Skip Bayless (born John Edward Bayless II)
is an American sports columnist, commentator, and television personality. He is well-known for his work as a commentator on the
ESPN2
ESPN2 is an American multinational pay television network owned by ESPN Inc., a joint venture between The Walt Disney Company (which owns a controlling 80% stake) and Hearst Communications (which owns the remaining 20%).
ESPN2 was initially fo ...
show ''
First Take'' with
Stephen A. Smith, a show which he left in June 2016. Bayless debuted his new show ''
Skip and Shannon: Undisputed'' with
Shannon Sharpe
Shannon Sharpe (born June 26, 1968) is an American former football tight end who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 14 seasons, primarily with the Denver Broncos. Regarded as one of the greatest tight ends of all time, he ranks th ...
on
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 ...
on September 6, 2016.
Early years
John Edward Bayless II was born in
Oklahoma
Oklahoma (; Choctaw: ; chr, ᎣᎧᎳᎰᎹ, ''Okalahoma'' ) is a state in the South Central region of the United States, bordered by Texas on the south and west, Kansas on the north, Missouri on the northeast, Arkansas on the east, New ...
and was raised in
Oklahoma City
Oklahoma City (), officially the City of Oklahoma City, and often shortened to OKC, is the capital and largest city of the U.S. state of Oklahoma. The county seat of Oklahoma County, it ranks 20th among United States cities in population, and ...
.
His father, John Sr., immediately began calling him Skip—his father also had called his mother "Skip", as in "skipper of the ship". The name instantly stuck, and Bayless was never called John by his parents, to the point that he eventually had his name legally changed to Skip. His parents owned and operated the Hickory House restaurant in Oklahoma City, which specialized in barbecue. Bayless worked in the restaurant in his youth, but never considered it as a career path. His younger brother
Rick Bayless
Rick Bayless (born November 23, 1953) is an American chef and restaurateur who specializes in traditional Mexican cuisine with modern interpretations. He is widely known for his PBS series '' Mexico: One Plate at a Time''. Among his various acc ...
carried on the family tradition and became a chef, restaurateur and television personality. He also has a younger sister.
[Rick Maese, "Skip Bayless, ESPN2 'First Take' co-host, may be the most hated man in sports", ''The Washington Post'', September 13, 2013](_blank)
/ref>
Bayless's interest in sports began at an early age. He played baseball and basketball. Bayless was the salutatorian of Northwest Classen's graduating class of 1970. He was a two-year member of the National Honor Society
The National Honor Society (NHS) is a nationwide organization for high school students in the United States and outlying territories, which consists of many chapters in high schools. Selection is based on four criteria: scholarship (academic achi ...
and president of the school's Fellowship of Christian Athletes
The Fellowship of Christian Athletes (FCA) is an international non-profit Christian sports ministry founded in 1954 and based in Kansas City, Missouri. It has staff offices located throughout the United States and abroad.
History
FCA was foun ...
chapter. He was also an officer in the letterman's club. At the urging of one of his English teachers, Bayless became the primary sports columnist for the school newspaper his junior and senior years. Prior to his senior year, Bayless represented Northwest Classen at Oklahoma Boys State. Upon graduation, he was awarded the Grantland Rice Scholarship (named for the sportswriter of the same name) to attend Vanderbilt University
Vanderbilt University (informally Vandy or VU) is a private research university in Nashville, Tennessee. Founded in 1873, it was named in honor of shipping and rail magnate Cornelius Vanderbilt, who provided the school its initial $1-million ...
(Rice's alma mater). While at Vanderbilt, he majored in English and history, and graduated ''cum laude
Latin honors are a system of Latin phrases used in some colleges and universities to indicate the level of distinction with which an academic degree has been earned. The system is primarily used in the United States. It is also used in some Sou ...
