Lesley Visser
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Lesley Visser (born September 11, 1953 in Quincy, Massachusetts) is an American sportscaster. She is the only sportscaster, male or female, who has worked on the network broadcast of the Final Four, NBA Finals, Triple Crown, Monday Night Football, the Olympics, the Super Bowl, the World Figure Skating Championships and the U.S. Open of tennis.
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[edit] Early life and career
Visser was educated at Boston College, majoring in English. She received an honorary doctorate from her alma mater on May 21, 2007. In 1974, she won a prestigious Carnegie Foundation grant which entitled her to work as a sportswriter at the highly regarded Boston Globe. In 10 years at the Globe, she covered everything from basketball to baseball to the Olympics to Wimbledon, and also became the first female NFL beat writer when she covered the New England Patriots. A pioneer, the credentials often said, "No Women or Children Allowed in the Press Box."
[edit] First stint at CBS
In 1984, Visser joined CBS Sports, going full-time in 1987. She was a member of The NFL Today along with Greg Gumbel and Terry Bradshaw. She also covered the Final Four, the NBA, the Olympics, Major League Baseball and U.S. Open. In 1989, she covered the fall of the Berlin Wall, focusing on how sports would change in East Germany. In 1992, she became the first and to date, only woman to handle the Super Bowl Trophy Presentation.
[edit] ABC and ESPN
Visser joined ABC and ESPN in 1994, where she became the first woman on the legendary series Monday Night Football. She also covered figure skating, the World Series, the World Skiing championships and the Triple Crown. In 1995, she became the first woman to report from the network sideline of a Super Bowl. She also worked for HBO's Real Sports, hosted by Bryant Gumbel. And in 1998, Visser became the first female commentator on Monday Night Football.
[edit] Return to CBS
In 2000, Visser returned to CBS, where she continues to work today, covering the NFL and college basketball. In 2004, Visser became the first woman sportscaster to carry the Olympic Torch, where she was honored for being a "pioneer and standard-bearer."
[edit] Awards
- 2006: Visser was the first woman to receive the Pro Football Hall of Fame's Pete Rozelle Radio-Television Award. She was presented the award on August 5, 2006, the night before the HOF induction ceremonies.
- 2008: Billie Award - Outstanding Journalist [1]
[edit] Personal
Visser is married to sportscaster Dick Stockton, who calls games for both FOX and Turner Sports. They live in Boca Raton, Florida. Visser and Stockton met at the 1975 World Series, when Visser was covering for the Boston Globe and Stockton was a broadcaster for NBC.
In 1993, Visser suffered a bizarre jogging accident in New York's Central Park in which she broke her hip and skidded face-first across the pavement.[2] She required reconstructive plastic surgery on her face and a decade later required an artificial hip replacement.
In March of 2008, Visser joined a local radio station in Fort Lauderdale, FL, to be part of their morning show a few days per week when she's not working for CBS. She can be heard regularly on Fridays on WFTL 640 Fox Sports (WMEN, Boca Raton) as part of "South Florida's First Team."
[edit] References
- ^ The Billie Awards. women's sports foundation. Retrieved on 2008-05-26.
- ^ SPORTS PEOPLE: BROADCASTING; A Recuperating Visser Aims for N.F.L. Opener - New York Times
[edit] External links
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