Craig Sager
Encyclopedia
Craig Sager is currently a sportscaster for TNT
and TBS. Sager is a graduate of Northwestern University
. He has previously covered sports for CBS
and CNN
. His nickname is "America's Sideline Reporter".
in 1973, earning a bachelor's degree in speech. He is a member of the Delta Tau Delta
fraternity. He made both the football and basketball teams as a walk-on, having grown to . He also served as Willie the Wildcat, the school's mascot.
, he worked in Kansas City, Missouri
, for KMBC
, as well as WINK-TV
in Fort Myers, Florida
, WTSP
in St. Petersburg, Florida
, and WXLT
in Sarasota, Florida
where he began his broadcast career in 1972.
Sager was sports director for WINK-TV in Ft. Myers, Fla., where he was honored with the Sportscaster of the Year Award from the Florida High School Coaches Association. He also had a stint at WSPB radio in Sarasota, Fla.
Prior to signing on with CNN, Sager spent two years at KMBC-TV in Kansas City, Missouri where he served as sports director and reporter and handled play-by-play duties for the Kansas City Kings, Royals
spring training and Chiefs' pre-season games.
Sager was waiting for Henry Aaron
at home plate after Aaron hit his 715th home run, breaking the record held by Babe Ruth
. Sager can be easily recognized in the fracas at home plate after the home run because of the long white overcoat that he was wearing.
Prior to working for Turner Sports
, Sager joined CNN
in 1981 after handling the network's first live remote report from the 1980 baseball playoffs. At CNN, Sager was co-anchor of the network's CNN Sports Tonight shows and was honored with a CableAce award in 1985. He also served as the anchor of College Football
Scoreboard from 1982–85.
and TBS for the Goodwill Games
, Pan American Games
, and 1990 FIFA World Cup
. Sager also called Nordic skiing
and curling
for TNT's coverage of the 1992 Winter Olympics
.
Sager is in his 17th season as sideline reporter for TNT's exclusive Thursday night NBA doubleheader coverage. Sager is also making several appearances on NBA TV
during the 2008–09 NBA season
.
Sager is also known for his rather distinctive clothing
style. He commonly wears velvet suits, colorful ties, nehru jackets
, and other wacky articles of clothing on the sidelines or on the field.
Sager recently worked as a sideline reporter for TBS during Barry Bonds
' chase to break Aaron's all-time home run record. While covering the 2008 MLB postseason, Sager wore a different brightly colored suit jacket to each game. He currently serves as the lead sideline reporter for the MLB postseason on TBS.
Sager was admonished by Indiana Pacer
guard Reggie Miller
for prematurely reporting Miller's impending retirement from the game of basketball.
He appears in the NBA 2K
video game series along with fellow TNT reporters Kevin Harlan
and Kenny Smith
. Sager is a sideline reporter who interviews the coaches and reports on the interviews in the games.
He has also served as a reporter for the network's coverage of golf
, tennis
and amateur sports
. He previously hosted Atlanta Hawks
telecasts for TBS Superstation, was a reporter on TNT's NFL pre-game, halftime and post-game from 1990–1997. Among his other assignments have been the 1986, 1990, 1994 and 1998 Goodwill Games
for TBS. In addition, Sager hosted the weekly amateur sports series U.S. Olympic Gold, which aired Saturdays on TNT.
Sager reported from the sideline for TBS' Pac-10/Big 12 college football
coverage from 2002 to 2006. He also served as the sideline reporter for the 50th annual Delchamps Senior Bowl from Ladd Memorial Stadium in Mobile, AL, and the 1998 and 2000 Micron PC Bowl, formerly known as the Carquest Bowl. http://news.turner.com/article_display.cfm?article_id=4050
Sager was a reporter for TNT's coverage of the 2002 World Championships
of Basketball, 2000 USA Basketball Games coverage from Hawaii
and Japan
, as well as the 1999 Tournament of the Americas Olympic Qualifying Basketball Tournament in San Juan, Puerto Rico
.
