Leslie Mark Shapiro (March 4, 1956 – January 29, 2022) was an American sports media figure, an anchor for

CBS Sports CBS Sports is the sports division of the American television network CBS. Its headquarters are in the CBS Building on W 52nd Street in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, with programs produced out of Studio 43 at the CBS Broadcast Center on W 5 ...

, and a host of the

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 ...

radio talk program in

Denver Denver () is a consolidated city and county, the capital, and most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Its population was 715,522 at the 2020 census, a 19.22% increase since 2010. It is the 19th-most populous city in the Unit ...

, Colorado. He was the play-by-play voice of the Bradley University athletic teams in

Peoria, Illinois Peoria ( ) is the county seat of Peoria County, Illinois, United States, and the largest city on the Illinois River. As of the United States Census, 2020, 2020 census, the city had a population of 113,150. It is the principal city of the Peoria ...

, before obtaining the post of sports anchor on the Denver CBS affiliate, KCNC-TV, and later the

Fox TV The Fox Broadcasting Company, commonly known simply as Fox and stylized in all caps as FOX, is an American commercial broadcast television network owned by Fox Corporation and headquartered in New York City, with master control operations an ...

affiliate KDVR, both of which featured him as the voice of the

Denver Broncos The Denver Broncos are a professional American football franchise based in Denver. The Broncos compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) West division. The team is headquart ...

. He was a frequent master of ceremonies for charitable events in the Denver area.

Early life

Shapiro was born in 1956 in

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

, Illinois, and was raised in

Morton Grove, Illinois Morton Grove is a village in Cook County, Illinois. Per the 2020 census, the population was 25,297. The village is named after former United States Vice President Levi Parsons Morton, who helped finance the Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul Railr ...

Skokie, Illinois Skokie (; formerly Niles Center) is a village in Cook County, Illinois, United States, neighboring the City of Chicago's northern border. Its population, according to the 2020 census, was 67,824. Skokie lies approximately north of Chicago's do ...

, and Wilmette, Illinois. He was graduated from

Arizona State University Arizona State University (Arizona State or ASU) is a public research university in the Phoenix metropolitan area. Founded in 1885 by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, ASU is one of the largest public universities by enrollment in the ...

with a degree in

mass communication Mass communication is the process of imparting and exchanging information through mass media to large segments of the population. It is usually understood for relating to various forms of media, as its technologies are used for the dissemination o ...

Career

Shapiro started his career as a news writer and producer for KPNX-TV in

Phoenix, Arizona Phoenix ( ; nv, Hoozdo; es, Fénix or , yuf-x-wal, Banyà:nyuwá) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of cities and towns in Arizona#List of cities and towns, most populous city of the U.S. state of Arizona, with 1 ...

. He subsequently worked as a sports anchor for WEEK-TV in

, before moving to Denver in 1983. He was employed as a sports reporter and anchor by KCNC-TV for fifteen years from 1984 to 1999. After his departure from KCNC-TV, Shapiro first worked for KDVR, before working at ESPN Radio and Mile High Sports radio. He covered the Broncos' Super Bowl victories in 1998 and 1999, the Avalanche’s first Stanley Cup championship, the inaugural season of the Colorado Rockies, and performed the play-by-play for the station’s coverage of the University of Colorado Boulder football. Shapiro was noted for mentoring other local reporters and broadcasters, such as

Adam Schefter Adam Schefter (born December 21, 1966) is an American sports writer and television analyst. After graduating from University of Michigan and Northwestern University with degrees in journalism, Schefter wrote for several newspapers, including ''T ...

and Vic Lombardi. He also served as the master of ceremonies for many charitable functions around Denver, at which he would also display his considerable singing talent. Shapiro left Mile High Sports in February 2020 after relocating to Arizona. Two months later, he partnered with Lombardi – a

prostate cancer Prostate cancer is cancer of the prostate. Prostate cancer is the second most common cancerous tumor worldwide and is the fifth leading cause of cancer-related mortality among men. The prostate is a gland in the male reproductive system that sur ...

survivor – to create a podcast called ''We Are Unstoppable''. It was intended to "shar inspirational stories from great athletes, celebrities, and the most brilliant minds in medicine on how to beat adversity to win in life", and included guests such as

Joe Theismann Joseph Robert Theismann (born September 9, 1949) is an American former professional football player, sports commentator, corporate speaker and restaurateur. He rose to fame playing quarterback in the National Football League (NFL) and Canadian ...

and Verne Lundquist. It was paused in the spring of 2021 when Shapiro's health deteriorated.

Personal life

Shapiro was married to Paula for 38 years until his death. They met while in high school. Together, they had two children: Jessie and Cary. In February 2020, he and his wife moved to

Scottsdale, Arizona , settlement_type = City , named_for = Winfield Scott , image_skyline = , image_seal = Seal of Scottsdale (Arizona).svg , image_blank_emblem = City of Scottsdale Script Logo.svg , nick ...

, where he died on the afternoon of January 29, 2022, having suffered from

lung cancer Lung cancer, also known as lung carcinoma (since about 98–99% of all lung cancers are carcinomas), is a malignant lung tumor characterized by uncontrolled cell growth in tissue (biology), tissues of the lung. Lung carcinomas derive from tran ...

for five years, although he had never been a smoker.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Shapiro, Les 1956 births 2022 deaths People from Morton Grove, Illinois American sports announcers American people of Jewish descent Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication alumni ESPN announcers Radio personalities from Denver Radio personalities from Chicago People from Wilmette, Illinois People from Scottsdale, Arizona People from Skokie, Illinois Deaths from lung cancer Deaths from cancer in Arizona