Lee Leonard, who uttered the first words on ESPN and who was Kelly Bishop's husband, dies at 89

The New York Times

Gilmore Girls star Bishop confirmed the death of her husband of 37 years. Leonard, who would've turned 90 in April, "introduced ESPN to a small audience on the day of its debut in 1979," writes Richard Sandomir. "Mr. Leonard was a well-regarded veteran of local and national sports studio shows when executives at ESPN, which was just getting off the ground, asked him to be a co-anchor of SportsCenter, envisioned as the network’s flagship news and highlights program. And it was SportsCenter’s inaugural broadcast that launched the network, with Mr. Leonard delivering its first words, on Sept. 7, 1979, setting ESPN on its path to becoming a television empire." In introducing ESPN in 1979, Leonard said: “If you’re a fan — if you’re a fan — what you’ll see in the next minutes, hours and days to follow may convince you you’ve gone to sports heaven." Leonard was more interested in the "Entertainment" part of ESPN, which stood for "Entertainment and Sports Programming Network." So he left ESPN after six months because he was disappointed in the cable network's sports focus. Leonard would up at another new cable network, CNN, which allowed him to cover entertainment. Leonard first met Bishop while interviewing her for the local New York City show Midday Live. Bishop said one of his biggest regrets was leaving ESPN so early. “He loved sports,” Bishop tells Sandomir, “but he loved doing talk shows and interviews, so he got pulled in that direction to CNN. Through the years, though, he said he should have stayed with ESPN. He was kind of always starting something new.”