SportsCenter anchor Jay Harris has been a fixture on ESPN airwaves for years. But he will step away for at least a month as he undergoes surgery for prostate cancer.
Harris revealed the news on Thursday morning, both in an ESPN announcement and in an interview on Good Morning America with Michael Strahan.
“I was diagnosed with prostate cancer. I’m having surgery on Tuesday. I’ll be away from SportsCenter for about a month to recover. Then I’m coming back better than ever,” Harris said.
The longtime SportsCenter anchor shared that doctors were optimistic that the cancer can be successfully dealt with after surgery and that he is hoping to inspire men to talk about their health.
“I figured I needed to share because we all need to talk about these things because we all have them in our families. And by not talking about them, we just really, I hate to be morbid, but we sentence ourselves to death by not talking,” he added.
Jay Harris is one of ESPN’s longest tenured anchors, joining ESPN in 2003. In an accompanying article for ESPN Front Row, he also wrote about going public with his prostate cancer diagnosis and his goal in sharing the news.
“After receiving my diagnosis, I had some very meaningful talks with my fellow SportsCenter anchors Hannah Storm and Brian Custer, both of whom have dealt with cancer. Their support has been extremely helpful. And my longtime friends at the V Foundation for Cancer Research have given me wonderful guidance,” Harris writes.
“My goal in sharing this is to join the many others who also want to normalize this conversation and hopefully provide a bit of guidance and preparation, just as it has been offered to me.”
Jay Harris has been a consummate professional and is one of the best and most accomplished SportsCenter anchors of his or any generation. We wish him well with his surgery and recovery and hope to see him back at the Bristol anchor desk soon.