Athletes, sportswriters and celebrities across the country grieved the death of game-changing sports broadcaster Stuart Scott, after he died at age of 49 from cancer on Jan. 4.
“I was heartbroken,” senior Jon Stafford, a broadcasting major, said. “Stuart Scott was one of those guys that was special to listen to.”
Many consider Scott a pioneer in sports commentary. His integration of hip-hop lingo into broadcasting brought a more conversational delivery of game analysis to the every day viewer, including one iconic phrase.
“Booyah!” Stafford said. “Booyah was his big thing. If someone knocked down a three he’d say ‘booyah.’”
Scott helped bridge the gap in the sports-casting world, largely dominated by middle-aged white males. His unique style connected with a younger demographic.
His passion for the games and players he covered was a huge part of the entertainment for viewers, Stafford said.
“He had so much enthusiasm,” Stafford said. “His enthusiasm was the thing that made it fun. Whatever he said, you were like, ‘Yeah, that sounds good,’ because it came from his mouth. Anybody was able to say ‘booyah,’ but Stuart Scott was able to make it cool.”
Scott was in his third battle with cancer, after going into remission two previous times since 2007. He accepted the Jimmy V Award at the 2014 ESPY’s for the courage and dignity he maintained during his illness. At the end of his acceptance speech at the 2014 ESPY’s, Scott closed with, “Have a great rest of your night, have a great rest of your life.”
According to Stafford, these words are even heavier now than they were then.
“The speech that he gave last year [at the ESPY’s], and his now-famous quote that he ended with, it was just hard to imagine that our sports world is going to be without him,” Stafford said.
Perhaps Scott’s greatest contribution to his trade, Stafford said, was his determination to be true to himself, on and off the air.
“It’s just about being yourself,” Stafford said. “It’s not about being the system, and being grammatically correct and being perfect in the eyes of the world. Wherever you are in life, just being yourself and knowing that’s who you’re supposed to be. So be it.”
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