SAGER SUCCUMBS
Beloved broadcaster with unique sartorial style dies of leukemia at 65
Craig Sager’s brave fight with leukemia ended Thursday, when he died at the age of 65.
Sager had long been a staple of the NBA sidelines, wearing his trademark loud suits, and had worked in broadcasting since 1972. Sager inspired countless viewers with his unflinching fight with the disease, which was diagnosed in 2014.
“Craig Sager was a beloved member of the Turner family for more than three decades and he has been a true inspiration to all of us,” Turner president David Levy said in a statement. “There will never be another Craig Sager. His incredible talent, tireless work ethic and commitment to his craft took him all over the world covering sports.”
Sager was known for his flashy wardrobe, but inside NBA circles, he carried a reputation as a tireless worker and thoughtful craftsman. He was universally respected among players and coaches in the league.
When TNT joined with CBS in covering the NCAA Tournament in 2011, Sager showed off a notebook filled with stats and information on every team from Duke to Belmont. He was not going to be caught unprepared in his first year covering the event.
Sager was in Dallas for a game in April 2014 when he felt ill and sought treatment from Mavericks team physician Dr. Tarek O. Souryal, who had previously performed Sager’s knee surgery. With a dangerously low hemoglobin count, Sager had six blood transfusions over a 24-hour period before returning to Atlanta.
When he returned to the sideline following his first bone marrow transplant — his son was his donor — a touching moment with notoriously gruff Spurs coach Gregg Popovich showed what some had already known.
Sager would end up having three bone marrow transplants, a number that is nearly unheard of, sending the cancer into remission before it returned each time.
“A patient who battles this past a year is amazing,” his doctor, Naveen Pemmaraju, told SI around the two-year mark. “What he’s done is almost miraculous.”
Sager delivered a mesmerizing speech at the ESPY awards in July, and he was inducted into the Broadcasting Hall of Fame on Tuesday.
“He’s the most unselfish person with whom I’ve ever worked in broadcasting,” fellow inductee Verne Lundquist said of his friend. “He is befittingly beloved in the NBA community and he should be.”
Tributes from a veritable who’s who of NBA luminaries flowed in after the news broke.
Sager’s persistence was on display at the start of his career, when the 22-year-old found him- self in the middle of one of the most famous moments in sports history.
Making $95 a week in 1974 as the news director at WSPB — a Braves-affiliated AM radio station in Sarasota, Fla., — Sager risked getting fired by deciding to hop a flight to Atlanta for a game with Hank Aaron a home run away from breaking Babe Ruth’s career record. With a lastminute credential, Sager was stuck in the third-base photographers’ well. As the historic homer sailed out of the park, Sager, without thinking, sprinted onto the field and wound up chasing Aaron down the third-base line.
During his career, Sager worked as a reporter on the Olympics, Major League Baseball playoffs, NFL and NCAA Tournament, among other sports.
“I will never give up, and I will never give in. I will continue to keep fighting, sucking the marrow out of life, as life sucks the marrow out of me. I will live my life full of love and full of fun. It’s the only way I know how,” Sager said at the ESPYs.
“Time is something that cannot be bought, it cannot be wagered with God, and it is not in endless supply. Time is simply how you live your life.”