Lisa Salters is an American journalist and former

college basketball In United States colleges, top-tier basketball is governed by collegiate athletic bodies including National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA), the United States Collegiate Athle ...

player. She has been a reporter 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 co ...

and

ESPN on ABC ESPN on ABC (formerly known as ABC Sports from 1961 to 2006) is the branding used for sports event and documentary programming televised by the American Broadcasting Company (ABC) in the United States. Officially, the terrestrial television, br ...

since 2000. Previously, she covered the

O. J. Simpson murder case ''The People of the State of California v. Orenthal James Simpson'' was a criminal trial in Los Angeles County Superior Court starting in 1994, in which O. J. Simpson, a former National Football League (NFL) player, broadcaster and actor, was t ...

for

ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster ** Disney–ABC Television ...

and worked as a reporter at

WBAL-TV WBAL-TV (channel 11) is a television station in Baltimore, Maryland, United States, affiliated with NBC. It is the flagship property of Hearst Television, which has owned the station since its inception, and is sister to the company's sole radio ...

Baltimore Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic, and the 30th most populous city in the United States with a population of 585,708 in 2020. Baltimore was ...

from 1988 to 1995. Salters has reported worldwide for ESPN, including a series of reports from the Middle East prior to the Iraq War. In addition, she has hosted ESPN's coverage of the

2006 Winter Olympics The 2006 Winter Olympics, officially the XX Olympic Winter Games ( it, XX Giochi olimpici invernali) and also known as Torino 2006, were a winter multi-sport event held from 10 to 26 February 2006 in Turin, Italy. This marked the second t ...

from Turin, Italy, and ESPN's coverage of the 2002 FIFA World Cup. She is a sideline reporter and co-producer for ABC's coverage of the NBA and ESPN's '' Monday Night Football''.

Career

Pre-broadcasting career

Salters was first a broadcast journalist prior to becoming a sportscaster. In 1995, she was named the first West Coast correspondent for the ABC affiliate news service, NewsOne. Among many notable stories, she covered the O.J. Simpson civil and criminal trials, the Oklahoma City bombing trials, the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano, Japan, and the crash of TWA flight 800 for the network. It wasn’t until ESPN reached out in 2000 about a general assignment position that she decided to transition to sports journalism.

Broadcasting career

Salters joined ESPN as a general assignment reporter in March 2000. She serves as sideline reporter and co-producer for '' Monday Night Football'' and the lead sideline reporter for ESPN's coverage of the NBA on ABC. In addition, Salters is one of the featured correspondents on ESPN's newsmagazine show, '' E:60'', which debuted October 2007. In 2008, she was nominated for a

Sports Emmy Award The Sports Emmy Awards, or Sports Emmys, are part of the extensive range of Emmy Awards for artistic and technical merit for the American television industry. Bestowed by the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences (NATAS), the Sports E ...

for the story "Ray Of Hope". At ESPN, Salters’ reports have been regularly featured on the award-winning “Outside the Lines” series. She led the network's comprehensive coverage of the murder conspiracy trial of

Carolina Panthers The Carolina Panthers are a professional American football team based in Charlotte, North Carolina. The Panthers compete in the National Football League (NFL), as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) South division. T ...

wide receiver

Rae Carruth Rae Theotis Carruth (born Rae Lamar Wiggins; January 20, 1974) is a former American football wide receiver, and convicted murderer. After playing college football at Colorado, Carruth was drafted in the first round of the 1997 NFL Draft by the ...

in December 2000 through January 2001. Additionally, Salters was ESPN's reporter at the 2002 FIFA World Cup in South Korea and Japan, where she broke the news on the U.S. National Team's starting lineup a day before its first match in against Portugal. Salters reported from the

2004 Olympic Games The 2004 Summer Olympics ( el, Θερινοί Ολυμπιακοί Αγώνες 2004, ), officially the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad ( el, Αγώνες της 28ης Ολυμπιάδας, ) and also known as Athens 2004 ( el, Αθήνα 2004), ...

Athens, Greece Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Greece, largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh List ...

and hosted ESPN's coverage of the

Games in

Torino, Italy Turin ( , Piedmontese language, Piedmontese: ; it, Torino ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in Northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital ...

