Laura Rutledge (

née A birth name is the name of a person given upon birth. The term may be applied to the surname, the given name, or the entire name. Where births are required to be officially registered, the entire name entered onto a birth certificate or birth re ...

McKeeman; born October 2, 1988) is a reporter and host for

ESPN ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). The ...

and the

SEC Network The SEC Network is an American multinational sports network owned by ESPN Inc., a joint venture between The Walt Disney Company (which operates the network, through its 80% controlling ownership interest) and Hearst Communications (which holds ...

. She is an American

beauty pageant A beauty pageant is a competition that has traditionally focused on judging and ranking the physical attributes of the contestants. Pageants have now evolved to include inner beauty, with criteria covering judging of personality, intelligence, ...

titleholder from

St. Petersburg, Florida St. Petersburg is a city in Pinellas County, Florida, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population was 258,308, making it the fifth-most populous city in Florida and the second-largest city in the Tampa Bay Area, after Tampa. It is the ...

, who was named

Miss Florida The Miss Florida competition is the pageant that selects the representative for the state of Florida in the Miss America pageant. Florida has twice won the Miss America crown. In the fall of 2018, the Miss America Organization terminated Miss F ...

2012.

Biography

She won the title of

on July 7, 2012, when she received her crown from outgoing titleholder

Kristina Janolo Kristina Janolo, (born February 20, 1987) is an American beauty pageant titleholder from Kissimmee, Florida, who was named Miss Florida 2011. She represented Florida in the 2012 Miss America pageant, where she reached the top 13. She is the firs ...

. Her competition talent was ballet. Rutledge is a graduate of the

University of Florida The University of Florida (Florida or UF) is a public land-grant research university in Gainesville, Florida. It is a senior member of the State University System of Florida, traces its origins to 1853, and has operated continuously on its ...

, having majored in broadcast journalism. She was also a member of the

Zeta Tau Alpha Zeta Tau Alpha (known as or Zeta) is an international Fraternities and sororities in North America, women's fraternity founded on October 15, 1898 at the State Female Normal School (now Longwood University) in Farmville, Virginia. Its Internatio ...

sorority. She is currently working for

and is featured in multiple shows, including the

's college football pre-game show, “

SEC Nation ''SEC Nation'' is an ESPN entertainment show previewing college football games from the Southeastern Conference. Based on the format of College Gameday, the show previews SEC football games from a SEC school each week. The show airs from 10 a. ...

” and “

NFL Live ''NFL Live'' (stylized as ''NFL Live presented by Autotrader'' for sponsorship reasons) is an American National Football League (NFL) studio show, currently airing Monday through Friday at 3:00 p.m ET on sports cable channel ESPN. Formerly know ...

”.

Sports journalist

Rutledge worked for

Fox Sports Fox Sports is the brand name for a number of sports channels, broadcast divisions, programming, and other media around the world. The ''Fox Sports'' name has since been used for other sports media assets. These assets are held mainly by the Fo ...

as a sideline reporter, previously covering Fox broadcasts of

Tampa Bay Rays The Tampa Bay Rays are an American professional baseball team based in St. Petersburg, Florida. The Rays compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League East, East division. Since its inception ...

games and then

San Diego Padres The San Diego Padres are an American professional baseball team based in San Diego. The Padres compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) West division. Founded in 1969, the club has won two NL penna ...

games. She also provided on-field reporting for the

Fox College Sports Stadium College Sports (formerly Fox College Sports) is a group of three American sports networks. Owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group and Entertainment Studios (under the joint venture Diamond Sports Group), the three channels air college and high ...

coverage of the NCPA's 2012 National Paintball Championship in

Lakeland, Florida Lakeland is the most populous city in Polk County, Florida, part of the Tampa Bay Area, located along Interstate 4 east of Tampa. According to the 2020 U.S. Census Bureau release, the city had a population of 112,641. Lakeland is a principal c ...

. She joined ESPN and the SEC Network in summer 2014. In 2014, Rutledge hosted the Coors Light PostGame show on

Fox College Football ''Fox College Football'' (or ''Fox CFB'' for short) is the branding used for broadcasts of NCAA Division I FBS college football games produced by Fox Sports, and broadcast primarily by Fox, FS1, and FS2. Initial college football broadcasts on th ...

and hosted halftime programming for FSN college football games. Rutledge also hosted "Chargers Insider" for the

San Diego Chargers The San Diego Chargers were a professional American football team that played in San Diego from 1961 until the end of the 2016 season, before relocating to Los Angeles, where the franchise had played its inaugural 1960 season. The team is now ...

in 2013 and "SD Live." She is the producer and host of SDLive, an original show she started at

Fox Sports San Diego Bally Sports San Diego is an American regional sports network owned as a joint venture between Diamond Sports Group (itself a 50-50 joint venture between the Sinclair Broadcast Group and Entertainment Studios) (which owns a controlling 80% stake) ...

. On May 16, 2017 she was named host of "SEC Nation" on the SEC Network. On August 17, 2020, she became the host of ESPN's premier NFL show, "NFL Live."

Personal life

She attended Celebration High School in

Celebration, Florida Celebration is a master-planned community (MPC) and census-designated place (CDP) in Osceola County, Florida, United States. A suburb of Orlando, Celebration is located near Walt Disney World Resort and originally developed by The Walt Disney C ...

. She married

Josh Rutledge Joshua Alan Rutledge (born April 21, 1989) is an American former professional baseball infielder. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Colorado Rockies and Boston Red Sox between 2012 and 2017. Amateur career Rutledge attended Cull ...

, a professional baseball player, in 2013. They reside in

Birmingham, Alabama Birmingham ( ) is a city in the north central region of the U.S. state of Alabama. Birmingham is the seat of Jefferson County, Alabama's most populous county. As of the 2021 census estimates, Birmingham had a population of 197,575, down 1% fr ...

. On October 2, 2019, Rutledge gave birth to a daughter, Reese Katherine Rutledge.

References

External links

Bio
at

's MediaZone * {{DEFAULTSORT:Rutledge, Laura 1988 births Living people American beauty pageant winners American women journalists CNN people College football announcers College basketball announcers in the United States ESPN people Major League Baseball broadcasters Miss America 2013 delegates People from St. Petersburg, Florida Tampa Bay Rays announcers University of Florida College of Journalism and Communications alumni 21st-century American journalists