 |
Kenny Mayne | |
|---|---|
 Mayne kayaking in McCovey Cove in 2007 | |
| Born | 1959or1960(age 63–64) Kent, Washington, U.S. |
| Occupation(s) | Sports news reader and host |
| Known for | Work with ESPN |
Kenny Mayne (born 1959or1960) [1] is an American sports media personality who is best known for his work on ESPN from 1994 to 2021. He appeared as host of Kenny Mayne's Wider World of Sports on ESPN.com, and he appeared as a weekly contributor to Sunday NFL Countdown with his weekly "Mayne Event" segment.
Mayne was born in Kent, Washington. [2] He attended community college and was an honorable mention as junior college All-American quarterback in 1978 at Wenatchee Valley College in Wenatchee, Washington. [3] He graduated from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas in 1982 with a degree in broadcasting. [4] While at UNLV, Mayne was a backup quarterback for two years and he later signed as a free agent with the Seattle Seahawks. [5]
After beginning his television career with a brief stint as a reporter for KLVX-TV in Las Vegas, Nevada, Mayne spent seven years (1982–89) at KSTW-TV in Seattle, Washington. Eventually, he became a weekend sports anchor and weekday news reporter. [6] Mayne resigned from KSTW in 1989.
| This section of a biography of a living person needs additional citations for verification .(December 2014) |
ESPN hired Mayne in 1994 after Mayne had sent ESPN a note inquiring whether the network would hire him. The note simply asked to check a box, including one option that read, "We'll hire you when there's an ESPN5." [7]
Mayne started at ESPN in 1994 as a SportSmash anchor on ESPN2, then became the anchor of the weekend edition of RPM 2Night from its start on Labor Day weekend 1995 until August 1997.
On his final edition of RPM 2Night, Kenny played a phone call he received from David Letterman, then a co-owner of Rahal Racing, that he could not quit doing RPM 2Night. After that, Mayne moved over to the main network. He served, for a time, as co-anchor of the 11PM SportsCenter with Dan Patrick after Keith Olbermann left ESPN.
He left SportsCenter two years later, moving to an assortment of late night ESPN shows which were usually re-aired throughout the next morning. Included in his repertoire was the game show 2 Minute Drill . Mayne is now most often seen as the host for ABC and ESPN's horse racing events. He provided offbeat feature stories on Sunday NFL Countdown in a weekly segment called The Mayne Event. [ citation needed ]
On January 17, 2007, ESPN signed Mayne to a one-year contract to do features and cover horse racing, as well as return to SportsCenter for about 50 shows in 2007.
Beginning October 2, 2008, Mayne starred in ESPN's first scripted web series, Mayne Street, playing a fictionalized version of himself. [8]
In 2011, ESPN launched Kenny Mayne's Wider World of Sports, a series of videos on ESPN.com highlighting Mayne's trips around the world. In the first season the show visited six countries (England, Ireland, Brazil, South Africa, Thailand, and New Zealand) with Mayne participating in events like the King's Cup Elephant Polo tournament in Thailand, the world's longest par-3 hole (Extreme 19) in South Africa, and a road bowling match in Ireland.
A television version of Kenny Mayne's Wider World of Sports, featuring highlights from the internet series, aired on ESPN/ABC in December 2011. Season 2 of Wider World of Sports featured visits to the Netherlands for canal jumping, Nicaragua for volcano boarding, Italy for the Palio di Siena horse race, Bosnia and Herzegovina for bridge diving at Stari Most, Switzerland for hornussen, and Scotland for the Highland Games. [ citation needed ]
Both seasons of Kenny Mayne's Wider World of Sports have been honored in the Online Film and Video category of the Webby Awards, which annually recognize the best websites, videos, apps, and social media on the internet. [9]
Mayne returned to SportsCenter on October 15, 2013, after a five-year absence. A new contract with ESPN signed earlier that month set Mayne to anchor 70 episodes of SportsCenter and host 10 special features per year through 2015. At the time Mayne described the new deal was "sort of a part-time job" and implied dissatisfaction with some of the caveats. The deal effectively ended Mayne's role on horse-racing and terminated his Wider World of Sports series instead focusing his role primarily on SportsCenter.