. In

2006 File:2006 Events Collage V1.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2006 Winter Olympics open in Turin; Twitter is founded and launched by Jack Dorsey; The Nintendo Wii is released; Montenegro votes to declare independence from Serbia; The 2006 FIFA ...

, she served as the lead sideline reporter for ABC's coverage of the NBA on ABC and worked the

2006 NBA Finals The 2006 NBA Finals was the championship series of the 2005–06 NBA season and the conclusion of the season's playoffs. The Dallas Mavericks were favored to win the championship over the Miami Heat. Despite these odds, the Heat won the title in ...

on television as that season she filled in for

Michele Tafoya Michele Tafoya is an American former sportscaster. From 2011 to 2022, she was a reporter for NBC Sports, primarily as a sideline reporter for '' NBC Sunday Night Football''. She currently works as a political advisor and makes television appear ...

who was on

maternity leave Parental leave, or family leave, is an employee benefit available in almost all countries. The term "parental leave" may include maternity, Paternity (law), paternity, and adoption leave; or may be used distinctively from "maternity leave" and ...

. Salters returned to her role as its secondary sideline reporter the following year as Tafoya returned to her old role. In

2007 File:2007 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Steve Jobs unveils Apple's first iPhone; TAM Airlines Flight 3054 overruns a runway and crashes into a gas station, killing almost 200 people; Former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto ...

, she worked the

2007 NBA Finals The 2007 NBA Finals was the championship series of the National Basketball Association's (NBA) 2006–07 season and conclusion of the season's playoffs. In this best-of-seven playoff series, the Western Conference champion San Antonio Spurs de ...

on radio. In

2009 File:2009 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The vertical stabilizer of Air France Flight 447 is pulled out from the Atlantic Ocean; Barack Obama becomes the first African American to become President of the United States; Protests ...

, she was back to being its lead sideline reporter whenever

Doris Burke Doris Burke ( Sable) is an American sports announcer and analyst for NBA on ESPN, NBA on ABC, College Basketball on ESPN, and College Basketball on ABC games. She formerly worked as an analyst for WNBA games on MSG, and has worked on New York ...

wasn't there. During the build-up to Operation Iraqi Freedom through the commencement of the Iraq War, Salters covered sports-related stories in and around

U.S. Central Command The United States Central Command (USCENTCOM or CENTCOM) is one of the eleven unified combatant commands of the U.S. Department of Defense. It was established in 1983, taking over the previous responsibilities of the Rapid Deployment Joint Tas ...

in Qatar for ''

Outside the Lines ''Outside the Lines'', or also referred to as ''OTL'', is an American television program on ESPN that looks "outside the lines" and examines critical issues in mostly American sports on and off the field of play. The primary host of the show is ...

'', ''

SportsCenter ''SportsCenter'' (SC) is a daily sports news television program that serves as the flagship program and brand of American cable and satellite television network ESPN. The show covers various sports teams and athletes from around the world and ...

'' and ESPNEWS. She returned to the war zone in 2004 when ESPN took ''SportsCenter'' on the road and broadcast live from

Camp Arifjan Camp Arifjan is a United States Army installation in Kuwait which accommodates elements of the US Air Force, US Navy, US Marine Corps and US Coast Guard. The camp is funded and was built by the government of Kuwait. Military personnel from t ...

, a U.S. Army base in Kuwait. On December 1, 2007, Salters was covering the

Big 12 Championship Game The Big 12 Championship Game is a college football game held by the Big 12 Conference between the best and the second-best Big 12 team. The game was played each year since the conference's formation in 1996 until 2010 and returned during the 201 ...

at the

Alamodome The Alamodome is a 64,000-seat domed indoor multi-purpose stadium in San Antonio, Texas. It is located on the southeastern fringe of downtown San Antonio. The facility opened on May 15, 1993, having been constructed at a cost of $186 milli ...

in San Antonio, Texas. In one of her sideline reports during the first half she mentioned Missouri quarterback Chase Daniel's frustration due to Missouri being stymied by the Oklahoma defense, saying Daniel was "upset" and "fuming." However, a technical blunder caused Salters' microphone to be broadcast over the stadium's PA system. The camera shifted to Chase Daniel, who was visibly perplexed and curious as to who was talking about him and why it was being heard throughout the entire stadium.

