Neil Everett Morfitt (born ) is an American sportscaster 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 ...

. He is the co-anchor of the West Coast edition of ''

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 ...

'' alongside

Stan Verrett Stan or STAN may refer to: People * Stan (given name), a list of people with the given name ** Stan Laurel (1890–1965), English comic actor, part of duo Laurel and Hardy * Stan (surname), a Romanian surname * Stan! (born 1964), American author ...

Early life and education

Everett was born in

Portland, Oregon Portland (, ) is a port city in the Pacific Northwest and the largest city in the U.S. state of Oregon. Situated at the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers, Portland is the county seat of Multnomah County, the most populous ...

and raised in

Spokane, Washington Spokane ( ) is the largest city and county seat of Spokane County, Washington, United States. It is in eastern Washington, along the Spokane River, adjacent to the Selkirk Mountains, and west of the Rocky Mountain foothills, south of the ...

. He was a varsity starter in

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly ...

and

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

at Lewis and Clark High School, named to the all-city team in football at

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 ...

, and also played on the defensive line. He graduated in 1980. Everett attended

Willamette University Willamette University is a private liberal arts college with locations in Salem and Portland, Oregon. Founded in 1842, it is the oldest college in the Western United States. Originally named the Oregon Institute, the school was an unaffiliated ...

in Salem before transferring to the

University of Oregon The University of Oregon (UO, U of O or Oregon) is a public research university in Eugene, Oregon. Founded in 1876, the institution is well known for its strong ties to the sports apparel and marketing firm Nike, Inc Nike, Inc. ( or ) is a ...

in Eugene and graduated in 1984. He was initiated as a member of

Beta Theta Pi Beta Theta Pi (), commonly known as Beta, is a North American social fraternity that was founded in 1839 at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio. One of North America's oldest fraternities, as of 2022 it consists of 144 active chapters in the Uni ...

fraternity A fraternity (from Latin ''frater'': "brother"; whence, " brotherhood") or fraternal organization is an organization, society, club or fraternal order traditionally of men associated together for various religious or secular aims. Fraternit ...

at Willamette and continued that membership at Oregon.

Career

Everett started out in broadcasting at

KCST-FM KCST-FM (106.9 FM) is a radio station broadcasting an Adult Contemporary format. Licensed to Florence, Oregon, United States, the station serves the central Oregon Coast. The station is currently owned by Coast Broadcasting Co., Inc. and featu ...

Florence Florence ( ; it, Firenze ) is a city in Central Italy and the capital city of the Tuscany region. It is the most populated city in Tuscany, with 383,083 inhabitants in 2016, and over 1,520,000 in its metropolitan area.Bilancio demografico ...

on the central

Oregon Coast The Oregon Coast is a coastal region of the U.S. state of Oregon. It is bordered by the Pacific Ocean to its west and the Oregon Coast Range to the east, and stretches approximately from the California state border in the south to the Colum ...

, west of Eugene. He left the media field and moved to

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; haw, Hawaii or ) is a state in the Western United States, located in the Pacific Ocean about from the U.S. mainland. It is the only U.S. state outside North America, the only state that is an archipelago, and the only stat ...

, where he worked 15 years as an athletic administrator at

Hawaii Pacific University Hawaii Pacific University (HPU) is a private university in downtown Honolulu, Makapuʻu and Kāneʻohe, Hawaii. HPU is the largest private university in the central Pacific, most noted for its diverse student body of nearly 5,000 students ...

. While still working full-time at HPU, Everett was hired at local ABC affiliate

KITV KITV (channel 4) is a television station in Honolulu, Hawaii, United States, serving the Hawaiian Islands as an affiliate of ABC. It is owned by Allen Media Group alongside multicultural independent station KIKU (channel 20). The two stations ...

, first as a news writer, then assignment editor, and finally as a sports anchor. In April 1999, Everett interviewed with ESPN on the recommendation of a friend, but was not hired. The following year, ESPN called him for another audition, and this time he was hired as an anchor on

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 ...

. In March 2009, he relocated to

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

to anchor the late-night

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world ...

edition of ''

'', which debuted on April 6, 2009.

Personal life

While he was a student at Oregon in 1983, Everett's mother Jackie, a high school teacher, died from cancer at age 45. The use of his middle name as a professional surname is a tribute to his mother, a UO alumna and Astoria native, who would call him by his first and middle name when his behavior was less than optimal. Everett's stepfather, Dave Robertson, was a longtime high school basketball coach at Shadle Park and won the state title in 1981, led on the court by

Mark Rypien Mark Robert Rypien (born October 2, 1962) is a Canadian-born former American football quarterback who played 14 seasons in the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at Washington State and was drafted by the Washington Redsk ...

. A math teacher, Robertson later coached at Gonzaga Prep.

References

External links

ESPN bio
– Neil Everett
Athlete Promotions
– speakers – Neil Everett
Beta Theta Pi Alumni Association
– Neil Everett
Neil Everett interview for "The Beta Theta Pi" magazine
{{DEFAULTSORT:Everett, Neil American television sports anchors ESPN people Journalists from Portland, Oregon Willamette University alumni University of Oregon alumni People from Hawaii Television anchors from Spokane, Washington Living people Year of birth missing (living people)