Stuart Scott, 1965-2015

SportsCenter anchor Stuart Scott died at the age of 49. He had battled cancer three times and was hoping to beat it again before succumbing this morning.

Scott helped to launch ESPN2 in 1993 with Keith Olbermann and Suzy Kolber. Eventually, Scott and Kolber would move to ESPN and host SportsCenter along with other shows. Scott hosted ESPN’s NBA Finals coverage as well as Monday Night Countdown. Other shows he hosted included Dream Job and Stump the Schwab.

During the 1990’s, Scott would co-anchor SportsCenter with Rich Eisen and eventually partner with Steve Levy. He made “Booyah!” and “As cool as the other side of the pillow” synonymous with SportsCenter. He was featured in several “This is SportsCenter” promos and with Levy, re-launched SportsCenter in the new Digital Center-2 building on the ESPN Bristol, CT campus.

Scott will be remembered as one of the groundbreaking anchors on SportsCenter who refused to change his style and remained true to himself.

Last march, Richard Sandomir of the New York Times chronicled Scott’s battle against cancer.

Hannah Storm had the difficult task of reporting Scott’s death on SportsCenter this morning.

That led into this 15 minute tribute to Scott.

As you can imagine, the ESPN family as well as those outside are sharing their thoughts on Scott’s passing:

And here’s Scott’s speech at the 2014 ESPY’s accepting the Jimmy V Perseverance Award.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yl_0ieqSi7Q

Here’s Stuart breaking down his first SportsCenter appearance in 1993 co-anchoring with Craig Kilborn.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=Rgt8195Mcj4

Scott is survived by his two daughters, Taelor, 19, and Sydni, 15, his parents, three siblings and his girlfriend. In lieu of flowers, the family asks for donations to the V Foundation.

[ESPN]