Craig Sager | |
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.jpg) Sager in 2012 | |
| Born | Craig Graham Sager (1951-06-29)June 29, 1951 Batavia, Illinois, U.S. |
| Died | December 15, 2016(2016-12-15) (aged 65) Atlanta, Georgia, U.S. |
| Alma mater | Northwestern University |
| Occupation(s) | TV sports broadcaster, commentator and announcer |
| Years active | 1972–2016 |
| Employer(s) | Turner Sports (TNT,TBS) |
| Spouses | |
| Children | 5 |
Craig Graham Sager (/ˈseɪɡər/SAY-ghər; June 29, 1951 – December 15, 2016) was an American sports reporter who covered an array of sports forCNN and its sister stationsTBS andTNT, from 1981 until his death in late 2016.
Sager worked as a sideline reporter pacing the floors of theNational Basketball Association, as he invariably sported one of his vast collection of garishly eccentric jackets and suits. He was a 2016 inductee of the Sports Broadcasting Hall of Fame.[1] During the2017 NBA All-Star Game, Sager was named the 2017 recipient of theNaismith Memorial Basketball Hall of FameCurt Gowdy Media Award.[2]
Sager was born June 29, 1951, inBatavia, Illinois.[3] He attendedBatavia High School, gaining recognition in 1966 by writing an essay entitled "How and Why I Should Show Respect to the American Flag" for a patriotism contest sponsored by theAmerican Legion.[4] Sager's essay was published in theCongressional Record. It drew editorial accolades from conservative newspapers around the country for his declaration that he was an "untypical teen" of the silent majority that was not part of any protest movement and "happy we were born in America and not inHavana,Moscow, orPeiping".[4]
Growing up in Batavia, Sager was friends with his basketball teammatesKen Anderson andDan Issel. Greg Issel, Dan's brother, was very close with Sager.[5] Anderson became a quarterback in theNFL with theCincinnati Bengals and was named the NFL Most Valuable Player in 1981.[6] Issel became aNaismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame basketball player with theKentucky Colonels andDenver Nuggets.[6] Later, Issel said of his Batavia teammates: "What Batavia instilled in all three of us—myself, Kenny and Craig—was a solid work ethic. I hope the people of Batavia appreciate how much Batavia meant to Craig and all of us, because we appreciate what Batavia did for us."[6]
Sager was a 1973 graduate ofNorthwestern University inEvanston, Illinois, where he earned a bachelor's degree in speech.[7] He was a member of theDelta Tau Delta fraternity.[8] After little success on the school's football and basketball teams, Sager found his calling by donning the garb ofWillie the Wildcat, the school's mascot, for three years—a foreshadowing of his professional sports entertainment career.[7]
Sager began his career as a reporter for WXLT (nowWWSB-Channel 40) inSarasota, Florida.[9] He worked as a radio news director in 1974, making $95 a week for his efforts, a paltry sum which was supplemented by his access to sports events.[10] Sager was in Atlanta and dodged security to be on the field on April 8, 1974, when sluggerHank Aaron hit his record-breaking 715th home run, brashly seeking to interview the superstar at home plate amidst mass fan pandemonium.[11]
In the mid-1970s, Sager had a short stint as a weatherman at WLCY-TV (nowWTSP-TV) in St. Petersburg where he was mentored by then Sports Director, Dick Crippen. He then went toWINK-TV in Ft. Myers as a sports reporter where he covered the Kansas City Royals in spring training at Terry Park.
In 1978, Sager joinedKMBC-Channel 9 inKansas City, Missouri, where he broadcastKansas City Royalsspring training games andKansas City Chiefspreseason games during the 1970s.[3] Sager would remain at the station until 1981.[3] The young reporter was later remembered byMajor League Baseball hall of famerGeorge Brett from an encounter atspring training as a "tireless worker" who would set up and focus the camera before conducting his own interview, essentially becoming a "one-man crew".[3]
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Sager handled the first live remote report byCNN from the1980 baseball playoffs and joined the network full-time in 1981.[7] While at CNN, he co-anchoredCNN Sports Tonight shows, winning a CableAce award for his efforts in 1985.[7] Sager also served as the anchor ofCollege Football Scoreboard on CNN's sports-oriented sister network,TBS, from 1982 to 1985.[7]
In 1987, Sager moved to work full-time at the TBS division, hosting a 30-minute Sunday night program calledThe Coors Sports Page[12] as well as handling halftime reports ofAtlanta Hawks games.[13]
Sager was posted wherever the network needed him, working before the cameras atTed Turner'sGoodwill Games from 1986 through 2001.[7] He also covered thePan American Games and the1990 FIFA World Cup.[7] He calledNordic skiing andcurling for sister networkTNT's coverage of the1992 Winter Olympics. He worked on telecasts ofgolf andtennis, and covered theNational Football League on TNT's telecasts from 1990 to 1997.[7]
Sager's best known televised role was sideline reporter forNBA on TNT, for which he received his firstSports Emmy Award nomination in 2012.[14]
A natural entertainer, Sager was famous for his garish choices of clothing—an immense array of sport coats and suits described as "loud," "colorful," and "lively".[15] He rarely wore the same outfit twice. One reporter investigating Sager's accumulated wardrobe stored within the jocular interviewer's home tallied 137 jackets before giving up, without even counting the garments contained in other closets scattered throughout the house.[15] Sager's colorful personality and suits stood in stark contrast to some of the coaches he interviewed, particularlyGregg Popovich of the San Antonio Spurs, who would frequently give short, terse answers to Sager's sideline questions, despite bring friends with Sager offcourt.[16]
In addition to his work on NBA telecasts, Sager reported for TNT at the1999 Tournament of the Americas Olympic Qualifying Basketball Tournament inSan Juan, Puerto Rico, the 2000 USA Basketball Games, and the2002 World Championships of Basketball.[7] Sager also served as a sideline reporter for theNCAA Men's Division I Basketball Championship, both for Turner Sports andCBS withMarv Albert,Chris Webber, andLen Elmore.[17]
In 1999, Sager was loaned toNBC Sports to work as a field reporter for bothNBC's coverage of theNational League Championship Series andWorld Series.[18] He was the men's and women's basketball reporter forNBC's Olympic coverage since the2000 Olympics inSydney. He served as a reporter for NBC Sports' coverage ofbasketball at the 2008 Summer Olympics inBeijing.[19][20][21]
With his life nearing its end, in June 2016, Sager was loaned byTime Warner's Turner Sports to rivalDisney'sESPN to cover his firstNBA Finals.[22] Sager partnered withNBA on ESPN regularDoris Burke to work the sidelines of Game 6 of the2016 NBA Finals.[22][23] Fittingly, his first Finals game was the last game he worked before his death.
