Sherry Ross (born c. 1954) is an American sports broadcaster and journalist who most recently worked alongside

Matt Loughlin Matt Loughlin is an American sportscaster who is the radio play-by-play voice of the New Jersey Devils of the National Hockey League on WFAN, where he is partnered with former goaltender and former Devils TV color commentator Chico Resch. Loughl ...

as a

color commentator A color commentator or expert commentator is a sports commentator who assists the main (play-by-play) commentator, typically by filling in when play is not in progress. The phrase "colour commentator" is primarily used in Canadian English and t ...

for the

NHL The National Hockey League (NHL; french: Ligue nationale de hockey—LNH, ) is a professional ice hockey league in North America comprising 32 teams—25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. It is considered to be the top ranked professional ...

New Jersey Devils The New Jersey Devils are a professional sports, professional ice hockey team based in Newark, New Jersey. The Devils compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Metropolitan Division in the Eastern Conference (NHL), Eastern ...

radio broadcasts. She is the first woman to serve as an analyst for the

Stanley Cup Finals The Stanley Cup Finals in ice hockey (also known as the Stanley Cup Final among various media, french: Finale de la Coupe Stanley) is the National Hockey League's (NHL) championship series to determine the winner of the Stanley Cup, North America ...

, and the first woman to call play-by-play for a full NHL game.

Background

Born in

Dover, New Jersey Dover is a town in Morris County, New Jersey, United States. Located on the Rockaway River, Dover is about west of New York City and about west of Newark, New Jersey. As of the 2010 United States Census, the town's population was 18,157,

, Ross grew up in Randolph, where she graduated from Randolph High School and was inducted into its Hall of Fame in 2007. She graduated from

Rutgers University–Newark Rutgers University–Newark is one of three regional campuses of Rutgers University, New Jersey's State University. It is located in Newark. Rutgers, founded in 1766 in New Brunswick, is the eighth oldest college in the United States and a me ...

in 1977 with a degree in English and attended

University of Illinois The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (U of I, Illinois, University of Illinois, or UIUC) is a public land-grant research university in Illinois in the twin cities of Champaign and Urbana. It is the flagship institution of the University ...

studying veterinary medicine but later chose journalism as a career. She has been a resident of

West Orange, New Jersey West Orange is a suburban township in Essex County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2020 United States Census, its population was 48,843, an increase of 2,636 (+5.7%) from the 46,207 counted in the 2010 Census.

Career

Ross began her career in 1978 as a hockey reporter for the '' Daily Record'' newspaper in

Morristown, New Jersey Morristown () is a town and the county seat of Morris County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. ...

. She has also worked as a sportswriter for ''

The Record (Bergen County) ''The Record'' (also called ''The North Jersey Record'', ''The Bergen Record'', ''The Sunday Record'' (Sunday edition) and formerly ''The Bergen Evening Record'') is a newspaper in New Jersey, United States. Serving Bergen, Essex, Hudson and P ...

'', ''

New York Newsday ''New York Newsday'' was an American daily newspaper that primarily served New York City and was sold throughout the New York metropolitan area. The paper, established in 1985, was a New York City-specific offshoot of ''Newsday'', a Long Island- ...

'', and the ''

New York Daily News The New York ''Daily News'', officially titled the ''Daily News'', is an American newspaper based in Jersey City, NJ. It was founded in 1919 by Joseph Medill Patterson as the ''Illustrated Daily News''. It was the first U.S. daily printed in ta ...

'', for whom she continues to work in the hockey offseason covering

horse racing Horse racing is an equestrian performance sport, typically involving two or more horses ridden by jockeys (or sometimes driven without riders) over a set distance for competition. It is one of the most ancient of all sports, as its basic p ...

. From the 1990–91 season to the 2003–04 season, she was the author of the Hockey Scouting Report, an annually published guide to all active NHL players. Ross first broadcast color commentary for the Devils from January 1992 through the strike-shortened 1994–95 season, prior to being re-hired for the role in 2007. On November 25, 2009, she called play-by-play of a game between the Devils and the

Ottawa Senators The Ottawa Senators (french: Sénateurs d'Ottawa), officially the Ottawa Senators Hockey Club and colloquially known as the Sens, are a professional ice hockey team based in Ottawa. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a membe ...

, as Loughlin missed the game due to a death in his family, becoming the first woman to provide English language play-by-play for a full NHL game. On May 23, 2017, Ross was relieved of her duties as the Devils' radio analyst. She was later replaced by former Devils goalie

Chico Resch Glenn Allan "Chico" Resch (born July 10, 1948) is a Canadian-American former professional ice hockey goaltender and television sportscaster. He played in the National Hockey League (NHL) from 1973 to 1987, and won a Stanley Cup with the New York ...

References

1954 births Living people American sports announcers American sports journalists National Hockey League broadcasters New York Jets announcers People from Dover, New Jersey People from Randolph, New Jersey People from West Orange, New Jersey Randolph High School (New Jersey) alumni Women sports announcers {{US-radio-bio-stub