Born: 1953 (Quincy, Massachusetts)
Biography:
Lesley Candace Visser (born September 11, 1953) is an American sportscaster, television and radio personality, and sportswriter. Visser is the first female NFL analyst on TV, and the only sportscaster in history who has worked on Final Four, NBA Finals, World Series, Triple Crown, Monday Night Football, the Olympics, the Super Bowl, the World Figure Skating Championships, and the U.S. Open network broadcasts.
Visser, who was voted the No. 1 Female Sportscaster of all time in a poll taken by the American Sportscasters Association, was elected to the National Sportscasters and Sportswriters Association’s Hall of Fame in 2015. In 2009, Visser became the first woman to be an analyst for an NFL game on TV. She is currently a reporter for CBS Sports and News, writes for CBSSports.com, and is also part of WFTL 640 Fox Sports’ morning drive in South Florida. Additionally, she is one of the hosts of a CBS Sports Network weekly television show, We Need to Talk.
Visser was the first woman to be recognized by the Pro Football Hall of Fame as the 2006 recipient of the Pete Rozelle Radio-Television Award, which recognizes long-time exceptional contributions to radio and television in professional football. Pro Football Hall of Famer Troy Aikman said about Visser in his 2006 induction speech, [She] brought respect and professionalism to the field of journalism for her work in print and broadcasting. It makes me proud to be in [her] company today.
A pioneer among women sports journalists, Visser re-joined CBS Sports in August 2000 after a six-year hiatus. She was formerly the sideline reporter for Monday Night Football, among other assignments she had at ESPN and ABC Sports, such as the World Series, the Triple Crown, and the World Figure Skating Championship. She serves as a correspondent for the network’s NFL and college basketball programming.
Born on September 11, 1953, in Quincy, Massachusetts, to a school teacher and engineer, Visser loved sports from an early age. On Halloween, when other little girls would dress up as Mary Poppins, she would go as former Boston Celtics guard Sam Jones. From the age of 10, she wanted to be a sportswriter, but there was one problem—the job didn’t exist for women. Her family didn’t discourage her. “My parents didn’t say girls can’t do that, and my mother told me, ‘Sometimes you have to cross when it says ‘don’t walk.’’”
After graduating from South Hadley High School, Visser was educated at Boston College, majoring in English.
Awards:
– Lesley Visser was the first woman to receive the Pete Rozelle Radio-Television Award from the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2006.