Anne Butler Montgomery is an American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 female sportscaster

Sportscaster

In sports broadcasting, a commentator gives a running commentary of a game or event in real time, usually during a live broadcast. The comments are normally a voiceover, with the sounds of the action and spectators also heard in the background. In the case of television commentary, the commentator...

, sports official, author and teacher. She was among the first women sportscasters on television, and is reported to be the only woman high school football referee in the state of Arizona

Arizona

Arizona ; is a state located in the southwestern region of the United States. It is also part of the western United States and the mountain west. The capital and largest city is Phoenix...

.

Early life and education

Anne Butler Montgomery was born in 1955 and grew up in Livingston, New Jersey. She was an ice skater and has a bronze test medal in ice dancing from the United States Figure Skating Association

United States Figure Skating Association

U.S. Figure Skating is the national governing body for the sport of figure skating on ice in the United States. It is recognized as such by the United States Olympic Committee "USOC" under the Ted Stevens Olympic and Amateur Sports Act and is the United States member of the International Skating...

.

Montgomery attended Miami University

Miami University

Miami University is a coeducational public research university located in Oxford, Ohio, United States. Founded in 1809, it is the 10th oldest public university in the United States and the second oldest university in Ohio, founded four years after Ohio University. In its 2012 edition, U.S...

 in Oxford, Ohio, including one year (1975–76) at its John E. Dolibois European Campus in Luxembourg

Luxembourg

Luxembourg , officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg , is a landlocked country in western Europe, bordered by Belgium, France, and Germany. It has two principal regions: the Oesling in the North as part of the Ardennes massif, and the Gutland in the south...

. She graduated with a Bachelor of Science

Bachelor of Science

A Bachelor of Science is an undergraduate academic degree awarded for completed courses that generally last three to five years .-Australia:In Australia, the BSc is a 3 year degree, offered from 1st year on...

 degree in Communications from Miami in 1977. She also has a Master's Degree in Education Curriculum and a Reading Specialist Credential, both from the University of Phoenix.

Sports official

After graduating from college, Montgomery was unable to get a broadcasting job. Using her skating background, she moved to Washington, D.C. and began hockey officiating. She later expanded into other sports, has officiated football, baseball, ice hockey, soccer and basketball games in six states. Montgomery is a high school football referee and crew chief for the Arizona Interscholastic Association., She is reported to be the only female referee in Arizona.

Breaking into a male-dominated field in the 1980s, Montgomery was a sportscaster at WRBL-TV in Columbus, Georgia

Columbus, Georgia

Columbus is a city in and the county seat of Muscogee County, Georgia, United States, with which it is consolidated. As of the 2010 census, the city had a population of 189,885. It is the principal city of the Columbus, Georgia metropolitan area, which, in 2009, had an estimated population of 292,795...

, WROC-TV

WROC-TV

WROC-TV, virtual channel 8, is a CBS affiliate based in Rochester, New York, USA, owned and operated by Nexstar Broadcasting Group. WROC-TV operates Fox affiliate WUHF through a shared services agreement. The two share studios on Humboldt Street in Rochester...

 in Rochester, New York

Rochester, New York

Rochester is a city in Monroe County, New York, south of Lake Ontario in the United States. Known as The World's Image Centre, it was also once known as The Flour City, and more recently as The Flower City...

 and KTSP-TV in Phoenix, Arizona

Phoenix, Arizona

Phoenix is the capital, and largest city, of the U.S. state of Arizona, as well as the sixth most populated city in the United States. Phoenix is home to 1,445,632 people according to the official 2010 U.S. Census Bureau data...

. She was one of the first female anchors for the Emmy

Emmy Award

An Emmy Award, often referred to simply as the Emmy, is a television production award, similar in nature to the Peabody Awards but more focused on entertainment, and is considered the television equivalent to the Academy Awards and the Grammy Awards .A majority of Emmys are presented in various...

 and ACE award

CableACE Award

The CableACE Award was an award that was given from 1978 to 1997 to honor excellence in American cable television programming...

-winning SportsCenter

SportsCenter

SportsCenter is a daily sports news television show, and the flagship program of American cable network ESPN since the network launched on September 7, 1979. Originally broadcast only daily, SportsCenter is now shown up to twelve times a day, replaying the day's scores and highlights from major...

for ESPN

ESPN

Entertainment and Sports Programming Network, commonly known as ESPN, is an American global cable television network focusing on sports-related programming including live and pre-taped event telecasts, sports talk shows, and other original programming....

 in Bristol, Connecticut

Bristol, Connecticut

Bristol is a suburban city located in Hartford County, Connecticut, United States southwest of Hartford. According to 2006 Census Bureau estimates, the population of the city is 61,353. Bristol is primarily known as the home of ESPN, whose central studios are in the city. Bristol is also home to...

. She was the on-camera studio host for the NBA

National Basketball Association

The National Basketball Association is the pre-eminent men's professional basketball league in North America. It consists of thirty franchised member clubs, of which twenty-nine are located in the United States and one in Canada...

’s Phoenix Suns

Phoenix Suns

The Phoenix Suns are a professional basketball team based in Phoenix, Arizona. They are members of the Pacific Division of the Western Conference in the National Basketball Association and the only team in their division not to be based in California. Their home arena since 1992 has been the US...

 for two years.

Writer and teacher

Montgomery has been a freelance and staff reporter, writing feature articles, movie reviews, and pieces on sports and archeological subjects. Her works have appeared in six publications. In 2005, Montgomery's book The Jerusalem Syndrome, the Wreck of the Sunset Limited, a fictional account of the 1995 sabotage of a passenger train in Hyder, Arizona - a deadly, cold case crime - was awarded honorable mention in genre fiction in the Writer’s Digest International Self-Published Book Awards.

In 2000, Anne Montgomery began teaching video journalism at South Mountain High School

South Mountain High School

South Mountain High School is part of the Phoenix Union High School District. The campus is located at 5401 South 7th Street in Phoenix, Arizona, USA. South Mountain’s enrollment is 2000 students...

 in Phoenix, Arizona

Phoenix, Arizona

Phoenix is the capital, and largest city, of the U.S. state of Arizona, as well as the sixth most populated city in the United States. Phoenix is home to 1,445,632 people according to the official 2010 U.S. Census Bureau data...

. She is currently a Reading Specialist at the school, as well as the print journalism teacher. She teaches Read 180.

Personal life

Montgomery was married to a minor-league baseball umpire; they later divorced and remain good friends.

External links