He commented on the restructuring of his contract by saying "for some readers it looked like I had the keys to the place, and they took the keys away". [10]
During his time at ESPN, he became known for his dry sense of humor. [11] [12] [13]
On May 10, 2021, Mayne announced that he would be departing from ESPN after 27 years as an anchor and correspondent for the network, [14] declining a 60% pay cut. [15]
From July–September 2021, Mayne along with another former ESPN anchor, Cari Champion, hosted streaming coverage of the 2020 Summer Olympics on Peacock called Tokyo Tonight. Mayne, in an interview with journalist Julie Stewart-Binks, said the series will “[catch] the viewers up on what they may have not seen,” [16]
| This section of a biography of a living person needs additional citations for verification .(December 2014) |
In January 2006, Mayne participated in the second season of ABC's Dancing with the Stars with partner Andrea Hale, but after a disastrous cha-cha, Mayne was the first contestant to be eliminated. In an interview with Brian Falvey in the spring of 2007, Mayne joked that he left the 2006 Rose Bowl at halftime to get up early the next day to practice for Dancing with the Stars. Subsequent seasons have seen Mayne return to the show for DanceCenter, a parody of SportsCenter, alongside former contestant Jerry Rice and judge Len Goodman. DanceCenter appears on the results show night of the week in which either five or six contestants remain. [ clarification needed ]
Mayne was also in the 1998 film BASEketball , which featured the creators of South Park , Trey Parker and Matt Stone. He was alongside Dan Patrick and appeared on SportsCenter to cover the latest BASEketball playoff competition. [17] In 1999, he played himself on an episode of The Drew Carey Show entitled "Tracy Bowl". [18]
Before agreeing to the deal with ESPN, Mayne had talks with Comedy Central about doing a sports-themed The Daily Show -style program and was a finalist to be the host of the syndicated version of Deal or No Deal . He confirmed both discussions. [19]
Mayne has recently appeared in commercials for Progressive auto insurance, and Top-Flite golf balls. In November 2006, Mayne hosted the pilot episode of the CBS Primetime gameshow Power of 10 which would later be hosted by Drew Carey. Power of 10 producer Michael Davies was impressed with his performance on 2 Minute Drill, and wanted him to host one of his other game shows. After Mayne hosted the pilot, he declined the opportunity and it went to Drew Carey. [ citation needed ]
In 2008, Mayne penned his first book, An Incomplete And Inaccurate History Of Sport, a collection of offbeat musings on sports and pop culture. In 2010, he appeared in the animated film Kung Fu Magoo as himself. [20]
This is SportsCenter is a series of comical television commercials run by ESPN to promote their SportsCenter sports news show that debuted in 1995, based on the show's opening tagline. The ads are presented in a deadpan, mockumentary style, lampooning various aspects of sports, and sports broadcasting. The New York office of advertising agency Wieden+Kennedy, of Portland, Oregon, was responsible for the writing and production of the commercials until 2017, with ESPN taking production in-house since 2018. In 2022, ESPN's new creative partner, Arts & Letters, announced that it would revive the campaign in the beginning of 2023.
ESPN2 is an American multinational pay television network owned by ESPN Inc., a joint venture between The Walt Disney Company and Hearst Communications.
Greg Gumbel is an American television sportscaster. He is best known for his various assignments for CBS Sports. The older brother of news and sportscaster Bryant Gumbel, he became the first African-American announcer to call play-by-play of a major sports championship in the United States when he announced Super Bowl XXXV for the CBS network in 2001. Gumbel is currently the studio host for CBS' men's college basketball coverage and was a play-by-play broadcaster for the NFL on CBS until 2023.
The NFL on Fox is the branding used for broadcasts of National Football League (NFL) games produced by Fox Sports and televised on the Fox broadcast network. Game coverage is usually preceded by Fox NFL Kickoff and Fox NFL Sunday and is followed on weeks when the network airs a Doubleheader by The OT. The latter two shows feature the same studio hosts and analysts for both programs, who also contribute to the former. In weeks when Fox airs a doubleheader, the late broadcast airs under the brand America's Game of the Week.
Brian Kenny is a studio host for MLB Network and a boxing play-by-play announcer for Fox Sports and DAZN. The television face of Sabermetrics and baseball analytics, he is the host of the weekday program MLB Now, known as “the show for the thinking fan". He previously worked for ESPN, where he won three Emmys, and had his own show on ESPN Radio named The Brian Kenny Show. He is also the host of the Baseball Hall of Fame Induction Ceremonies in Cooperstown, New York.
