Starred review from March 16, 2015
After a seven-year struggle with cancer, Scott, an ESPN SportsCenter anchor and commentator who died in January, wrote this memoirâwith Platt (Only the Strong Survived)âwith the same out-of-the-box energy that he brought to his shows. A cracking good storyteller, he describes growing up in North Carolina and tells of his love of football; his college days at UNC-Chapel Hill, where he became friends with Michael Jordan and discovered his love of journalism; his early days in television; raising his daughters, Taelor and Sydni; and his rise to anchor of SportsCenter (where he originated the expression "boo-ya"). But Scott's tenacious fight against appendiceal cancer, which doctors discovered in 2007, is what truly stands out in the memoir. Baring his soul and not backing down, Scott reveals his physical and psychological pain, writing that he knew he needed to be strong because he "wanted to walk Taelor and Sydni down the aisle." In late 2014, Scott received the Jimmy V. Award for Perseverance (named for late N.C. State basketball coach Jimmy Valvano, who died of brain cancer). Scott taught his daughters that "life consists of two dates with a dash in between," and judging by this inspirational narrative, Scott has made that dash significant.