Sager served as a sideline reporter for the NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Championship
, both for Turner Sports and CBS
.
, he was loaned to NBC Sports
where Sager served as a field reporter for both NBC's coverage of the National League Championship Series
and World Series
.
He has been the men's and women's basketball reporter for NBC's Olympic coverage
since the 2000 Olympics in Sydney
. He also has filled in as a sideline reporter on NBC's coverage
of Notre Dame
football
. http://nbcumv.com/sports/bio_detail.nbc/2008summerolympicgames-0-craig-sager.html
Sager served as a reporter for NBC Sports
coverage of basketball at the 2008 Summer Olympics
in Beijing
.
.
-area
Emmy Awards for his work as co-host of the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Holiday Parade from 1990–95.
Turner Network Television
Turner Network Television is an American cable television channel created by media mogul Ted Turner and currently owned by the Turner Broadcasting System division of Time Warner...
and TBS. Sager is a graduate of Northwestern University
Northwestern University
Northwestern University is a private research university in Evanston and Chicago, Illinois, USA. Northwestern has eleven undergraduate, graduate, and professional schools offering 124 undergraduate degrees and 145 graduate and professional degrees....
. He has previously covered sports for CBS
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...
and CNN
CNN
Cable News Network is a U.S. cable news channel founded in 1980 by Ted Turner. Upon its launch, CNN was the first channel to provide 24-hour television news coverage, and the first all-news television channel in the United States...
. His nickname is "America's Sideline Reporter".
Education and early life
Sager graduated from Northwestern UniversityNorthwestern University
Northwestern University is a private research university in Evanston and Chicago, Illinois, USA. Northwestern has eleven undergraduate, graduate, and professional schools offering 124 undergraduate degrees and 145 graduate and professional degrees....
in 1973, earning a bachelor's degree in speech. He is a member of the Delta Tau Delta
Delta Tau Delta
Delta Tau Delta is a U.S.-based international secret letter college fraternity. Delta Tau Delta was founded in 1858 at Bethany College, Bethany, Virginia, . It currently has around 125 student chapters nationwide, as well as more than 25 regional alumni groups. Its national community service...
fraternity. He made both the football and basketball teams as a walk-on, having grown to . He also served as Willie the Wildcat, the school's mascot.
Broadcasting career
Before working for CBSCBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...
, he worked in Kansas City, Missouri
Kansas City, Missouri
Kansas City, Missouri is the largest city in the U.S. state of Missouri and is the anchor city of the Kansas City Metropolitan Area, the second largest metropolitan area in Missouri. It encompasses in parts of Jackson, Clay, Cass, and Platte counties...
, for KMBC
KMBC-TV
KMBC-TV virtual channel 9 is a television station affiliated with the ABC television network, located in Kansas City, Missouri. KMBC-TV is owned by Hearst Television and its studios are located on Winchester Ave. near Swope Park in Kansas City, Missouri. The station's high guyed mast broadcast...
, as well as WINK-TV
WINK-TV
WINK-TV, virtual channel 11, is the CBS-affiliated television station for Southwest Florida that is licensed to Fort Myers. It broadcasts a high definition digital signal on UHF channel 50 from a transmitter north of Fort Myers Shores near the Lee and Charlotte County line in Punta Gorda. The...
in Fort Myers, Florida
Fort Myers, Florida
Fort Myers is the county seat and commercial center of Lee County, Florida, United States. Its population was 62,298 in the 2010 census, a 29.23 percent increase over the 2000 figure....
, WTSP
WTSP
WTSP is a CBS-affiliated television station in St. Petersburg, Florida . It broadcasts its digital signal on VHF channel 10....
in St. Petersburg, Florida
St. Petersburg, Florida
St. Petersburg is a city in Pinellas County, Florida, United States. It is known as a vacation destination for both American and foreign tourists. As of 2008, the population estimate by the U.S. Census Bureau is 245,314, making St...
