Sage Marie Steele (born November 28, 1972) is an American television anchor who is the co-host of the 12pm (ET) SportsCenter on

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 ...

. She also hosts SportsCenter on the Road from various sporting events such as the Super Bowl and The Masters. Steele formerly hosted ''

NBA Countdown ''NBA Countdown'', branded for sponsorship purposes as ''NBA Countdown Presented by Mountain Dew'', is an American pregame television show airing prior to National Basketball Association (NBA) telecasts on ABC and ESPN. ''NBA Countdown'' typi ...

'' on

and

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 ...

for four seasons, ending in 2017. For five years prior to the NBA assignment, Steele was a full-time host of '' SportsCenter'', ESPN's flagship show, and had previously contributed to ''

ESPN First Take ''First Take'' is an American sports talk television show on ESPN. Episodes air daily Monday through Friday, with the live episode airing from 10am North American Eastern Time Zone, ET until noon, with reruns from noon to 2pm ET on ESPN2 and from ...

'', '' Mike & Mike in the Morning'', and '' SportsNation''. Steele hosted ''SportsCenter''s daytime coverage of the NBA Finals in

2012 File:2012 Events Collage V3.png, From left, clockwise: The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia lies capsized after the Costa Concordia disaster; Damage to Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey as a result of Hurricane Sandy; People gat ...

and

2013 File:2013 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: Edward Snowden becomes internationally famous for leaking classified NSA wiretapping information; Typhoon Haiyan kills over 6,000 in the Philippines and Southeast Asia; The Dhaka garment fa ...

, and covered every NBA Finals from 2012 to 2020.

Early life

Steele is the daughter of Gary & Mona (O'Neil) Steele. Her dad is American and her mom is Irish-Italian. Gary is Black and became the first Black varsity football player at

West Point The United States Military Academy (USMA), also known Metonymy, metonymically as West Point or simply as Army, is a United States service academies, United States service academy in West Point, New York. It was originally established as a f ...

during the mid-1960s.Nerves of Steele
St. Petersburg Times, June 9, 2000 He was inducted into the Army Sports Hall of Fame in 2013 for his standout career on the Black Knights football and track & field teams. Sage Steele was born in 1972 into an American

Army An army (from Old French ''armee'', itself derived from the Latin verb ''armāre'', meaning "to arm", and related to the Latin noun ''arma'', meaning "arms" or "weapons"), ground force or land force is a fighting force that fights primarily on ...

family living in the Panama Canal Zone Steele has two brothers, Courtney and Chad (senior vice president of media relations for the NFL's

Baltimore Ravens The Baltimore Ravens are a professional American football team based in Baltimore, Maryland. The Ravens compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference (AFC) North division. The team plays it ...

). The U.S. Army stationed Steele's family in several different states and countries, including

Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders ...

and

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...

, before moving back stateside to Colorado Springs, Colorado, in 1984 for her seventh grade year. After attending Thomas B. Doherty High School in Colorado Springs for two years, she moved to

Carmel, Indiana Carmel is a suburban city in Indiana immediately north of Indianapolis. With a population of 100,777, the city spans across Clay Township in Hamilton County, Indiana, and is bordered by the White River to the east; the Hamilton-Boone county l ...

, and attended Carmel High School as a senior, graduating in 1990. She graduated from

Indiana University Bloomington Indiana University Bloomington (IU Bloomington, Indiana University, IU, or simply Indiana) is a public research university in Bloomington, Indiana. It is the flagship campus of Indiana University and, with over 40,000 students, its largest ca ...

in 1995 with a

Bachelor of Science A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Science was the University o ...

degree in sports communication. Exactly 20 years later, she was the commencement speaker at the 2015 Indiana University undergraduate commencement, which she considers the greatest honor of her career.

Broadcasting career

Steele's first television sports reporting job was at

WSBT-TV WSBT-TV (channel 22) is a television station in South Bend, Indiana, United States, affiliated with CBS and Fox. Owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group, the station maintains studios on East Douglas Avenue in Mishawaka, and its transmitter is loc ...

