on.
Stephen A. Smith
Speaking of polarization, the last spot on the ESPN Mount Rushmore came down to an incredibly close race. But ultimately, it’s Stephen A. Smith who claims the final position over a field of worthy contenders. The case for SAS is readily apparent, as he has been the face of not just ESPN, but the rapidly changing sports landscape of the modern day.
Whether you love it or not, Smith has been the driving force behind the movement that turned ESPN from a network that showed games and highlights into one that focuses on debates, narratives, and conversations. Much as SportsCenter had to change because of shifting sports-fan habits, so too has the network changed its approach. And just as Chris Berman became bigger than ESPN in the 1980s and 1990s, you can make the same argument that Stephen A. Smith (and even more recently Pat McAfee) have been able to do the same in the 2010s and 2020s.
Smith has become a ubiquitous presence not just in sports, but also in politics and beyond. Whether it’s First Take, the NFL, the NBA, SiriusXM, NewsNation, Fox News, General Hospital, or anywhere in between, Smith is there. Whether that’s a good sign for our constitutional republic or not, it’s a reality. And there’s a reason why ESPN felt comfortable dishing out a nine-figure contract to him: people care what SAS has to say, unlike a few people who have ever graced ESPN airwaves. And just as the likes of Berman, Scott, Olbermann, Patrick, and Ley symbolized what ESPN meant to sports fans in past decades, Stephen A. Smith does now.
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