The sports and Hip-Hop community lost a legend when Stuart Scott, a longtime ESPN contributor, died Sunday morning after a lengthy battle with cancer.
The 49-year-old SportsCenter anchor was surrounded by family during his last moments.
“ESPN and everyone in the sports world have lost a true friend and a uniquely inspirational figure in Stuart Scott,” said ESPN president John Skipper. “Who engages in mixed martial arts training in the midst of chemotherapy treatments? Who leaves a hospital procedure to return to the set? His energetic and unwavering devotion to his family and to his work while fighting the battle of his life left us in awe, and he leaves a void that can never be replaced.”
As the bridge between Hip-Hop and sports, members from both communities took to social media to offer their condolences and fondest memories of the late Stuart Scott. Please take some time to read these messages to the fallen and leave your own in the comments section below.
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Photo: Stuart Scott
The Chicago-born, North Carolina-raised analyst originally got his start in Orlando, Florida. He joined the ESPN network in 1993, spent 21 years with the company, and became synonymous with using Hip-Hop inspired vernacular like “boo-ya” and “as cool as the other side of the pillow.” Scott was originally diagnosed with cancer in 2007 after being discovered during an emergency appendectomy. The disease was said to be in remission as late as 2012, but Stuart announced the following year that he had been diagnosed with cancer once again.
He bravely battled through several surgeries, chemotherapy, radiation and clinical trials in hopes of staying strong and ward off cancer for as long as humanly possible. This past July, he showed resiliency when he accepted the Jimmy V Perseverance Award at the 2014 ESPYs. It was during that event where he said that “When you die, it does not mean that you lose to cancer. You beat cancer by how you live, why you live, and the manner in which you live.”
Throughout his 21 year career with ESPN, Scott not only interviewed the world’s greatest athletes, he also served as the company’s cultural ambassador. From anchoring the 11pm show to hosting the trophy ceremony for the NBA Finals to even playing a televised game of one-on-one basketball with President Barack Obama, Scott was one of the hardest working analyst to ever grace the ESPN stage.
Scott is survived by his longtime girlfriend, Kristin Spodobalski, who cared for him through it all; his two daughters, Taelor, 19, and Sydni, 15; his parents, O. Ray and Jacqueline Scott; and his three siblings Stephen Scott, Synthia Kearney, Susan Scott and their families.