Mike Tirico is an American sportscaster. He is currently the NFL play-by-play announcer on NBC's Sunday Night Football, having replaced Al Michaels in 2022. From 2006 to 2015, Tirico served as a play-by-play announcer on ESPN's Monday Night Football. Tirico has called a multitude of sports in his career, including the NBA, NHL, college football and basketball, golf, tennis, and World Cup soccer.
Dave Despain is an American motorsports journalist. He was the host of WindTunnel with Dave Despain on Speed Channel, and NASCAR Inside Nextel Cup, until the former was cancelled during the demise of Speed and the latter underwent a format change at the beginning of the 2008 NASCAR Season. On 14 December 2013 Despain announced on Twitter that he would be moving to MAVTV in 2014 to provide color commentary during races held on the channel and host a show called The Dave Despain Show.
Karl Ravech is an American journalist who works as the primary play by play commentator for Sunday Night Baseball on ESPN.
Rece Davis is an American sports television journalist for ESPN/ABC. Davis works as an anchor on SportsCenter and serves as host of various other programs on the network, including College GameDay football road show and basketball show. Since 2021, he has been ESPN's lead host for international soccer events.
Robin Lee Miller was an American motorsports journalist. Miller was best known for being a writer at The Indianapolis Star from 1968–2001. He also wrote for Autoweek, Car and Driver, ESPN and Speed. At the time of his death, he was a correspondent and senior writer for RACER magazine and website, while also reporting on IndyCar Series broadcasts for NBCSN.
Michael Massaro is an American sportscaster and journalist who covers auto racing as a pit reporter for MAVTV's ARCA Menards Series coverage. He was previously a studio host and pit reporter for NASCAR on ESPN and NASCAR on NBC. He was born and raised in Manchester, Connecticut.
The NBC television network's in-studio pre-game coverage for their National Football League game telecasts has been presented under various titles and formats throughout NBC's NFL coverage history.
Alex Flanagan is an American sportscaster. She is a graduate of the University of Arizona. She began her career as a news reporter and anchor and began covering sports in 1998. She has worked for networks including, NBC Sports, NFL Network, ESPN, and Fox Sports.
Totally NASCAR was a newscast about NASCAR racing that aired on Fox Sports Net. The program returned in 2010 after a 6-year absence, but in a different format from the show that was originally shown from 2001 to 2004.
Joseph William Tessitore is an American sportscaster for ABC and ESPN. He leads ESPN's world championship fight broadcasts as the blow-by-blow broadcaster for Top Rank Boxing on ESPN, serves as a play-by-play announcer for Holey Moley on ABC alongside comedian Rob Riggle and NBA star Stephen Curry and announces college football on ESPN and ABC. In 2018 and 2019, Tessitore was also the play-by-play broadcaster of Monday Night Football, alongside former Dallas Cowboys tight end Jason Witten in 2018 and analyst Booger McFarland in 2018 and 2019.
Daniel Patrick Pugh, known professionally as Dan Patrick, is an American sportscaster, radio personality, and actor. He hosts The Dan Patrick Show broadcast on radio on Premiere Radio Networks and streaming on Peacock. He co-hosted NBC's Football Night in America and serves as a senior writer for Sports Illustrated. He worked at ESPN for 18 years, where he often anchored the weeknight and Sunday 11 p.m. edition of SportsCenter.
ESPN SpeedWorld is a former television series broadcast on ESPN from 1979 to 2006. The program that was based primarily based around NASCAR, CART, IMSA, Formula One, NHRA, and IHRA. The theme music is based on the piano interlude from "18th Avenue " by Cat Stevens.
Michael Kim is an American television sports personality and is currently an anchor for Stadium.
Mayne, 56, was a good fit to speak at the luncheon.
...Mayne, the longtime SportsCenter anchor who was born in Kent, Washington...
| Executives |  | ||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| U.S. networks |
| ||||||||||||||||
| International |
| ||||||||||||||||
| Co-owned Canadian sports networks | |||||||||||||||||
| Ventures | |||||||||||||||||
| Defunct ventures |
| ||||||||||||||||
| Sports broadcasting rights | |||||||||||||||||
| Other properties | |||||||||||||||||
| Notable personalities | |||||||||||||||||
| Miscellaneous | |||||||||||||||||
Owners: Walt Disney Company (80%); Hearst Communications (20%) | |||||||||||||||||
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