'' in 1974. He was a member of Phi Kappa Sigma
Phi Kappa Sigma () is an international all-male college secret society and social fraternity. While nicknames differ from institution to institution, the most common nicknames for the fraternity are Skulls, Skullhouse, Phi Kap, and PKS (the fi ...
fraternity, serving two years as the chapter's "rho" (sports director). He was also the sports editor of ''The Hustler'', the university's student newspaper, and spent the summer of 1969 interning under sports editor Frank Boggs at ''The Daily Oklahoman
''The Oklahoman'' is the largest daily newspaper in Oklahoma, United States, and is the only regional daily that covers the Greater Oklahoma City area. The Alliance for Audited Media (formerly Audit Bureau Circulation) lists it as the 59th large ...
''.
Career
Print journalism
Bayless went directly from Vanderbilt to ''The Miami Herald
The ''Miami Herald'' is an American daily newspaper owned by the McClatchy Company and headquartered in Doral, Florida, a city in western Miami-Dade County and the Miami metropolitan area, several miles west of Downtown Miami.[Los Angeles Times
The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the ...]
'' in August 1976. There, he was best known for investigative stories on the Los Angeles Dodgers
The Los Angeles Dodgers are an American professional baseball team based in Los Angeles. The Dodgers compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) National League West, West division. Established in 1883 i ...
' clubhouse resentment of "golden boy" Steve Garvey
Steven Patrick Garvey (born December 22, 1948) is an American former professional baseball player. He played in Major League Baseball as a first baseman for the Los Angeles Dodgers and San Diego Padres from 1969 to 1987.
Garvey was the National ...
and his celebrity wife Cyndy, and on Rams owner Carroll Rosenbloom
Dale Carroll Rosenbloom (March 5, 1907 – April 2, 1979) was an American businessman. He was the owner of two National Football League franchises; he was the first owner of the Baltimore Colts, and later switched teams, taking ownership of the ...
's behind-the-scenes decisions to start different quarterbacks each week. Bayless won the Eclipse Award
The Eclipse Award is an American Thoroughbred horse racing award named after the 18th-century British racehorse and sire, Eclipse.
An Eclipse Award Trophy is presented to the winner in each division that is made by a few small selected American ...
for Outstanding Newspaper Writing in 1977 for his coverage of Seattle Slew
Seattle Slew (February 15, 1974 – May 7, 2002) was a champion American Thoroughbred racehorse who became the tenth winner of the American Triple Crown (1977). He is one of only two horses to have won the Triple Crown while being undefeated in ...
's Triple Crown victory.
At 26, Bayless was hired by ''The Dallas Morning News
''The Dallas Morning News'' is a daily newspaper serving the Dallas–Fort Worth area of Texas, with an average print circulation of 65,369. It was founded on October 1, 1885 by Alfred Horatio Belo as a satellite publication of the ''Galvesto ...
'' to write its lead sports column, and three years later, joined the ''Dallas Times Herald
The ''Dallas Times Herald'', founded in 1888 by a merger of the ''Dallas Times'' and the '' Dallas Herald'', was once one of two major daily newspapers serving the Dallas, Texas ( USA) area. It won three Pulitzer Prizes, all for photography, and ...
''. This caught the attention of ''The Wall Street Journal
''The Wall Street Journal'' is an American business-focused, international daily newspaper based in New York City, with international editions also available in Chinese and Japanese. The ''Journal'', along with its Asian editions, is published ...
'', prompting the paper to do a story on the development. Bayless was voted Texas sportswriter of the year by the National Sportscasters and Sportswriters Association
The National Sports Media Association (NSMA), formerly the National Sportscasters and Sportswriters Association, is an organization of sports media members in the United States, and constitutes the American chapter of the International Sports P ...
three times (1979, 1984 and 1986).
In 1989, Bayless wrote his first book, ''God's Coach: The Hymns, Hype and Hypocrisy of Tom Landry's Cowboys'', about the rise and fall of Tom Landry
Thomas Wade Landry (September 11, 1924 – February 12, 2000) was an American professional football player and coach. He was the first head coach of the Dallas Cowboys in the National Football League (NFL), a position he held for 29 seasons. Dur ...