, and WXLT
WWSB
WWSB Channel 40 is the ABC-affiliated television station for the Florida Suncoast that is licensed to Sarasota. It broadcasts a high definition digital signal on UHF channel 24 from a transmitter on Rutland Road in the unincorporated Manatee County community of Rye, about 5 miles ESE of Parrish...
in Sarasota, Florida
Sarasota, Florida
Sarasota is a city located in Sarasota County on the southwestern coast of the U.S. state of Florida. It is south of the Tampa Bay Area and north of Fort Myers...
where he began his broadcast career in 1972.
Sager was sports director for WINK-TV in Ft. Myers, Fla., where he was honored with the Sportscaster of the Year Award from the Florida High School Coaches Association. He also had a stint at WSPB radio in Sarasota, Fla.
Prior to signing on with CNN, Sager spent two years at KMBC-TV in Kansas City, Missouri where he served as sports director and reporter and handled play-by-play duties for the Kansas City Kings, Royals
Kansas City Royals
The Kansas City Royals are a Major League Baseball team based in Kansas City, Missouri. The Royals are a member of the Central Division of Major League Baseball's American League. From 1973 to the present, the Royals have played in Kauffman Stadium...
spring training and Chiefs' pre-season games.
Sager was waiting for Henry Aaron
Henry Aaron
Henry Louis "Hank" Aaron , nicknamed "Hammer," "Hammerin' Hank," and "Bad Henry," is a retired American baseball player whose Major League Baseball career spanned the years 1954 through 1976. Aaron is widely considered one of the greatest baseball players of all time...
at home plate after Aaron hit his 715th home run, breaking the record held by Babe Ruth
Babe Ruth
George Herman Ruth, Jr. , best known as "Babe" Ruth and nicknamed "the Bambino" and "the Sultan of Swat", was an American Major League baseball player from 1914–1935...
. Sager can be easily recognized in the fracas at home plate after the home run because of the long white overcoat that he was wearing.
Prior to working for Turner Sports
Turner Sports
Turner Sports is the division of Turner Broadcasting System responsible for sports broadcasts on Turner channels including TBS, TNT, and TruTV, and for operating the interactive properties , , , and...
, Sager joined CNN
CNN
Cable News Network is a U.S. cable news channel founded in 1980 by Ted Turner. Upon its launch, CNN was the first channel to provide 24-hour television news coverage, and the first all-news television channel in the United States...
in 1981 after handling the network's first live remote report from the 1980 baseball playoffs. At CNN, Sager was co-anchor of the network's CNN Sports Tonight shows and was honored with a CableAce award in 1985. He also served as the anchor of College Football
College Football on TBS
College Football on TBS is the presentation of the Turner Broadcasting System cable channel's regular season college football television package.-Initial coverage:...
Scoreboard from 1982–85.
Turner Sports
Sager normally works as a sideline reporter for The NBA on TNT. Previously, he has worked at CNNCNN
Cable News Network is a U.S. cable news channel founded in 1980 by Ted Turner. Upon its launch, CNN was the first channel to provide 24-hour television news coverage, and the first all-news television channel in the United States...
and TBS for the Goodwill Games
Goodwill Games
The Goodwill Games was an international sports competition, created by Ted Turner in reaction to the political troubles surrounding the Olympic Games of the 1980s...
, Pan American Games
Pan American Games
The Pan-American or Pan American Games are a major event in the Americas featuring summer and formerly winter sports, in which thousands of athletes participate in a variety of competitions. The Pan American Games are the second largest multi-sport event after the Summer Olympics...
, and 1990 FIFA World Cup
1990 FIFA World Cup
The 1990 FIFA World Cup was the 14th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international football world championship tournament. It was held from 8 June to 8 July 1990 in Italy, the second country to host the event twice. Teams representing 116 national football associations from all six populated...
