FAU grad to work game as Fox sideline reporter
Hurricane Irma not only turned the Miami Dolphins’ regular-season opener into a mid-season encounter with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, it also delayed Shannon Spake’s homecoming broadcast for two months. Spake, who grew up in South Florida and graduated from Florida Atlantic University, was looking forward to beginning her first full season as a Fox NFL sideline reporter on Sept. 10 at Hard Rock Stadium covering her hometown team.
That ended up being the day the category 3 hurricane roared through the lower Keys and caused extensive damage throughout Florida. Several days before that, the game was postponed and rescheduled for this Sunday, which was supposed to be a bye week for the Dolphins and Bucs.
Spake will work with announcers Dick Stockton and Mark Schlereth, who will call the game beginning at 1 p.m. It wasn’t a certainty following the postponement.
“Our crew knew there was a chance we would have the opportunity to cover this game, considering we were the crew originally assigned. I have had my fingers crossed since the beginning of the season,” Spake said. “I have so many friends and family members reach out. I truly don’t know who’s more excited.”
Spake, a graduate of Piper High who got her start as an intern on the Neil Rogers Show on Miami’s WQAM, has covered NASCAR, college football and Shannon Spake, Fox sideline reporter
basketball, and now is a regular on the NFL broadcasts. She is co-host of NASCAR Race Hub with Adam Alexander.
It has been a disappointing season for both Florida teams, the Dolphins struggling at 4-5 and the Bucs last in their division at 3-6, but that won’t dampen Spake’s enthusiasm for the assignment.
“I’ve always been a Dolphins fan,” she said. “I was certainly looking forward to coming down there and having that be my first game. Obviously, [postponing the game] was the smart thing to do.”
Spake worked the sidelines at Hard Rock Stadium on a broadcast of a University of Miami game a couple of years ago.
Her interest in football and ambitions in sports broadcasting blossomed after attending the Hurricanes’ 24-0 win against Notre Dame in 1987 at the Orange Bowl. Her return to South Florida comes a week after UM’s latest rout of the Irish.
She planned to attend Saturday’s Miami game against Virginia, though it will likely prevent the triathlete from adding to her list of about 35 stadiums, arenas and race tracks that she has run the stairs to the top of the upper deck. But that opportunity may come in a couple weeks when she returns to work the DolphinsBroncos game on Dec. 3.
cldavis@sun-sentinel.com, Twitter @CraigDavisRuns