On July 13, 2016, Sager was awarded theJimmy V Perseverance Award at the2016 ESPY Awards show for battling cancer, which was his final public appearance.[24] In a moving acceptance speech to those gathered and to a national television audience, the terminally ill Sager said:
Time is something that cannot be bought; it cannot be wagered with God, and it is not in endless supply. Time is simply how you live your life.[25]
On December 13, 2016, Sager was inducted into the Sports Broadcasting Hall of Fame just two days before his death.[26] TheNational Academy of Television Arts and Sciences posthumously awarded Sager his firstSports Emmy Award forOutstanding Sports Personality, Sports Reporter at the 2017 ceremony.[27]
At the2017 NBA All-Star Game, Sager was named the winner of theNaismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame's 2017Curt Gowdy Media Award.[28] The award was given in September 2017.
Since 2017, a replica of the Sager sports coat that he wore while accepting the Jimmy V Perseverance Award is given as a prize to recipients ofSager Strong Award. It is presented to "an individual who has been a trailblazer while exemplifying courage, faith, compassion and grace."Monty Williams,Dikembe Mutombo, andRobin Roberts were the three winners from 2017 to 2019.
In April 2014, Sager was diagnosed withacute myeloid leukemia and he subsequently missed the entire 2014 NBA playoffs.[29][30] His son, Craig II, was deemed a match forbone marrow transplant, and Sager underwent the treatment, pushing his cancer intoremission.[31]
On April 20, 2014, Craig II did a sideline interview withSan Antonio Spurs coachGregg Popovich between the third and fourth quarters of the 2014 NBA playoffs' first round against theDallas Mavericks to air a special get-well message to Craig Sager. TheNBA on TNT crew did a special tribute to Sager as well, wearing suits similar to those Sager had worn in the past.[32] That same day, during the between-quarters interview segments, all coaches gave get-well messages to Sager.[33]
In late March 2015, Sager announced that his leukemia had returned.[34] It was also announced that doctors had told him that he had three to six months to live without treatment. Sager ultimately endured the process for a third time through the gift of marrow from an anonymous donor.[35]
Sager died on December 15, 2016, at the age of 65.[36] He was memorialized during that evening's broadcast of a game between theMilwaukee Bucks and theChicago Bulls on theInside the NBA pregame show, with players of each team wearing tribute T-shirts during warmups designed to look like one of Sager's signature gaudy suits.[37] Sager was lauded for his expertise and courage by his friendly nemesis, head coach Gregg Popovich of the San Antonio Spurs, in a statement before the Spurs' December 15 game.[38] Popovich told the assembled media:
To talk about [Sager] being a professional or good at what he did is a tremendous understatement. ... But he was a way better person than he was a worker, even though he was amazing in that regard. He loved people, he enjoyed pregame, during games, postgame—he loved all the people around it, and everybody felt that. ... What he's endured, and the fight that he's put up, the courage that he's displayed during this situation is beyond my comprehension. And if any of us can display half the courage he has to stay on this planet, to live every [day] as if it's his last, we'd be well off. I miss him very much.[38]
On December 27, 2016,Northwestern University, Sager's alma mater, announced itsfootball team would wear stickers on their helmets in honor of Sager in thePinstripe Bowl game againstPittsburgh.[39]
On July 13, 2017, NBA Hall of FamerDan Issel served as speaker at an event atBatavia High School's gymnasium to honor Sager. Sager and Issel were friends and basketball teammates at Batavia High School, when Sager was a freshman and Issel a senior. "To see him have the success he had on the national level was so gratifying to all of us," said Issel.[40]
Sager had five children: Kacy, Craig II, and Krista from his first marriage to Lisa Gabel, and Ryan and Riley from his second marriage to Stacy Strebel.[41][42]
His son, Craig II, was a walk-on wide receiver at theUniversity of Georgia.[43] Craig II also filled in as a sideline reporter during his father's absence in 2014, and is the managing editor for ScoreATL, which covers Georgia high school sports.[44]
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