. Sager also called Nordic skiing
Nordic skiing
Nordic skiing is a winter sport that encompasses all types of skiing where the heel of the boot cannot be fixed to the ski, as opposed to Alpine skiing....
and curling
Curling
Curling is a sport in which players slide stones across a sheet of ice towards a target area. It is related to bowls, boule and shuffleboard. Two teams, each of four players, take turns sliding heavy, polished granite stones, also called "rocks", across the ice curling sheet towards the house, a...
for TNT's coverage of the 1992 Winter Olympics
1992 Winter Olympics
The 1992 Winter Olympics, officially known as the XVI Olympic Winter Games, were a winter multi-sport event celebrated from 8 to 23 February 1992 in Albertville, France. They were the last Winter Olympics to be held the same year as the Summer Olympics, and the first where the Winter Paralympics...
.
Sager is in his 17th season as sideline reporter for TNT's exclusive Thursday night NBA doubleheader coverage. Sager is also making several appearances on NBA TV
NBA TV
NBA TV is a television specialty channel that is dedicated to showcasing the sport of basketball in the United States. The network is financially backed by the National Basketball Association , which also uses NBA TV as a way of advertising their out of market package NBA League Pass, and partner...
during the 2008–09 NBA season
2008–09 NBA season
The 2008–09 NBA season was the 63rd season of the National Basketball Association . The 1,230-game regular season began on Tuesday, October 28, 2008, and ended on Wednesday, April 15, 2009...
.
Sager is also known for his rather distinctive clothing
Clothing
Clothing refers to any covering for the human body that is worn. The wearing of clothing is exclusively a human characteristic and is a feature of nearly all human societies...
style. He commonly wears velvet suits, colorful ties, nehru jackets
Nehru jacket
The Nehru jacket is a hip-length tailored coat for men or women, created in India in the 1940s. The jacket essentially blends the collar of the achkan, historically the royal court dress of Indian nobles, with the Western suit jacket...
, and other wacky articles of clothing on the sidelines or on the field.
Sager recently worked as a sideline reporter for TBS during Barry Bonds
Barry Bonds
Barry Lamar Bonds is an American former Major League Baseball outfielder. Bonds played from 1986 to 2007, for the Pittsburgh Pirates and San Francisco Giants. He is the son of former major league All-Star Bobby Bonds...
' chase to break Aaron's all-time home run record. While covering the 2008 MLB postseason, Sager wore a different brightly colored suit jacket to each game. He currently serves as the lead sideline reporter for the MLB postseason on TBS.
Sager was admonished by Indiana Pacer
Indiana Pacers
The Indiana Pacers are a professional basketball team based in Indianapolis, Indiana. They are members of the Central Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Basketball Association...
guard Reggie Miller
Reggie Miller
Reginald Wayne "Reggie" Miller is a retired American professional basketball player who played his entire 18-year National Basketball Association career with the Indiana Pacers...
for prematurely reporting Miller's impending retirement from the game of basketball.
He appears in the NBA 2K
NBA 2K
The NBA 2K series is a series of basketball video games developed and released annually. Beginning in 1999, the NBA 2K series was an exclusive to the Sega Dreamcast. The series was originally published by Sega, under the label Sega Sports and is now published by 2K Sports...
video game series along with fellow TNT reporters Kevin Harlan
Kevin Harlan
Kevin Harlan is an American television sports announcer. The son of former Green Bay Packers executive Bob Harlan, he currently broadcasts NFL and college basketball games on CBS. Harlan is also a play-by-play announcer for the NBA on TNT...
and Kenny Smith
Kenny Smith
Kenneth "The Jet" Smith is a retired National Basketball Association player and current TV basketball analyst, primarily for Inside the NBA on TNT.-Early life:...
. Sager is a sideline reporter who interviews the coaches and reports on the interviews in the games.
He has also served as a reporter for the network's coverage of golf
Golf
Golf is a precision club and ball sport, in which competing players use many types of clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a golf course using the fewest number of strokes....
