ESPN’s Sage Steele Beats the Odds
Entering the ESPN Sports Center studio donned in full make up and wardrobe was vibrant host Sage Steele. Her focused demeanor was apparent as she walked on the set before call time, heading straight to her laptop to begin writing her script for the morning edition of Sports Center. Punctuality and strong work ethic are vital to Steele, who grew up in a military family. Steele, a black woman, is one of the few to appear on a major network as a full time sports anchor. The experience of being different however, was not a new experience for her.
Steele’s senior year of high school was the first time she realized that shaky race relations was still a part of her reality. She was enrolled at Carmel High School, where out of the 2,000 total student population she was the only black student. “I never paid attention to color, but they did.” says Steele. “It was the first time I was called the n-word. I guess its good it took [that] long. I was cornered by a bunch of boys, all of them who I thought were my friends … It was just shocking.”
The experience toughened Steele and ultimately prepared her for her current role with ESPN. “My skin is much thicker because of it, and I am almost am glad that happened,” she confesses. “It thickened up my skin and helped prepare me for life in broadcasting where you have to have really thick skin.”
Taking her past experiences filled with rejections and stereotypes to create a successful career was the formula that helped push Steele to the next level. She positioned herself to build a highly respected voice in the world of sports-a voice that now represents the disproportionately low number of black female sports anchors.
Steele’s accomplishments should be viewed as a great success, and should serve as a call to national broadcast companies to improve the minority representation in sports television for on-air talent. Companies like ESPN have made an effort to increase diversity among women in their broadcasts, as they currently have 3 black female anchors. Steele’s story is also sends a signal of hope and inspiration to future generations of black females aspiring to one day create their own place in the world of sports broadcasting. –kim smith
