Growing up, I was a huge fan of sports. Action cartoons and Disney channel didn’t really draw my interest, on any given day as a kid you could catch me glued to the television watching ESPN.

Hearing Stuart Scott deliver sports news with his own personal style and flash drew me into the world of broadcasting. I loved to play sports also, so I acquired a great knowledge for most sports. I knew that becoming a professional athlete would have taken a lot of work and I wasn’t in the position to excel in that, so I found refuge in the broadcast field. Watching the late Stuart Scott on ESPN deliver the latest sports news was inspiring.

Stuart Scott was funny, informing, and he loved his job. On camera he handled himself as the ultimate professional, the respect Stuart gained from athletes, coaches, and colleagues was well documented and televised. "He didn't just push the envelope," says sports radio host and former ESPN anchor Dan Patrick. "He bulldozed the envelope." The African American, University of North Carolina graduate made sports news exciting and delivered the news in such a stylish way that it made you want to watch. Being able to watch him succeed and live a great life inspired me and lead me to believe that I one day could work for ESPN. In July 2014, Stuart’s legacy was put on the mainstream when he was honored with the Jimmy V Perseverance Award at the annual ESPY awards for sports, which is named after former N.C. State basketball coach Jim Valvano, who died from cancer in 1993. “You beat cancer by how you live, why you live, and the manner in which you live,” Scott said. “So live. Fight like hell”.

Stuart Scott, the father of two girls lost his life to cancer in 2015 but his legacy still lives on through his work as a broadcaster and through the lives of people he influenced such as myself. Thank you for being an unbelievable role model.