, tennis
Tennis
Tennis is a sport usually played between two players or between two teams of two players each . Each player uses a racket that is strung to strike a hollow rubber ball covered with felt over a net into the opponent's court. Tennis is an Olympic sport and is played at all levels of society at all...
and amateur sports
Amateur sports
Amateur sports are sports in which participants engage largely or entirely without remuneration. Sporting amateurism was a zealously guarded ideal in the 19th century, especially among the upper classes, but faced steady erosion throughout the 20th century with the continuing growth of pro sports...
. He previously hosted Atlanta Hawks
Atlanta Hawks
The Atlanta Hawks are an American professional basketball team based in Atlanta, Georgia. They are part of the Southeast Division of the Eastern Conference in the National Basketball Association .-The first years:...
telecasts for TBS Superstation, was a reporter on TNT's NFL pre-game, halftime and post-game from 1990–1997. Among his other assignments have been the 1986, 1990, 1994 and 1998 Goodwill Games
Goodwill Games
The Goodwill Games was an international sports competition, created by Ted Turner in reaction to the political troubles surrounding the Olympic Games of the 1980s...
for TBS. In addition, Sager hosted the weekly amateur sports series U.S. Olympic Gold, which aired Saturdays on TNT.
Sager reported from the sideline for TBS' Pac-10/Big 12 college football
College football
College football refers to American football played by teams of student athletes fielded by American universities, colleges, and military academies, or Canadian football played by teams of student athletes fielded by Canadian universities...
coverage from 2002 to 2006. He also served as the sideline reporter for the 50th annual Delchamps Senior Bowl from Ladd Memorial Stadium in Mobile, AL, and the 1998 and 2000 Micron PC Bowl, formerly known as the Carquest Bowl. http://news.turner.com/article_display.cfm?article_id=4050
Sager was a reporter for TNT's coverage of the 2002 World Championships
2002 FIBA World Championship
The 2002 FIBA World Championship was an international basketball tournament held by the International Basketball Federation in Indianapolis, Indiana, USA from August 29 to September 8, 2002.-Venues:-Squads:...
of Basketball, 2000 USA Basketball Games coverage from Hawaii
Hawaii
Hawaii is the newest of the 50 U.S. states , and is the only U.S. state made up entirely of islands. It is the northernmost island group in Polynesia, occupying most of an archipelago in the central Pacific Ocean, southwest of the continental United States, southeast of Japan, and northeast of...
and Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
, as well as the 1999 Tournament of the Americas Olympic Qualifying Basketball Tournament in San Juan, Puerto Rico
San Juan, Puerto Rico
San Juan , officially Municipio de la Ciudad Capital San Juan Bautista , is the capital and most populous municipality in Puerto Rico, an unincorporated territory of the United States. As of the 2010 census, it had a population of 395,326 making it the 46th-largest city under the jurisdiction of...
.
Sager served as a sideline reporter for the NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Championship
NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Championship
The NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Championship is a single-elimination tournament held each spring in the United States, featuring 68 college basketball teams, to determine the national championship in the top tier of college basketball...
, both for Turner Sports and CBS
NCAA March Madness (CBS/Turner)
NCAA March Madness is the title of the coverage of the NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament jointly produced by CBS Sports and Turner Sports, with coverage airing on CBS, TBS, TNT and truTV, beginning with the 2011 tournament.Initially, CBS will continue to have coverage during most rounds,...
.
NBC Sports
In 19991999 in baseball
-Major League Baseball:*World Series: New York Yankees over Atlanta Braves ; Mariano Rivera, MVP*American League Championship Series MVP: Orlando Hernández**American League Division Series:*National League Championship Series MVP: Eddie Pérez...
