The Big Lead

Kenny Mayne ranks ESPN's Top 5 SportsCenter anchors

By J.P. Hoornstra

Oct 25, 2012; Minneapolis, MN, USA; ESPN anchor Kenny Mayne prior to the game between the Minnesota Vikings and Tampa Bay Buccaneers at the Metrodome. The Buccaneers defeated the Vikings 36-17.
Oct 25, 2012; Minneapolis, MN, USA; ESPN anchor Kenny Mayne prior to the game between the Minnesota Vikings and Tampa Bay Buccaneers at the Metrodome. The Buccaneers defeated the Vikings 36-17. / Brace Hemmelgarn-Imagn Images
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Kenny Mayne's 27-year career with ESPN included multiple stints anchoring its signature highlights show, SportsCenter. The first dates to 1997, when he co-anchored with Dan Patrick as a replacement for Keith Olbermann.

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Although Mayne's assignments would often take him far from the cozy Bristol, Conn. studios, he's as well-versed in the history of the network as nearly anyone who ever faced a camera.

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So it was that another former SportsCenter anchor, Jemele Hill, asked Mayne to rattle off his Top 5 SportsCenter anchors of all-time — present company excluded.

Without pausing in between, Mayne rattled off a list of mononyms that should be well-known to anyone reading this far: (Chris) Berman, Bob Ley, Dan (Patrick), Keith (Olbermann), and Stuart (Scott) — "with (Scott) Van Pelt coming in for Stuart since he has passed."

With the exception of Van Pelt and Berman, who joined ESPN a month after SportsCenter's initial launch in 1979, everyone in Mayne's Top 5 has moved on from the network. Mayne last worked for ESPN in 2021, Hill in 2018.

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"That is a very credible and wonderful Top 5," Hill replied. "I can't wait for the headline to be 'Kenny Mayne shades every ESPN anchor — not these 5.' "

Sorry, Jemele.

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