TV announcer

Brent Musburger Brent Woody Musburger (born May 26, 1939) is an American sportscaster, currently the lead broadcaster and managing editor at Vegas Stats and Information Network (VSiN). With CBS Sports from 1973 until 1990, he was one of the original members ...

then mused, "Lisa was talking to a lot more folks than she anticipated." The likely explanation was that Salters' mic was to have been hooked up to the PA for the upcoming halftime contest, and her microphone was inadvertently left on the PA after a pregame sound check. Prior to joining ESPN, Salters served as a Los Angeles-based correspondent for ABC News from 1995 to 2000 and provided news coverage for '' World News Tonight'' with

Peter Jennings Peter Charles Archibald Ewart Jennings (July 29, 1938August 7, 2005) was a Canadian-born American television journalist who served as the sole anchor of ''ABC World News Tonight'' from 1983 until his death from lung cancer in 2005. He dropped o ...

and other ABC News broadcasts. At ABC News, she covered the

Oklahoma City bombing The Oklahoma City bombing was a domestic terrorist truck bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, United States, on April 19, 1995. Perpetrated by two anti-government extremists, Timothy McVeigh and Terry ...

trials, the

Matthew Shepard Matthew Wayne Shepard (December 1, 1976 – October 12, 1998) was a gay American student at the University of Wyoming who was beaten, tortured, and left to die near Laramie on the night of October 6, 1998. He was taken by rescuers to Pou ...

murder, the crash of TWA Flight 800, and both the civil and criminal O. J. Simpson trials.

ESPN Monday Night Football

In 2012, ESPN announced that Lisa Salters would join Monday Night Football replacing Suzy Kolber as a full-time solo sideline reporter joining

Mike Tirico Mike Tirico (; born December 13, 1966) is an American sportscaster. He is currently the NFL play-by-play announcer on NBC's '' Sunday Night Football'', having replaced Al Michaels in 2022. From 2006 to 2015, Tirico served as a play-by-play a ...

and

Jon Gruden Jon David Gruden (born August 17, 1963) is a former American professional football coach who was a head coach in the National Football League (NFL) for 15 seasons. He held his first head coaching position with the Raiders franchise during thei ...

. In 2018, ESPN announced a new Monday Night Football commentating team which will include Salters as sideline reporter and joined by

Joe Tessitore Joseph William Tessitore (born January 1, 1971) is an American sportscaster for ABC and ESPN. He leads ESPN's world championship fight broadcasts as the blow-by-blow broadcaster for Top Rank Boxing on ESPN, serves as a play-by-play announcer f ...

and

Booger McFarland Anthony Darelle "Booger" McFarland (born December 18, 1977) is an American former professional football player who was a defensive tackle in the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at Louisiana State University and was d ...

Personal life

A native of King of Prussia, Pennsylvania, Salters graduated from Penn State University in 1988 with a bachelor's degree in broadcast journalism. She played

guard Guard or guards may refer to: Professional occupations * Bodyguard, who protects an individual from personal assault * Crossing guard, who stops traffic so pedestrians can cross the street * Lifeguard, who rescues people from drowning * Prison gu ...

for the Lady Lions basketball team from 1986 to 1987, where she holds the distinction of being the shortest player in school history at 5'2". Salters is a graduate of Upper Merion Area High School in King of Prussia, where she is a member of the school's Hall of Fame. Salters is a cousin of former University of Pittsburgh and

Dallas Cowboys The Dallas Cowboys are a professional American football team based in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. The Cowboys compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East divis ...

star running back

Tony Dorsett Anthony Drew Dorsett Sr. (born April 7, 1954) is a former American football running back who played professionally in the National Football League (NFL) for the Dallas Cowboys and Denver Broncos. From Western Pennsylvania, Dorsett attended the ...

. On October 13, 2017, Salters was inducted into the Montgomery County Chapter of the Pennsylvania Sports Hall of Fame.

References

External links

Lisa Salters' ESPN Bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Salters, Lisa Living people National Basketball Association broadcasters National Football League announcers American television reporters and correspondents American television sports announcers Penn State Lady Lions basketball players Donald P. Bellisario College of Communications alumni People from Upper Merion Township, Pennsylvania Basketball players from Pennsylvania Women sports announcers College basketball announcers in the United States College football announcers ESPN people African-American women journalists African-American sports announcers American women television journalists Guards (basketball) African-American sports journalists 21st-century American journalists 21st-century American women Year of birth missing (living people)