, he was loaned to NBC Sports
NBC Sports
NBC Sports is the sports division of the NBC television network. Formerly "a service of NBC News," it broadcasts a diverse array of programs, including the Olympic Games, the NFL, the NHL, MLS, Notre Dame football, the PGA Tour, the Triple Crown, and the French Open, among others...
where Sager served as a field reporter for both NBC's coverage of the National League Championship Series
1999 National League Championship Series
-Game 1:Tuesday, October 12, 1999 at Turner Field in Atlanta, GeorgiaThe Braves began their eighth consecutive NLCS with a 4–2 victory over the Mets, defeating a team they left for dead two weeks earlier...
and World Series
1999 World Series
The 1999 World Series, the 95th edition of Major League Baseball's championship series, featured a rematch between the defending champions New York Yankees against the Atlanta Braves during the month of October, with the Yankees sweeping the Series in four games for their second title in a row,...
.
He has been the men's and women's basketball reporter for NBC's Olympic coverage
Olympics on NBC
NBC Sports' coverage of the Olympic Games consists of broadcasts on the various networks of NBC Universal in the United States, including the NBC broadcast network, Spanish language network Telemundo, and many of the company's cable networks....
since the 2000 Olympics in Sydney
Sydney
Sydney is the most populous city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney is located on Australia's south-east coast of the Tasman Sea. As of June 2010, the greater metropolitan area had an approximate population of 4.6 million people...
. He also has filled in as a sideline reporter on NBC's coverage
Notre Dame Football on NBC
Notre Dame Football on NBC is a presentation of the Notre Dame football television package on NBC. The television network broadcasts all Notre Dame home games.-History:...
of Notre Dame
University of Notre Dame
The University of Notre Dame du Lac is a Catholic research university located in Notre Dame, an unincorporated community north of the city of South Bend, in St. Joseph County, Indiana, United States...
football
American football
American football is a sport played between two teams of eleven with the objective of scoring points by advancing the ball into the opposing team's end zone. Known in the United States simply as football, it may also be referred to informally as gridiron football. The ball can be advanced by...
. http://nbcumv.com/sports/bio_detail.nbc/2008summerolympicgames-0-craig-sager.html
Sager served as a reporter for NBC Sports
NBC Sports
NBC Sports is the sports division of the NBC television network. Formerly "a service of NBC News," it broadcasts a diverse array of programs, including the Olympic Games, the NFL, the NHL, MLS, Notre Dame football, the PGA Tour, the Triple Crown, and the French Open, among others...
coverage of basketball at the 2008 Summer Olympics
Basketball at the 2008 Summer Olympics
Basketball contests at the 2008 Olympic Games were held from August 9, 2008 to August 24, 2008. Competitions were held at the Wukesong Indoor Stadium in Beijing, China...
in Beijing
Beijing
Beijing , also known as Peking , is the capital of the People's Republic of China and one of the most populous cities in the world, with a population of 19,612,368 as of 2010. The city is the country's political, cultural, and educational center, and home to the headquarters for most of China's...
.
Personal
Sager's wife, Stacy, a former NBA dancer, and Sager have two children, Riley and Ryan. Sager also has three children from a previous marriage, including Craig Jr., a walk-on wide receiver at the University of GeorgiaUniversity of Georgia
The University of Georgia is a public research university located in Athens, Georgia, United States. Founded in 1785, it is the oldest and largest of the state's institutions of higher learning and is one of multiple schools to claim the title of the oldest public university in the United States...
.
Awards and honors
Sager was honored with a GeorgiaGeorgia (U.S. state)
Georgia is a state located in the southeastern United States. It was established in 1732, the last of the original Thirteen Colonies. The state is named after King George II of Great Britain. Georgia was the fourth state to ratify the United States Constitution, on January 2, 1788...
-area
Area
Area is a quantity that expresses the extent of a two-dimensional surface or shape in the plane. Area can be understood as the amount of material with a given thickness that would be necessary to fashion a model of the shape, or the amount of paint necessary to cover the surface with a single coat...
Emmy Awards for his work as co-host of the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Holiday Parade from 1990–95.