's 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 ...
. Following the Cowboys' Super Bowl
The Super Bowl is the annual final playoff game of the National Football League (NFL) to determine the league champion. It has served as the final game of every NFL season since 1966, replacing the NFL Championship Game. Since 2022, the gam ...
victory in 1993, Bayless wrote ''The Boys: The Untold Story of the Dallas Cowboys' Season on the Edge'', and following the third Cowboys Super Bowl win in four seasons, Bayless wrote a third book about the Cowboys, ''Hell-Bent: The Crazy Truth About the "Win or Else" Dallas Cowboys''. ''Hell-Bent'' caused a stir, in part, because in the course of writing about the conflict between Cowboys coach Barry Switzer
Barry Layne Switzer (born October 5, 1937) is a former American football coach and player. He served for 16 years as head football coach at the University of Oklahoma and four years as head coach of the Dallas Cowboys of the National Football Le ...
and star quarterback Troy Aikman
Troy Kenneth Aikman (born November 21, 1966) is an American former football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 12 seasons with the Dallas Cowboys. After transferring from Oklahoma, he played college football at UCLA, ...
, Bayless reported on speculation by Switzer and people close to him within the Dallas organization that Aikman was gay.
In 1998, Bayless left Dallas after 17 years and become the lead sports columnist for the ''Chicago Tribune
The ''Chicago Tribune'' is a daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States, owned by Tribune Publishing. Founded in 1847, and formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" (a slogan for which WGN radio and television ar ...
''. In his first year there, Bayless won the Lisagor Award for excellence in sports column writing, presented by the Chicago Headline Club (the Chicago chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists). In 2000, he was voted Illinois sportswriter of the year by the National Sportscasters and Sportswriters Association. Bayless left the ''Chicago Tribune'' in July 2001.
Bayless's work has also appeared in various national sports publications, including ''Sports Illustrated
''Sports Illustrated'' (''SI'') is an American sports magazine first published in August 1954. Founded by Stuart Scheftel, it was the first magazine with circulation over one million to win the National Magazine Award for General Excellence tw ...
''.
Radio
In 1991, Bayless began a two-year stint hosting a sports talk radio show from 6–8 p.m. Monday through Friday for Dallas radio station KLIF. In 1994, he became one of the original investors in the Fort Worth radio station KTCK ("the Ticket"), and hosted ''The Skip Bayless Show'' from 6–9 a.m. weekdays from 1994–96. In 1996, the original owners sold the station to Cumulus Media
Cumulus Media, Inc. is an American broadcasting company and is the third largest owner and operator of AM and FM radio stations in the United States behind Audacy and iHeartMedia. As of June 2019, Cumulus lists ownership of 428 stations in 8 ...
, which bought out Bayless's contract. Also in the mid-1990s, he was a frequent guest on 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 ...
's first national weekday show, ''The Fabulous Sports Babe
''The Fabulous Sports Babe'' was a semi-fictional character who hosted various American sports radio broadcasts. The program, hosted by Tampa Bay area resident Nanci Donnellan, was syndicated across the United States on both ESPN Radio and ESPN2, ...
''. After moving to Chicago, he began making regular appearances on Chet Coppock
Chet W. Coppock (April 30, 1948 – April 17, 2019) was an American radio broadcaster, television broadcaster, sports talk personality and author based in Chicago. His fifth book “Chet Coppock: In Pursuit of Chet Coppock” was released i ...
's show on the Sporting News Radio network, ''Coppock On Sports''. In 2001, he became the primary guest host of the syndicated radio program, ''The Jim Rome Show
''The Jim Rome Show'' is a sports radio talk show hosted by Jim Rome. It airs live for three hours each weekday from 9 a.m. to noon Pacific Time. The show is produced in Los Angeles, syndicated by CBS Sports Radio, and can be heard on affil ...