, the

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainm ...

affiliate in

South Bend, Indiana South Bend is a city in and the county seat of St. Joseph County, Indiana, on the St. Joseph River near its southernmost bend, from which it derives its name. As of the 2020 census, the city had a total of 103,453 residents and is the fourt ...

, as a news producer and reporter from 1995 to 1997. Steele then worked at

affiliate

WISH-TV WISH-TV (channel 8) is a television station in Indianapolis, Indiana, United States, affiliated with The CW. It is locally owned by Circle City Broadcasting alongside Marion-licensed MyNetworkTV affiliate WNDY-TV (channel 23) and low-power, ...

Indianapolis, Indiana Indianapolis (), colloquially known as Indy, is the state capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Indiana and the seat of Marion County. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the consolidated population of Indianapolis and Mari ...

, from 1997 to 1998 as the weekend morning sports anchor and weekday reporter. Her reporting duties included the Indianapolis Colts, Indiana Pacers,

Indianapolis 500 The Indianapolis 500, formally known as the Indianapolis 500-Mile Race, and commonly called the Indy 500, is an annual automobile race held at Indianapolis Motor Speedway (IMS) in Speedway, Indiana, United States, an enclave suburb of Indi ...

and

Brickyard 400 The Brickyard 400 was an annual NASCAR Cup Series points race held at Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Speedway, Indiana. The inaugural race was held in 1994 and was the first race other than the Indianapolis 500 to be held at the Indianapolis Moto ...

auto races, and local college and high school sports. Steele worked at

affiliate

WFTS WFTS-TV (channel 28), branded as ABC Action News, is a television station licensed to Tampa, Florida, United States, serving the Tampa Bay area as an affiliate of ABC. It is owned by the E.W. Scripps Company alongside Bradenton-licensed Ion Te ...

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 ...

, from 1998 to 2001, where she was a sports reporter with former

sports director and former '' SportsCenter'' host

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 ...

and current "

NFL RedZone ''NFL RedZone'' (stylized as ''NFL RedZone from NFL Network'') is an American sports television channel owned and operated by NFL Network since 2009. As a "special" game-day exclusive, it broadcasts on Sundays during the NFL regular season from ...

" host

Scott Hanson Scott Richard Hanson (born June 24, 1971) is an American television anchor and reporter for NFL Network. He has served as sports reporter and anchor for several regional stations and was hired by NFL Network in 2006. He is currently the host o ...

. She also worked at

Fox Sports Florida Bally Sports Florida is an American regional sports network owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group, and operates as an affiliate of Bally Sports. The channel broadcasts local sports coverage in the state of Florida, with a focus on professional sport ...

as a reporter, continuing to cover teams throughout Central Florida such as the

Tampa Bay Buccaneers The Tampa Bay Buccaneers are a professional American football team based in Tampa, Florida. The Buccaneers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) South division. The cl ...

, Orlando Magic,

Tampa Bay Lightning The Tampa Bay Lightning (colloquially known as the Bolts) are a professional ice hockey team based in Tampa, Florida. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Atlantic Division in the Eastern Conference. They play th ...

and

University of South Florida The University of South Florida (USF) is a public research university with its main campus located in Tampa, Florida, and other campuses in St. Petersburg and Sarasota. It is one of 12 members of the State University System of Florida. USF i ...

Bulls. She then worked at Comcast SportsNet Mid-Atlantic in

Bethesda, Maryland Bethesda () is an unincorporated, census-designated place in southern Montgomery County, Maryland. It is located just northwest of Washington, D.C. It takes its name from a local church, the Bethesda Meeting House (1820, rebuilt 1849), which in ...

, where she was an anchor and reporter for the network's nightly local sports news program, ''SportsNite'', covering all sports in the Washington, DC/Baltimore region. Steele was one of

Comcast SportsNet NBC Sports Regional Networks is the collective name for a group of regional sports networks in the United States that are primarily owned and operated by the NBCUniversal division of the cable television company Comcast. The networks were origin ...

