Pam Oliver (born ) is an American sportscaster known for her work on the sidelines for various

National Basketball Association The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America. The league is composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada) and is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United St ...

(NBA) and

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...

(NFL) games.

Early life and education

Oliver was born in Dallas, Texas. She attended

Niceville High School Niceville Senior High School (NHS) is a public high school in the city of Niceville, Florida. It is ranked as the top high school within its high-performing Okaloosa County School District. In 1996 NHS was selected as one of 226 secondary schools ...

Niceville, Florida Niceville is a city in Okaloosa County, Florida, United States, located near Eglin Air Force Base on Boggy Bayou that opens into Choctawhatchee Bay. The population was 11,684 at the 2000 census. The 2010 census population for Niceville was 12,7 ...

, where she excelled in

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 ...

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular court, compete with the primary objective of shooting a basketball (approximately in diameter) through the defender's h ...

, and

track and field Track and field is a sport that includes athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name is derived from where the sport takes place, a running track and a grass field for the throwing and some of the jumping eve ...

. At

Florida A&M University Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University (FAMU), commonly known as Florida A&M, is a public historically black land-grant university in Tallahassee, Florida. Founded in 1887, It is the third largest historically black university in the Un ...

, she was an All-American in both the 400-meter and the mile relay.

Professional career

Oliver began her broadcasting career at

WALB WALB (channel 10) is a television station in Albany, Georgia, United States, serving Southwestern Georgia as an affiliate of NBC and ABC. It is owned by Gray Television alongside low-power CW+ affiliate WGCW-LD (channel 36). Both stations s ...

Albany, Georgia Albany ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Georgia. Located on the Flint River, it is the seat of Dougherty County, and is the sole incorporated city in that county. Located in southwest Georgia, it is the principal city of the Albany, Georgia m ...

in 1985 as a news reporter. The next year, Oliver moved to

WAAY-TV WAAY-TV (channel 31) is a television station in Huntsville, Alabama, United States, affiliated with ABC and owned by Allen Media Broadcasting. The station's studios and transmitter are located on Monte Sano Boulevard on top of Monte Sano Moun ...

Huntsville, Alabama Huntsville is a city in Madison County, Limestone County, and Morgan County, Alabama, United States. It is the county seat of Madison County. Located in the Appalachian region of northern Alabama, Huntsville is the most populous city in ...

. After that stop, Oliver moved to

WIVB-TV WIVB-TV (channel 4) is a television station in Buffalo, New York, United States, affiliated with CBS. It is owned by Nexstar Media Group alongside CW owned-and-operated station WNLO (channel 23). WIVB-TV and WNLO share studios on Elmwood Aven ...

Buffalo, New York Buffalo is the second-largest city in the U.S. state of New York (behind only New York City) and the seat of Erie County. It is at the eastern end of Lake Erie, at the head of the Niagara River, and is across the Canadian border from Sou ...

in 1988. Two years later in 1990, Oliver moved to

WTVT WTVT (channel 13) is a television station licensed to Tampa, Florida, United States, broadcasting the Fox network to the Tampa Bay area. Owned and operated by the network's Fox Television Stations division, WTVT maintains studios on Kenne ...

Tampa, Florida Tampa () is a city on the Gulf Coast of the United States, Gulf Coast of the U.S. state of Florida. The city's borders include the north shore of Tampa Bay and the east shore of Old Tampa Bay. Tampa is the largest city in the Tampa Bay area and ...

, where she began her career as a sports anchor in 1991. Oliver moved to

KHOU-TV KHOU (channel 11) is a television station in Houston, Texas, United States, affiliated with CBS. It is owned by Tegna Inc. alongside Conroe-licensed Quest station KTBU (channel 55). Both stations share studios on Westheimer Road near Upto ...

Houston Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 i ...

, where she continued to be a sports anchor. In 1993, Oliver joined

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 ...

. In 1995, Oliver joined

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 ...

, where she worked as a sideline reporter with the network's number-one broadcast team,

Pat Summerall George Allen "Pat" Summerall (May 10, 1930 – April 16, 2013) was an American football player and television sportscaster who worked for CBS, Fox, and ESPN. In addition to football, he announced major golf and tennis events. Summerall announ ...

and

John Madden John Earl Madden (April 10, 1936 – December 28, 2021) was an American football coach and sports commentator in the National Football League (NFL). He served as the head coach of the Oakland Raiders from 1969 to 1978, who he led to eight pl ...

. In 2005, Oliver joined

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 ...

as a sideline reporter for their NBA Playoffs coverage and worked as a Sideline Reporter for the NBA Playoffs on TNT until 2009. On July 14, 2014, Fox moved her to the network's #2 NFL broadcasting team, while

Erin Andrews Erin Jill Andrews (born May 4, 1978) is an American sportscaster, television personality, and actress. She rose to prominence as a correspondent on the American cable sports channel ESPN after joining the network in 2004. She later joined Fox S ...

took over as sideline reporter on the #1 crew. In early 2015, Fox extended Oliver's sideline reporting job with the #2 team through the 2016 season. Oliver has continued in that role as of the 2022 season.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Oliver, Pam Living people American women journalists African-American television personalities American television sports announcers Florida A&M Lady Rattlers track and field athletes National Basketball Association broadcasters National Football League announcers Women sports announcers Sportspeople from Dallas People from Fort Walton Beach, Florida American female sprinters African-American female track and field athletes African-American women journalists African-American sports journalists African-American sports announcers 21st-century African-American people 21st-century African-American women 20th-century African-American sportspeople 20th-century African-American women Year of birth missing (living people)