''. Soon thereafter, Bayless began co-hosting a weekend show on 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 ...
with former ''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 o ...
'' anchor Larry Beil
Larry Beil (born ) is an American sportscaster.
Biography
From 1996 to 1998, he was an anchor on ''SportsCenter'', the flagship program of ESPN. Beil, who graduated from the University of Hawaiʻi, introduced a new catch phrase after showing ...
, which aired until 2004, when he moved full-time into television.
Television
In 1989, Bayless joined host Dick Schaap
Richard Jay Schaap (September 27, 1934 – December 21, 2001) was an American sportswriter, broadcaster, and author.
Early life and education
Born to a Jewish family in Brooklyn, and raised in Freeport, New York, on Long Island, Schaap began wri ...
as a panelist on ESPN's ''The Sports Reporters
''The Sports Reporters'' was a sports talk show that aired on ESPN at 9:30 a.m. ET every Sunday morning (and replayed at 10:30 a.m. ET the same day on ESPN2 and 11:30 AM on ESPNews). It featured a roundtable discussion among four spor ...
'', and over the next decade, he was a regular on the Sunday morning show. In 1992, Bayless became a member of the original debate team on ''NFL Prime Monday''s "Knights of the Roundtable" segments with Mitch Albom and Michael Wilbon
Michael Wilbon (; born ) is an American commentator for ESPN and former sportswriter and columnist for ''The Washington Post''. He is an analyst for ESPN and has co-hosted ''Pardon the Interruption'' on ESPN since 2001.
Early life and education ...
.
In 1999 and 2000, he provided commentary for the Golf Channel
Golf Channel (also verbally referred to as simply Golf) is an American sports television network owned by the NBC Sports Group division of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. Founded in Birmingham, Alabama, it is currently based out of NBC S ...
from the major golf championships.
In 2001 and 2002, Bayless appeared regularly on Jim Rome
James Phillip Rome (born October 14, 1964) is an American sports radio host. His talk show, ''The Jim Rome Show'', is syndicated by CBS Sports Radio.
Broadcasting from a studio near Los Angeles, California, Rome hosts ''The Jim Rome Show'' on ...
's show on Fox Sports Net
Fox Sports Networks (FSN), formerly known as Fox Sports Net, was the collective name for a group of regional sports channels in the United States. Formed in 1996 by News Corporation, the networks were acquired by The Walt Disney Company on Mar ...
, ''The Last Word''. He also made frequent appearances during the same period of time on Fox's '' The Best Damn Sports Show Period''. When Rome moved to ESPN in 2003, Bayless became a fixture on '' Rome is Burning''. He was also featured in a weekly Sunday morning ''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 o ...
'' debate segment with Stephen A. Smith, "Old School/Nu Skool".
ESPN hired Bayless full-time in 2004 to team up with Woody Paige of ''The Denver Post
''The Denver Post'' is a daily newspaper and website published in Denver, Colorado. As of June 2022, it has an average print circulation of 57,265. In 2016, its website received roughly six million monthly unique visitors generating more than 13 ...
'' in daily debate segments called "1st and 10" on ESPN2
ESPN2 is an American multinational pay television network owned by ESPN Inc., a joint venture between The Walt Disney Company (which owns a controlling 80% stake) and Hearst Communications (which owns the remaining 20%).
ESPN2 was initially fo ...
's ''Cold Pizza
''Cold Pizza'' is an American television sports morning talk show that aired weekdays on ESPN2 from 2003 to 2007. The show's style was more akin to ''Good Morning America'' than ''SportsCenter''s straight news and highlights format. It included d ...
'', and to write columns for ESPN.com
ESPN.com is the official website of ESPN. It is owned by ESPN Internet Ventures, a division of ESPN Inc.