's original personalities, joining that network when it launched in 2001. During her six years at CSN Mid-Atlantic (2001–2007), she was a main anchor and also the beat reporter for the

. Steele then joined

and debuted on March 16, 2007, on the 6:00 p.m. ET edition of ''SportsCenter''. In an interview with Awful Announcing, she mentioned that she was actually offered a job with the network in 2004, but turned it down while pregnant with her second child. On July 28, 2013, she drove the pace car for the

NASCAR The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing, LLC (NASCAR) is an American auto racing sanctioning and operating company that is best known for stock car racing. The privately owned company was founded by Bill France Sr. in 1948, and ...

Sprint Cup Series The NASCAR Cup Series is the top racing series of the NASCAR, National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing (NASCAR). The series began in 1949 as the Strictly Stock Division, and from 1950 to 1970 it was known as the Grand National Division. ...

Brickyard 400. During the pace laps at the beginning of the race, she was bumped in jest by 6-time Sprint Cup champion

Jimmie Johnson Jimmie Kenneth Johnson (born September 17, 1975) is an American professional auto racing driver. A seven-time NASCAR Cup Series champion, he competes part-time in the series driving for Petty GMS Motorsports. Johnson's seven Cup championships, ...

. Beginning in the 2013–14 NBA season, Steele became the host of

and

through 2017. Steele co-hosted the Miss America 2017 & 2018 pageant on

with

Chris Harrison Christopher Bryan Harrison (born July 26, 1971) is an American television and game show host, best known for his role as the host of the ABC reality television dating show '' The Bachelor'' from 2002 to 2021. He also hosted its spin-offs '' T ...

. She hosted the Scripps National Spelling Bee from 2010 to 2013. In 2014 she was a guest host several times on '' The View''. She became the noon (ET) ''SportsCenter'' co-anchor with Matt Barrie in February 2021. She had anchored the 6 p.m. ET edition of the show for several years before moving to noon and prior to that she had anchored ''SportsCenter:AM.'' On October 5, 2021, she was suspended with pay by ESPN for remarks she made on

Jay Cutler Jay Christopher Cutler (born April 29, 1983) is an American former professional football player who was a quarterback in the National Football League (NFL) for 12 seasons, primarily with the Chicago Bears. He played college football for the Van ...

's September 29

podcast A podcast is a program made available in digital format for download over the Internet. For example, an episodic series of digital audio or video files that a user can download to a personal device to listen to at a time of their choosin ...

about

COVID-19 vaccine mandates Anti-vaccination activists and other people in many countries have spread a variety of unfounded conspiracy theories and other misinformation about COVID-19 vaccines based on misunderstood or misrepresented science, religion, exaggerated ...

, women who dress in a way she feels is provocative, and

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, Obama was the first African-American president of the ...

calling himself Black even though he, like Steele, has a white mother. In conjunction with her suspension, Steele issued an apology: "I know my recent comments created controversy for the company, and I apologize. We are in the midst of an extremely challenging time that impacts all of us, and it's more critical than ever that we communicate constructively and thoughtfully."

Personal life

Steele married Jonathan Bailey and they have three children. In March 2021, Steele put her home in Avon, Conn., on the market for $1.6 million, after doing extensive renovations. She is on the board of the Pat Tillman Foundation. She was named to the board of the

V Foundation James Thomas Anthony Valvano (March 10, 1946 – April 28, 1993), nicknamed Jimmy V, was an American college basketball player, coach, and broadcaster. Valvano had a successful coaching career with multiple schools, most notably at North Caroli ...

for cancer research in 2019.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Steele, Sage Living people 1972 births American television sports announcers Carmel High School (Indiana) alumni Indiana University Bloomington alumni Television anchors from Indianapolis Women sports announcers African-American sports journalists American women sportswriters ESPN people Disney people American sports journalists African-American Christians African-American television personalities African-American women journalists People from Colorado Springs, Colorado People from Carmel, Indiana American people of Irish descent American people of Italian descent Zonians American women television journalists American expatriates in Greece American expatriates in Belgium 20th-century American journalists 21st-century American journalists American Christians 21st-century American women Panamanian people of American descent Panamanian people of Italian descent