Carley Ann McCord (July 24, 1989 – December 28, 2019) was an American sports reporter.

Early life

McCord was born and raised in Baton Rouge,

Louisiana Louisiana , group=pronunciation (French: ''La Louisiane'') is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It is the 20th-smallest by area and the 25th most populous of the 50 U.S. states. Louisiana is borde ...

. She attended St. Michael the Archangel High School and graduated from

Northwestern State University Northwestern State University of Louisiana (NSU) is a public university primarily situated in Natchitoches, Louisiana, with a nursing campus in Shreveport and general campuses in Leesville/Fort Polk and Alexandria. It is a part of the Univer ...

and later

Louisiana State University Louisiana State University (officially Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, commonly referred to as LSU) is a public land-grant research university in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The university was founded in 1860 nea ...

. She competed in the

Miss Louisiana The Miss Louisiana competition is the pageant that selects the representative for the state of Louisiana in the Miss America pageant. Although no delegate from Louisiana has ever won the Miss America title, four have placed 1st runner-up. As of ...

pageant from 2009 to 2013 placing first runner-up in 2012 and 2013.

Broadcasting career

McCord got her first broadcast job in

Cleveland Cleveland ( ), officially the City of Cleveland, is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located in the northeastern part of the state, it is situated along the southern shore of Lake Erie, across the U.S. ...

working as an in-house reporter for the

Cleveland Browns The Cleveland Browns are a professional American football team based in Cleveland. Named after original coach and co-founder Paul Brown, they compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference (A ...

and was later hired by CBS Radio Cleveland to be a morning show cast member on WQAL-FM. She would later make numerous comments denigrating the city. After returning to Louisiana, she worked as a freelance broadcaster for

Cox Sports Television Cox Sports Television ( a.k.a. CST; sometimes referred to as Cox Sports TV) was an American regional sports cable and satellite television channel owned by Cox Communications. The channel, which serves the Gulf South region of the United State ...

, ESPN3 and

WDSU WDSU (channel 6) is a television station in New Orleans, Louisiana, United States, affiliated with NBC and owned by Hearst Television. The station's studios are located on Howard Avenue in the city's Central Business District, and its transmitt ...

. She also worked as the digital media reporter for the

Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame The Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame is located in the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame & Northwest Louisiana History Museum – Natchitoches in a new facility in the downtown historic district in Natchitoches, Louisiana. After years of planning and con ...

and also the in-game host for the New Orleans Pelicans and the

New Orleans Saints The New Orleans Saints are a professional American football team based in New Orleans. The Saints compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) South division. Since 1975, the te ...

Death

On December 28, 2019, McCord was one of five passengers killed, shortly after take-off, aboard a small plane that crashed in a field one mile from the Lafayette Regional Airport. A lone survivor was listed in critical condition. McCord was traveling to cover the

Peach Bowl The Peach Bowl is an annual college football bowl game played in Atlanta, Georgia since December 1968. Since 1997, it has been sponsored by Chick-fil-A and is officially known as the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl. From 2006 to 2013, it was officially ...

for

; her father-in-law,

Steve Ensminger Steve Ensminger (born September 15, 1958) is an American football coach and former player. He is an offensive analyst at Louisiana State University (LSU). Early years and playing career Ensminger was born in Baton Rouge, Louisiana and attended ...

, happened to be the offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach for the

LSU Tigers football The LSU Tigers football program, also known as the Fighting Tigers, represents Louisiana State University in college football. The Tigers compete in the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) of the National Collegiate Athletic Association Th ...

team playing in the game. She was 30 years old.

References

1989 births 2019 deaths American sports journalists American women journalists Journalists from Louisiana Louisiana State University alumni Northwestern State University alumni Sportspeople from Louisiana Victims of aviation accidents or incidents in the United States Women sports journalists Writers from Baton Rouge, Louisiana 21st-century American journalists 21st-century American women writers {{US-journalist-1980s-stub