Kristine Leahy (born October 16, 1986) is an American television host and former sports reporter. She is most known as a former host on NBC's ''
American Ninja Warrior''. She is the former co-host and newswoman of
Fox Sports 1
Fox Sports 1 (FS1) is an American pay television channel owned by the Fox Sports Media Group, a unit of Fox Corporation. FS1 replaced the motorsports network Speed on August 17, 2013, at the same time that its companion channel Fox Sports 2 ...
's simulcast of ''
The Herd with Colin Cowherd'' and was also a former anchor and reporter for
KCBS-TV
KCBS-TV (channel 2) is a television station in Los Angeles, California, United States, serving as the West Coast flagship of the CBS network. It is owned and operated by the network's CBS News and Stations division alongside independent outl ...
in
Los Angeles
Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...
.
In 2018, Leahy began hosting ''Fair Game with Kristine Leahy'' on Fox Sports 1. The show was cancelled in December 2019.
Early life
Leahy was born in
Chicago
(''City in a Garden''); I Will
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,
where she became interested in sports. She graduated from
Prairie Ridge High School
Prairie Ridge High School, often referred to as "PR," is the newest public high school in Community High School District 155 in Crystal Lake, Illinois, United States. The other three high school in the area include Crystal Lake Central, Crystal L ...
in
Crystal Lake, Illinois
Crystal Lake is a city in McHenry County in the U.S. state of Illinois. Named after a lake southwest of the city's downtown, Crystal Lake is 45 miles northwest of Chicago. The population is 40,269 as of the 2020 Census, a 1.2% decrease from 201 ...
in 2005. She earned a Bachelor of Science in journalism from
Boston University
Boston University (BU) is a private research university in Boston, Massachusetts. The university is nonsectarian, but has a historical affiliation with the United Methodist Church. It was founded in 1839 by Methodists with its original campu ...
.
Career
After college, Leahy got a job at the sports radio station
WEEI in Boston. After a two-year stint at WEEI, she transitioned to a position as an official reporter of the
Boston Celtics
The Boston Celtics ( ) are an American professional basketball team based in Boston. The Celtics compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Atlantic Division. Founded in 1946 as one of t ...
and Celtics.com. She turned that into a job at
FOX Boston, where she covered all Boston area sports teams.
Leahy moved to Los Angeles in 2012 and covered a variety of different sports, most notably as a sideline reporter for
Turner Sports
Warner Bros. Discovery Sports (WBD Sports) is the division of Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) that is responsible for sports broadcasting, sports broadcasts on its parent company's various channels in the United States, including TBS (American TV ch ...
'
March Madness
The NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament, branded as NCAA March Madness and commonly called March Madness, is a single-elimination tournament played each spring in the United States, currently featuring 68 college basketball teams from ...
coverage. She worked for a variety of CBS affiliated sports outlets, including the local
CBS Los Angeles news. Leahy then became the sideline reporter for ''
American Ninja Warrior'' on NBC. In September 2015, she took a job to join former
ESPN Radio
ESPN Radio, which is alternately platform-agnostically branded as ESPN Audio, is an American sports radio network and extension of the ESPN television network. It was launched on January 1, 1992, under the original banner of "SportsRadio ESPN". ...
host
Colin Cowherd
Colin Murray Cowherd (born January 6, 1964) is an American sports media personality. Cowherd began his broadcasting career as sports director of Las Vegas television station KVBC and as a sports anchor on several other stations before joining ...
on his new show after his exodus to
FOX
Foxes are small to medium-sized, omnivorous mammals belonging to several genera of the family Canidae. They have a flattened skull, upright, triangular ears, a pointed, slightly upturned snout, and a long bushy tail (or ''brush'').
Twelve sp ...
. Cowherd cited a lack of female voices in sports talk radio as a reason for Leahy's addition to the show, as well as Leahy's history of developing useful sources as a sports journalist.
On May 17, 2017, Leahy had a heated exchange with
LaVar Ball on ''The Herd with Colin Cowherd''.
Ball never faced in Leahy's direction for the whole interview, apparently trying to talk only with
Colin Cowherd
Colin Murray Cowherd (born January 6, 1964) is an American sports media personality. Cowherd began his broadcasting career as sports director of Las Vegas television station KVBC and as a sports anchor on several other stations before joining ...
on the other side of the studio.
Ball argued with Leahy about whether or not
Big Baller Brand
Big Baller Brand (BBB) is an American company that designs, manufactures, and sells clothing and shoes. Launched in 2016 by Alan Foster and LaVar Ball, it has most notably produced signature shoes for the Ball brothers—basketball players Lon ...
should market to both men and women and when she asked him how many shoes he had already sold, he said, "Stay in your lane."
During the segment, Leahy expressed that she believed Ball was disrespecting women, and he responded by calling her a "hater" for her previous criticism of his parenting and suggestion that "his kids are afraid of him". Received a
He also commented, "She scares me. I don't look over there because I'm scared of her. I'm thinking assault right now. Leave me alone."
[ Later that day on ''The Herd'', Leahy issued a response about her argument with Ball, saying, "So he was upset at me for what I said there, and that's completely fine. But you can't come at me and disrespect me and not look me in the eye and threaten me. That's just not OK."] Ball, however, denied threatening her.[
On May 19, 2017, Radio host Charlemagne the God, responded to the incident by claiming Leahy is using the same energy that got ]Emmett Till
Emmett Louis Till (July 25, 1941August 28, 1955) was a 14-year-old African American boy who was abducted, tortured, and lynched in Mississippi in 1955, after being accused of offending a white woman, Carolyn Bryant, in her family's grocery ...
killed.
On November 20, 2017, Leahy criticized CNN
CNN (Cable News Network) is a multinational cable news channel headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, U.S. Founded in 1980 by American media proprietor Ted Turner and Reese Schonfeld as a 24-hour cable news channel, and presently owned by the M ...
for inviting Ball on the air to discuss his feud with US President
The president of the United States (POTUS) is the head of state and head of government of the United States of America. The president directs the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United Stat ...
Donald Trump
Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who served as the 45th president of the United States from 2017 to 2021.
Trump graduated from the Wharton School of the University of Pe ...
.
Personal life
Married to Howie Liu on November 5, 2022
References
External links
* http://www.kristineleahy.com/bio.html
*
* https://www.instagram.com/kristineleahy/
{{DEFAULTSORT:Leahy, Kristine
1986 births
American reporters and correspondents
American sports radio personalities
American television hosts
Boston University College of Communication alumni
Fox Sports 1 people
Living people
Radio personalities from Chicago
Radio personalities from Los Angeles
Women sports announcers
Women sports commentators
American women television presenters