History
Since launching in April 1995 as ESPNET.SportsZone.com (ESPNET SportsZone), the website has developed numerous sections including: ...
. In May 2007, the show, which had been produced in the network's New York studios, was rebranded as '' First Take'', and production was moved to the network's headquarters in Bristol, Connecticut. Around this time, Bayless stopped writing for ESPN.com; he resumed writing columns for the website in August 2012.
On April 26, 2016, it was reported that Bayless had parted ways with ESPN, and would be moving to 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 F ...
after his contract expired in August. His final appearance on ''First Take'' was on June 21, 2016.
Bayless debuted '' Skip and Shannon: Undisputed'' along with Shannon Sharpe
Shannon Sharpe (born June 26, 1968) is an American former football tight end who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 14 seasons, primarily with the Denver Broncos. Regarded as one of the greatest tight ends of all time, he ranks th ...
in September 2016 on 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 ...
.
Bayless is known for criticizing LeBron James
LeBron Raymone James Sr. (; born December 30, 1984) is an American professional basketball player for the Los Angeles Lakers of the National Basketball Association (NBA). Nicknamed "King James", he is widely considered one of the greatest p ...
and Aaron Rodgers
Aaron Charles Rodgers (born December 2, 1983) is an American football quarterback for the Green Bay Packers of the National Football League (NFL). Rodgers began his college football career at Butte College in 2002 before transferring to the ...
in both ''First Take'' and ''Skip and Shannon: Undisputed''.
Bayless was criticized for remarks he made on September 10, 2020, about Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott
Rayne Dakota Prescott (born July 29, 1993) is an American football quarterback for the Dallas Cowboys of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at Mississippi State, where he twice received first-team All- SEC honors, a ...
, such as saying that Prescott's statements about suffering from depression were a sign of "weakness".
In March 2021, Bayless signed a four-year, $32 million contract with 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 ...
.
On January 2, 2023, amid Damar Hamlin's hospitalization for injuries sustained in the Week 17 game between the Buffalo Bills and Cincinnati Bengals, Bayless made a tweet that was widely described as insensitive, stating: "No doubt the NFL is considering postponing the rest of this game - but how? This late in the season, a game of this magnitude is crucial to the regular-season outcome ... which suddenly seems so irrelevant."
The tweet was called out by several high-profile sports figures such as former quarterback Robert Griffin III
Robert Lee Griffin III (born February 12, 1990), nicknamed RG3 and RGIII, is an American football quarterback who is a free agent. He played college football at Baylor, where he won the Heisman Trophy as a senior, and was selected second overa ...
and former wide receiver Dez Bryant
Desmond Demond Bryant (born November 4, 1988) is an American football wide receiver who is a free agent. He played college football at Oklahoma State, where he earned All-American honors in 2008. He was drafted by the Dallas Cowboys in the fir ...
. Less than an hour later, Bayless sent out an apology tweet saying "Nothing is more important than that young man's health. That was the point of my last tweet. I'm sorry if that was misunderstood but his health is all that matters. Again, everything else is irrelevant. I prayed for him & will continue to."
Films
Along with ESPN colleagues Woody Paige
Woodrow Wilson Paige, Jr. (born June 27, 1946) is a sports columnist for '' The Gazette'', author, and a regular panelist on the ESPN sports- talk program ''Around the Horn''. He was a columnist for the ''Denver Post'' for 35 years, and co-host ...
and Jay Crawford
Jason "Jay" Crawford (born July 4, 1965) is an American TV news and sports anchor, who is best known nationally for his time at ESPN. Crawford anchored the live 11 p.m. edition of ''SportsCenter'' with Chris McKendry until April 2017. Prior to ...
, Bayless had a cameo role in the 2006 film ''Rocky Balboa
Robert "Rocky" Balboa (also known by his ring name The Italian Stallion), is a fictional title character and the protagonist of the ''Rocky'' film series. The character was created by Sylvester Stallone, who has also portrayed him in all eigh ...
