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Lee Leonard on the set of ESPN’s “SportsCenter.” He uttered the show’s first words: “If you’re a fan — if you’re a fan — what you’ll see in the next minutes, hours and days to follow may convince you you’ve gone to sports heaven.”
Lee Leonard, an urbane host of sports and entertainment programs who introduced ESPN to a small audience on the day of its debut in 1979, died on Sunday at his home in South Orange, N.J. He was 89.
His wife, Kelly Bishop, confirmed his death.
Mr. Leonard was a well-regarded veteran of local and national sports studio shows when executives at ESPN, which was just getting off the ground, asked him to be a co-anchor of “SportsCenter,” envisioned as the network’s flagship news and highlights program. And it was “SportsCenter’s” inaugural broadcast that launched the network, with Mr. Leonard You do not have permission to view the full content of this post. Log in or register now., on Sept. 7, 1979, setting ESPN on its path to becoming a television empire.
“If you’re a fan — if you’re a fan — what you’ll see in the next minutes, hours and days to follow may convince you you’ve gone to sports heaven,” Mr Leonard said.
After a montage of sports footage, he added, “Yea, verily, a sampler of wonders.”
You do not have permission to view the full content of this post. Log in or register now., his co-anchor, said in a phone interview that their first show fell eight minutes short and that they had to ad-lib till the end. “I said to Lee, ‘Are you in favor of a football playoff?’ ” Mr. Grande said, “and we flipped a coin and took sides to show what SportsCenter could be.”
You do not have permission to view the full content of this post. Log in or register now.of a pioneering Sunday night program — “Sports Extra” on WNEW-TV in New York — that provided extensive highlights, scores and commentary.
“I loved his attitude,” Bob Ley, a longtime ESPN anchor said of Mr. Leonard in a telephone interview. “Sometimes he’d say, ‘Let’s get this show written so we can hang out and tell some lies.’ He was straight out of ‘The Front Page.’ ”
George Grande, seated at left, and Mr. Leonard on the set of “SportsCenter” in 1979. Mr. Leonard stayed with ESPN for only six months, leaving for CNN when it offered him a program covering show business.
CreditESPN
CreditESPN
Lee Leonard, an urbane host of sports and entertainment programs who introduced ESPN to a small audience on the day of its debut in 1979, died on Sunday at his home in South Orange, N.J. He was 89.
His wife, Kelly Bishop, confirmed his death.
Mr. Leonard was a well-regarded veteran of local and national sports studio shows when executives at ESPN, which was just getting off the ground, asked him to be a co-anchor of “SportsCenter,” envisioned as the network’s flagship news and highlights program. And it was “SportsCenter’s” inaugural broadcast that launched the network, with Mr. Leonard You do not have permission to view the full content of this post. Log in or register now., on Sept. 7, 1979, setting ESPN on its path to becoming a television empire.
“If you’re a fan — if you’re a fan — what you’ll see in the next minutes, hours and days to follow may convince you you’ve gone to sports heaven,” Mr Leonard said.
After a montage of sports footage, he added, “Yea, verily, a sampler of wonders.”
You do not have permission to view the full content of this post. Log in or register now., his co-anchor, said in a phone interview that their first show fell eight minutes short and that they had to ad-lib till the end. “I said to Lee, ‘Are you in favor of a football playoff?’ ” Mr. Grande said, “and we flipped a coin and took sides to show what SportsCenter could be.”
You do not have permission to view the full content of this post. Log in or register now.of a pioneering Sunday night program — “Sports Extra” on WNEW-TV in New York — that provided extensive highlights, scores and commentary.
“I loved his attitude,” Bob Ley, a longtime ESPN anchor said of Mr. Leonard in a telephone interview. “Sometimes he’d say, ‘Let’s get this show written so we can hang out and tell some lies.’ He was straight out of ‘The Front Page.’ ”
George Grande, seated at left, and Mr. Leonard on the set of “SportsCenter” in 1979. Mr. Leonard stayed with ESPN for only six months, leaving for CNN when it offered him a program covering show business.
CreditESPN
CreditESPN