Stuart Scott, a longtime ESPN anchor, passed away Sunday morning after a long battle with cancer. He was 49. He changed sports commentating forever, adding new phrases and more excitement when he commentated.
Scott was born in July of 1965, he joined ESPN in 1993, and from the start he provided that Hip-Hop Style of commentating. While it may not seem weird to say “Boo-Ya” when commentating today, back then it was a very odd thing to do. “Boo-Ya” is one of his famous phrases along with “As cool as the other side of the pillow”, and “Just call him butter ‘cause he’s on a roll.”
Scott added more excitement to commentating, and ESPN moved him to ESPN2 because they needed a guy to work with younger audiences. Scott worked with the NFL and NBA primarily, and also worked on SportsCenter. Along with that he starred in movies and TV shows.
In 2002 while doing a segment for ESPN, Scott was hit in the eye with a football in the New York Jets minicamp. He had surgery but still suffered from ptosis.
In 2007 while traveling to commentate a game, Scott had a stomach ache, and it only got worse, he was taken to the hospital and had his appendix taken out. The doctors tested his appendix and found that it was cancerous, and he started receiving chemotherapy. In 2010 the cancer had gone away and Scott below believed he had beaten it. But just a year later it returned.
In 2014 Scott was awarded the Jimmy V Perseverance award for his battle against cancer.
Stuart Scott changed commentating forever and is arguably the best sports commentator ever. Thank you, Stuart Scott, and Rest In Peace.