Steve Byrnes
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Steven Patrick Byrnes (April 14, 1959 – April 21, 2015) was an American television announcer and producer. After graduating from college, he began his career as a sports producer, covering several NFL teams. In 1985, he began his involvement with auto racing, including most prominently
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 hi ...
. In 2001, he began working with ''
NASCAR on Fox ''NASCAR on Fox'', also known as ''Fox NASCAR'', is the branding used for broadcasts of NASCAR races produced by Fox Sports and have aired on the Fox television network in the United States since 2001. Speed, a motorsports-focused cable channel ...
'' as a pit reporter, and later became the host of
Speed In everyday use and in kinematics, the speed (commonly referred to as ''v'') of an object is the magnitude of the change of its position over time or the magnitude of the change of its position per unit of time; it is thus a scalar quanti ...
/
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 ...
's studio show ''
NASCAR Race Hub ''NASCAR Race Hub'' is a daily NASCAR news program broadcast on Fox Sports 1 Monday through Thursday. Originally broadcast on Speed, the show replaced ''NASCAR Nation'' and '' This Week in NASCAR''. ''NASCAR Race Hub'' premiered on October 12, 20 ...
''. In October 2014, Byrnes took a medical leave from Fox Sports after being diagnosed with a reoccurrence of
head and neck cancer Head and neck cancer develops from tissues in the lip and oral cavity (mouth), larynx (throat), salivary glands, nose, sinuses or the skin of the face. The most common types of head and neck cancers occur in the lip, mouth, and larynx. Symptoms ...
. He later died on April 21, 2015, at the age of 56 in
Fort Mill, South Carolina Fort Mill, also known as Fort Mill Township, is a town in York County, South Carolina, United States. It is a suburb of Charlotte, North Carolina. As of 2020 United States census, 2020 census, 24,521 people live inside the town's corporate limits. ...
.


Early life

Steven Patrick "Steve" Byrnes was born on April 14, 1959, in
Chicago, Illinois (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...
and raised in
New Carrollton, Maryland New Carrollton is a city located in central Prince George's County, Maryland, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population was 13,715. New Carrollton is located east of central Washington, D.C. The Mayor of New Carrollton is Phelecia N ...
. He was the eldest of five siblings. He graduated from Largo High School in 1977, where he was a quarterback on the football team and pitcher on the baseball team, and from the
University of Maryland The University of Maryland, College Park (University of Maryland, UMD, or simply Maryland) is a public land-grant research university in College Park, Maryland. Founded in 1856, UMD is the flagship institution of the University System of M ...
in 1981. As a senior, he served as an intern for WJLA in nearby Washington.


