Every generation has a “voice” to define it and call its own, and there’s a short list of people I would consider to be the “voice of my generation.”
Stuart Scott is on that list.
And add my name to his list of admirers, from fellow broadcasters to athletes to the President of the United States, paying tribute to Scott, who died yesterday at the age of 49.
For more than two decades, Stuart Scott was known to sports fans as one of the most recognizable voices and faces of ESPN, covering nearly every sport and at one time or another hosting pretty much every show that channel had to offer. Even before facebook and Twitter handles brought sportscasters to our every waking moment, Stuart Scott was one of those journalists who was always there. He was always there, with his before-they-were-cool hipster glasses and before-they-were-popular catchphrases. If you couldn’t be an athlete yourself, you at least wanted to be Stuart Scott. He had the “dream job” (which was in fact the name of one of the many programs he hosted or co-hosted through the years). And from what I’ve read over the past 24 hours, those who knew him “off the field” seem to suggest he was just as smooth in person as on TV.
In 2007 doctors found cancer in Scott’s appendix. He continued to work as he could through chemotherapy as his cancer went into remission, then did so again when the cancer returned. I guess one of the amazing details about Scott as a person and as a professional broadcaster was that you’d never know. Over the past eight years he was cancer-striken then cancer-free at least three different times. I guess he never really was cancer free, and that, boys and girls, is one of the bitch things about cancer.
I don’t remember the first time I heard Stuart Scott’s voice and I won’t remember the last. It’ll be with me, though, for the rest of my life. It’s there with all of us. The guy was as cool as the other side of the pillow, and dare I say… the voice of my generation.