''. The three are seen on their "First and 10" segment discussing a possible fight between a retired Balboa and current heavyweight champion Mason Dixon. Bayless opines that Balboa "was completely overrated" and mocks his age.
He appeared in the 2010 ESPN 30 for 30
''30 for 30'' is the title for a series of documentary films airing on ESPN, its sister networks, and online highlighting interesting people and events in sports history. This includes three "volumes" of 30 episodes each, a 13-episode series un ...
film, ''Pony Excess'', about the Southern Methodist University football scandal
The Southern Methodist University football scandal was an incident in which the Mustangs football program at Southern Methodist University (SMU) was investigated and punished for repeated violations of National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCA ...
involving gross violations of NCAA
The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges an ...
rules and regulations. Bayless covered the Mustangs
The mustang is a free-roaming horse of the Western United States, descended from horses brought to the Americas by the Spanish. Mustangs are often referred to as wild horses, but because they are descended from once-domesticated animals, they ...
while writing for both ''The Dallas Morning News'' and the ''Dallas Times Herald''. He also appeared in the 2011 ESPNU
ESPNU is an American multinational digital cable and satellite sports television channel owned by ESPN Inc., a joint venture between the Disney Media Networks division of The Walt Disney Company (which owns a controlling 80% stake) and the Hears ...
documentary, ''Herschel'', about University of Georgia
, mottoeng = "To teach, to serve, and to inquire into the nature of things.""To serve" was later added to the motto without changing the seal; the Latin motto directly translates as "To teach and to inquire into the nature of things."
, establ ...
running back Herschel Walker.
Other honors and awards
In 2008, Bayless was selected to the Oklahoma City Wall of Fame recognizing outstanding alumni of Oklahoma City
Oklahoma City (), officially the City of Oklahoma City, and often shortened to OKC, is the capital and largest city of the U.S. state of Oklahoma. The county seat of Oklahoma County, it ranks 20th among United States cities in population, a ...
public schools. In 2009, he was inducted as one of the five members of the inaugural class of the Vanderbilt Student Media Hall of Fame. In 2012, he received two honors: he 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 ...
in the category of Outstanding Sports Personality, Studio Analyst, and was the co-recipient with DJ Steve Porter of a Webby People's Voice Award in the category of Video Remixes/Mashups for "All He Does Is Win", Porter's mashup of clips of Bayless passionately defending oft-maligned quarterback Tim Tebow.
Published books as author
*''God's Coach: The Hymns, Hype, and Hypocrisy of Tom Landry's Cowboys'', Simon & Schuster
Simon & Schuster () is an American publishing company and a subsidiary of Paramount Global. It was founded in New York City on January 2, 1924 by Richard L. Simon and M. Lincoln Schuster. As of 2016, Simon & Schuster was the third largest publ ...
, 1990. .
*''The Boys: The Untold Story of the Dallas Cowboys' Season on the Edge'', Simon & Schuster, 1993. .
*''Hell-Bent: The Crazy Truth About the "Win or Else" Dallas Cowboys'', HarperCollins Publishers
HarperCollins Publishers LLC is one of the Big Five English-language publishing companies, alongside Penguin Random House, Simon & Schuster, Hachette, and Macmillan. The company is headquartered in New York City and is a subsidiary of News Corp ...
, 1996. .
References
Further reading
* Autobiographical essay recounting Bayless's formative years, including his abusive childhood and introduction to sports.
External links
"Profile: Skip Bayless"
ESPN website
Skip Bayless never worries about having a First Take, ''USA Today'', March 21, 2012
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bayless, Skip
American sports radio personalities
American sportswriters
Chicago Tribune people
ESPN people
Fox Sports 1 people
Living people
Los Angeles Times people
Northwest Classen High School alumni
The Dallas Morning News people
Miami Herald people
Vanderbilt University alumni
Writers from Oklahoma City
1951 births