Television career

Byrnes began his television career shortly after graduating college. He was first hired as a weekend sports producer where he covered the
Washington Redskins The Washington Commanders are a professional American football team based in the Washington metropolitan area. The Commanders compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) N ...
,
Washington Bullets The Washington Wizards are an American professional basketball team based in Washington, D.C. The Wizards compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Southeast Division. The team plays ...
,
Maryland Maryland ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It shares borders with Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware and the Atlantic Ocean to ...
, Georgetown, the
Baltimore Orioles The Baltimore Orioles are an American professional baseball team based in Baltimore. The Orioles compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League East, East division. As one of the American L ...
, and other sports. In November 1982, he had his first opportunity to be an on-air personality, when he was hired at Sullivan's Island, South Carolina-based
WCIV WCIV (channel 36) is a television station in Charleston, South Carolina, United States, affiliated with MyNetworkTV and ABC. The station is owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group, and maintains studios on Allbritton Boulevard along US 17/701 (Johnnie ...
. While employed there he was a sports reporter and weekend anchor for the NBC affiliate until January 1985. Afterward, Sunbelt Video hired him, in which he hosted 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 hi ...
newsmagazine ''Inside Winston Cup'' with
Ned Jarrett Ned Jarrett (born October 12, 1932) is an American retired race car driver and two-time NASCAR Grand National Series champion. Because of his calm demeanor, he became known as "Gentleman Ned Jarrett". He is the father of former drivers Glenn J ...
, which marked the beginning of producing and hosting NASCAR segments. He announced what was happening on pit road for World Sports Enterprises, and later worked for TBS, TNN (now
Paramount Network Paramount Network is an American basic cable television channel owned by the MTV Entertainment Group unit of Paramount Media Networks. The network's headquarters are located at the Paramount Pictures studio lot in Los Angeles. The channel was or ...
) and
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 ...
. He was a backup pit commentator for ''
Monster Jam Monster Jam is a live motorsport event tour operated by Feld Entertainment. The series began in 1992, and is sanctioned under the umbrella of the United States Hot Rod Association. Events are primarily held in North America, with some additional ...
'' on TNN. In 2006, he was given an extra assignment as one of the network's available play-by-play broadcasters for
Fox Foxes are small to medium-sized, omnivorous mammals belonging to several genera of the family Canidae. They have a flattened skull, upright, triangular ears, a pointed, slightly upturned snout, and a long bushy tail (or ''brush''). Twelve sp ...
's NFL
broadcasts Broadcasting is the distribution of audio or video content to a dispersed audience via any electronic mass communications medium, but typically one using the electromagnetic spectrum (radio waves), in a one-to-many model. Broadcasting began wi ...
, joining
Bill Maas William Thomas Maas (born March 2, 1962) is a former American football defensive tackle who played for the Kansas City Chiefs (1984–1992), and the Green Bay Packers (1993). Maas was selected to the Pro Bowl in 1986 and 1987. In 1984 Maas was ...
for selected games when Fox had seven or eight games in a given week. From 2001 until 2014, he was a pit reporter for ''
Fox NASCAR ''NASCAR on Fox'', also known as ''Fox NASCAR'', is the branding used for broadcasts of NASCAR races produced by Fox Sports and have aired on the Fox television network in the United States since 2001. Speed, a motorsports-focused cable chan ...
''. He also served as a fill-in studio host and lap-by-lap announcer whenever
Chris Myers Chris Myers (born ) is an American sportscaster. He has covered the Super Bowl, the World Series, the NBA Finals, the NCAA Final Four, The Masters, the U.S. Open, the Triple Crown, the Olympics, and the Daytona 500. Early life and care ...
or
Mike Joy Michael Joy (born November 25, 1949) is an American TV sports announcer and who currently serves as the lap-by-lap voice of Fox Sports' coverage of NASCAR. His color analyst is Clint Bowyer. Counting 2022, Joy has been part of the live broadcast ...
, respectively, were not available. From 2001 to 2003 he also served as host of ''
Totally NASCAR ''Totally NASCAR'' was a newscast about NASCAR racing that aired on Fox Sports Net. The program returned in 2010 after a 6-year absence, but in a different format from the show that was originally shown from 2001 to 2004. Original version The ...
'' 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 ...
, earning a Sports Emmy nomination for best daily studio show in 2002. As of 2014, Byrnes was the co-host of ''
NASCAR Race Hub ''NASCAR Race Hub'' is a daily NASCAR news program broadcast on Fox Sports 1 Monday through Thursday. Originally broadcast on Speed, the show replaced ''NASCAR Nation'' and '' This Week in NASCAR''. ''NASCAR Race Hub'' premiered on October 12, 20 ...
'' 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 ...
and was expected to be the lead announcer for the
Camping World Truck Series The NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series is a pickup truck racing series owned and operated by the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing, and is the only series in NASCAR to race production pickup truck based stock cars. The series is one of th ...
in 2015.


