Chris McKendry (born Christine McKendry February 18, 1968) is a

journalist A journalist is an individual that collects/gathers information in form of text, audio, or pictures, processes them into a news-worthy form, and disseminates it to the public. The act or process mainly done by the journalist is called journalis ...

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%). Th ...

, a role she has served since 1996. She was co-anchor of the 11-1pm ET weekday block of live ESPN '' SportsCenter'' shows, alongside

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 ...

. As of April 1, 2016, she serves as full-time on-site host for

tennis Tennis is a racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent ( singles) or between two teams of two players each ( doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket that is strung with cord to strike a hollow rubber ball ...

coverage of the Australian Open, Wimbledon and US Open.

Early life

McKendry grew up in the Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, area, and was a Division I scholarship tennis player at Drexel University.

Career

Prior to joining ESPN, McKendry had been at

WJLA-TV WJLA-TV (channel 7) is a television station in Washington, D.C., affiliated with ABC. It is one of two flagship stations of Sinclair Broadcast Group (alongside dual Fox/ MyNetworkTV affiliate WBFF hannel 45in Baltimore), and is also s ...

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 ...

affiliate in

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, where she was a sports reporter. McKendry first anchored ''SportsCenter'' on July 27, 1996, shifting to

ESPNEWS ESPNews (pronounced "ESPN News", stylized ESPNEWS) is an American multinational digital cable and satellite television network owned by ESPN Inc., a joint venture between the Disney Media Networks division of The Walt Disney Company (which owns ...

for the launch of the 24-hour sports news network. She returned to ''SportsCenter'' later that year, co-hosting the weekend morning and weekday 6 p.m. editions of the network’s flagship news and information program. McKendry’s work beyond ''SportsCenter'' has included a variety of assignments, including late night host of ESPN’s Wimbledon coverage in 2007 and covering the U.S. Open for ''SportsCenter'' in 2002-06. She has also served as co-host of ESPN’s coverage of the Winter X Games late-night host for the X Games in 1997 and 1998, and contributed to ''

College Football Live ''College Football Live'' is a show that airs weekdays during the college football season on ESPN or ESPN2, and ESPNU. Its premiere was on Monday, July 23, 2007. Wendi Nix serves as the lead host, and it also features ESPN college football analyst ...

'' during the 2007 season. She was the sideline reporter for ESPN, ESPN2 and ABC Sports’ telecasts of the 1999 FIFA Women’s World Cup, and since 2002 has hosted the ESPN’s coverage of the

National Spelling Bee The Scripps National Spelling Bee (formerly the Scripps Howard National Spelling Bee and commonly called the National Spelling Bee) is an annual spelling bee held in the United States. The bee is run on a not-for-profit basis by The E. W. Sc ...

. McKendry also served as a columnist on ESPN.com’s “Page Two” In 2001 and 2002. McKendry has the distinction as being the first woman to work as a television sports news anchor in the Washington D.C. market (1994–96). In June 1996, she received a regional Sports Emmy in the Best Sports Segment Category for “NFL 101,” which illustrated for novice fans how to watch football. While at WJLA-TV, McKendry also co-hosted ''Redskin Magazine'', a 1-hour, live pregame show. In 1996, she was sideline and feature reporter for

TNT Trinitrotoluene (), more commonly known as TNT, more specifically 2,4,6-trinitrotoluene, and by its preferred IUPAC name 2-methyl-1,3,5-trinitrobenzene, is a chemical compound with the formula C6H2(NO2)3CH3. TNT is occasionally used as a reagen ...

and TBS during the NBA Playoffs. She also served as a sports anchor/reporter at All-News Channel/Conus in Minneapolis (1993–1994), an update anchor for

USA Network USA Network (simply USA) is an American basic cable television channel owned by the NBCUniversal Television and Streaming division of Comcast's NBCUniversal through NBCUniversal Cable Entertainment. It was originally launched in 1977 as Madison ...

(1993–1994) and Newsport (1994) and as a producer for Fox News Service in Washington D.C. (1992–1993). McKendry co-anchored her final ''SportsCenter'' broadcast on March 31, 2016 and transitioned to cover tennis full-time for ESPN with the Australian Open in January, and U.S. Open in late summer.

Personal life

McKendry graduated from Archbishop Ryan High School and later attended Drexel University on a tennis scholarship. From Somerton, Philadelphia, she is currently married and the mother of two sons.Drexel Dragons - Drexel Tennis Alum Chris McKendry Anchored ESPNs Wimbledon Coverage
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References

External links

Chris McKendry article archiveChris McKendry ESPN Bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:McKendry, Chris 1968 births Living people American television sports anchors Television personalities from Philadelphia Drexel Dragons women's tennis players Drexel University alumni Tennis commentators Television anchors from Washington, D.C. Women sports announcers Scripps National Spelling Bee National Basketball Association broadcasters American soccer commentators American women columnists Washington Redskins announcers College football announcers ESPN people