Cancer diagnosis and death

In late August 2013, Byrnes was diagnosed with an early stage of
head and neck cancer Head and neck cancer develops from tissues in the lip and oral cavity (mouth), larynx (throat), salivary glands, nose, sinuses or the skin of the face. The most common types of head and neck cancers occur in the lip, mouth, and larynx. Symptoms ...
. After chemotherapy for the rest of the year, Byrnes was deemed cancer-free in early 2014. However, later that year in September, he was diagnosed with a recurrence of stage 4 head and neck cancer; on October 9, Fox Sports announced that he had decided to take an indefinite leave of absence from work in order to focus on his treatment. On April 10, 2015, it was announced that, in coordination with
Bristol Motor Speedway Bristol Motor Speedway, formerly known as Bristol International Raceway and Bristol Raceway, is a NASCAR short track venue located in Bristol, Tennessee. Constructed in 1960, it held its first NASCAR race on July 30, 1961. Bristol is among the m ...
, Fox, and
Stand Up to Cancer Stand Up to Cancer (SU2C) is a charitable program of the Entertainment Industry Foundation (EIF). SU2C aims to raise significant funds for translational cancer research through online and televised efforts. Central to the program is a telethon tha ...
, the 2015 Food City 500 would be renamed the ''Food City 500 In Support Of Steve Byrnes and Stand Up To Cancer''; the race would feature tributes to his legacy as a NASCAR broadcaster, along with his 56th birthday, which fell during the week prior to the race. Two days after the tribute race, Byrnes died early on April 21, 2015, of complications from his cancer in
Fort Mill, South Carolina Fort Mill, also known as Fort Mill Township, is a town in York County, South Carolina, United States. It is a suburb of Charlotte, North Carolina. As of 2020 United States census, 2020 census, 24,521 people live inside the town's corporate limits. ...
, one week after his 56th birthday, and was survived by his wife Karen and son Bryson. In tribute, drivers
Josh Wise Joshua Wise (born February 7, 1983) is an American former professional stock car racing driver and currently an athletic trainer for Chip Ganassi Racing. He began racing in open wheel cars. Wise won the 1999 USAC 3/4 Midget Division, 2005 USAC Na ...
and
Clint Bowyer Clinton Edward Bowyer (born May 30, 1979) is an American former professional stock car racing driver and commentator for ''NASCAR on Fox''. He competed in the NASCAR Cup Series from 2005 to 2020, driving for Richard Childress Racing for eight yea ...
added photos of Byrnes and his son Bryson to their cars' hoods for the
Toyota Owners 400 The Toyota Owners 400 is a 400 lap NASCAR Cup Series stock car race held at the Richmond Raceway in Richmond, Virginia. From 2007 to 2011, former race title sponsor Crown Royal named the race after the winner of an essay contest during Dayton ...
. After Byrnes was invited to become part of the voting panel for the
NASCAR Hall of Fame The NASCAR Hall of Fame, located in Charlotte, North Carolina, honors drivers who have shown expert skill at NASCAR driving, all-time great crew chiefs and owners, broadcasters and other major contributors to competition within the sanctioning ...
Class of 2016, Bryson delivered his father's completed ballot to the accountants that tally the votes on May 20, 2015, completing Steve's final duties. On May 22, 2015, Fox Sports dedicated a studio at its Charlotte facilities, used primarily by its studio program ''
NASCAR Race Hub ''NASCAR Race Hub'' is a daily NASCAR news program broadcast on Fox Sports 1 Monday through Thursday. Originally broadcast on Speed, the show replaced ''NASCAR Nation'' and '' This Week in NASCAR''. ''NASCAR Race Hub'' premiered on October 12, 20 ...
'', as the "Steve Byrnes Studio". Fox also created the Byrnsie Award, an honor given to those who exemplified Byrnes' values of "preparation, teamwork and family".


Personal life

Byrnes lived in the
Charlotte metropolitan area The Charlotte metropolitan area, sometimes referred to as Metrolina, is a metropolitan area of the U.S. states of North and South Carolina, within and surrounding the city of Charlotte. The metropolitan area also includes the cities of Gastonia, ...
(where most NASCAR teams are based) with his wife Karen and son Bryson. Bryson graduated from
Charlotte Christian School Charlotte Christian School is a private, college preparatory, non-denominational Christian school for grades K–12. It is located in Charlotte, North Carolina. History In 1950, D.L. Pointdexter McClenny began a ministry at Calvary Presbyte ...
and is following in his father's footsteps by pursuing a career in broadcasting. Bryson presents the Byrnsie Award in the last Cup Series race of the season that Fox is broadcasting. He also reported on the pre-race gridwalk with Michael Waltrip at the 2021 NASCAR All-Star Race.


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Byrnes, Steve 1959 births 2015 deaths American male journalists American reporters and correspondents American television producers American television sports announcers Deaths from cancer in South Carolina Journalists from Maryland Motorsport announcers National Football League announcers NASCAR people People from Prince George's County, Maryland People from Fort Mill, South Carolina